Where do i start?

Hello everyone,

I will be heading off to Auckland, New Zealand on 5th August 2007 to start a new Life along with my family. We have had a rollercoaster time since September 2006 getting to this point in time. Hopefully i can use this blog to share some of our experiences over the past ten months and the coming year as we make the move to New Zealand.

It is difficult to know where to start, but September 12th 2006 is as good a date as any. Whilst celebrating my 33rd birthday i was sat with my wife Hayley and we were discussing the things we would still like to achieve in our life. Living and working in another country was high on our list.

The previous week a work colleague had been accepted to work in the New Zealand police but due to family reasons, had turned down the opportunity. I had spoken to him at work about the opportunity and had obtained and E-mail address from him for a HR manager in NZ.

We decided that i should send an E-mail to NZ police to find out if they were recruiting. We got a reply within a couple of days stating that no recruitment was taking place at the moment, but my details would be kept on file. So, that was the end of that. Blown out of the water before leaving port!

We started to forget about it all until out of the blue in October 2006 i received an invitation to send my CV to the HR manager in New Zealand as they were looking at taking UK officers on in December 2006. I sent the CV and managed to get short-listed. A few weeks later i was asked to take some online exams, which i again managed to pass.

I then received an invitation to take part in a fitness test and interview in London on 22nd November 2006. Things were now starting to get a bit more serious and we had to sit down and decide if this was really what we wanted to do.

Hayley and myself went to London and i passed all the fitness tests and had a strong interview. We were impressed with what New Zealand could offer us as a family. We went away from London very excited and a little bit daunted about all the work that lay ahead...........