[Closed] Moving BACK to UK

I moved out to Hong Kong. Stayed there for two years. Came back for yearly visits. But that wasn't the same as being back and seeing my parents and grand parents more regularly. My father passed away with a sudden illness not long ago and time spent back here has been all the more precious. So no regrets.

12 years is not long in the grand scheme of life put it this way. I have been away double that ...

To move away and to live in another place your heart needs to be away first before your head.

If head first then you will always feel that something is being left behind and one day you might want to go back to get them. That is when you want to go home.

Culture and history are not a major concern really but family members and friends etc are. They are the ones that bring back a lot of emotion if you cannot let go.

Age might also be the reason where you now want to find a place to settle and nest down. You might want your children to grow up the way you were once. Who knows.

Put it bluntly do you really want to be very close to your relatives? Friends etc? Or do you simply miss your parents?

My best mate who is in Auckland keeps asking me to go there but for whatever reason I like the place but only for a short while so decides to stay.

Do you get along well with the natives?

Should be decided not to go instead decided to stay in the GeordieLand.

Probably not a good time to do it but certanly could be on the cards.

Probably the best time in years to do it considering the economy here is ****ed, house prices have dropped drastically, interest rates are the lowest they've ever been and the £ has devalued against pretty much every other currency in the world to the point where it's been the most economically viable time to move back to the UK for decades!

Though I would DEFINITELY say if you're going to do it, move back into a guaranteed job. Unemployment is at a 12 year high right now, and is set to sky rocket because of the economic crisis and a labour govt that is totally inept at dealing with any problems thrown its way, borne out by the fact that in a global financial crisis it's the UK that is suffering more than most (sorry, shouldn't get political here)!

I know of people that have emigrated back to the UK, though a long time ago, so can't really comment on their situation versus yours. Would say that as much as you may want to come back, you may begin to miss the things you've become accustomed to in NZ quite quickly too, and want to go back. Though I know many people who have visited NZ and their criticisms were that they could never live there cos it's too remote, too quiet, no history/culture, and most of the population live in Auckland so there's bugger all to do unless it's in Auckland!

That said, a couple of my mates are in Australia right now. All talk prior to the global financial crisis was of the Australian economy being about to cash in big time, primarily from the mining industry but from others too. Things are quiet there at the mo I'm told, but the moment things start to recover, and people want steel/uranium/gold again then Australia will be the place to be!

chewkw - yep have a fantastic life here - own business thats booming, house, friends etc etc but for some reason we seem to value being able to spend some time with family as a higher priority. Theres probably a compromise position where we go backwards and forwards a bit more but its hard then to have holidays as well as trips home. Doesn;t always feel like a relaxing time !

Depends what your priorities are. If spending time with close family is a higher priority then there is no other way to get that... unless you convince them to move over to NZ...

I would go stir crazy in the UK, but I place a very high priority on being able to get away into the mountains very quickly to go biking/skiing/tramping. Here in Chch I can wake up in the morning, look at the ski-field webcam and decide whether I should go skiing today or not (yep, we are snow-snobs). I have great mtb trails on my doorstep, and fantastic mountains to go biking in only an hours drive away. i can go tramping and walk off into the mountains and not see another person for days on end. I like that it is so easy to get away and into nature here, and that there are large chunks of land that are barely touched by humans.

I work a job that is a 5 to 10 min commute from the house I own and I can afford toys like bikes, skis and a vehicle.

My partner is from Auckland and would like to be living there again, but I would miss the access I have to the mountains here, and really dont like the idea of living in Auckland at all! I would have to put up with higher house prices, rush hour traffic, hours of driving to get to trails etc etc.

To me the thought of the UK is just an even more extreme version of moving to Auckland. More people, more traffic, even higher house prices and even more effort to get out and into the great outdoors. There are some great things going for the UK, but my priorities mean that i would prefer to be here.

To be honest the History of a place is reasonably irrelevant to me. I lived in La Paz, Bolivia for a couple of years but would rather live here in NZ. Their history goes back a looooong way back too.

Sure, we Kiwi's dont have a lot of culture, but I can easily find friends who are always keen to get out and play in the mountains with me, which is really important to me as well!!

There's that culture issue again. What exactly do you mean by that?
Theatre?
Opera?
Live music?
Cafes & pubs?
Galleries?
Nightlife?
You can find them all in NZ & Australia too for that matter.
As for the history of NZ, it only goes back about 1200 years, but it is history. The natural history is a different world altogether.

I'm not sure i can explain the cultural thing particularly well in the written form - seriously. Look, i'm not bagging NZ, i have lived here for long enough and would consider myself to be more Kiwi than a lot of Kiwis but I suppose the driving force would be family then...
Considering what I do most of the time (adventure racing) i wouldn't be looking to live in central london as I spend the majority of my time in the outdoors and value easy access as much as the next outdoors enthusiast. Thanks for the input though - good fodder to think about.

Would a longer trip back to the UK be a good idea.. get based there in a realistic representation of how you'd be if you made the move and see how it is to be back there aside from the somewhat tainted view you get when visiting on holiday. Everyone making the big visit effort, which in reality probably isn't how it'd be once the novelty of you being home has worn off.
The grass is always greener and it sounds like you've established the life you want.
Playing devils advocate(?), what happens if you commit to the permanent return, then realise you miss aspects of NZ life more than you appreciate those aspects you've got back in your lives since returning.

Fortunately, my parents have always been super supportive and have told me on many occasions to follow my own path in life.. the GF's parents weren't overly supportive on her making the move... until they came to visit and realised just why we don't want to be in the UK. It made it hard for the GF until she knew her folks accepted and ultimately approved of the move.

I guess from my point of view here in BC.. if I need to go home, its only a 10 hour flight and if theres a real need to go.. I'd go regardless.
Also, my family (apart from aging grandparents, 90yrs+) visit every year anyway and along with weekly phonecalls, we're really not that far removed from family life over here and I'm back once a year for 'business'.
Parents arrive tomorrow for 3 weeks and my big sis was here over xmas/NY.

Tough call though, either way I'd imagine there will be regrets.

My parents (and my wifes parents) are 110% behind us being here, no question on that. Its not about any pressure other than something we have been thinking about. You are absolutely right though, there would be enormous regrets and gaps with our lives both ways - i guess that is the price you pay for living halfway round the world from your family. Up until recently everyone has visited and i generally paid to them what it would cost me to go back to the UK as i simply did not want to go. Unfortunately my dad is terminally ill and so cannot travel this far hence the triggering I suppose of some thoughts that when he is gone it might be nice to spend some more time with my mum and support her, then we only have 3 parents left to do the same with etc. I've been back 3 times now in the last 6 months and i can;t keep doing that for financial, time and health reasons - its really not cool to fly 12000kms for 5 days ! I think maybe taking a month off would work better. Just interesting that we could even consider it seeing as our lives are out here now !

my sister & her first husband emigrated to Canada in 82. Came back in 88ish to look after his family business.

It didn't last. Eldest son was born in the UK, but his two younger brothers are Canadian born & bred. They all live in Alberta now.

I have great mtb trails on my doorstep, and fantastic mountains to go biking in only an hours drive away.

LOL good to know Im not the only unsettled soul...

I have pretty much always been on the move since I can remember, I've recently returned from a 2 year overseas trip that took me to some of the worlds most beautiful and often dangerous places.

My family live in NZ.

I live here in the UK, granted I live in a beautiful part of this ere island and within great mtb routes and windsurfing spots....but I still occasionally wonder what life would be like 'over the fence'.

As my ex girlfriend once said to me 'Richard, I don't think you will ever be truly happy' ... and I guess she is right. Im just one of those people who is always searching, looking over the fence to see what else is out there.

It's not a bad thing as long as you realise that 'is what you are'.

Im renovating a place at the momment and its really exciting, I have a sense of place, and I am surrounded by things and people that are important to me.

However I do miss my family and would love to see my nieces growing up.....but hey ho.

You really cannot have everything in life!

John_Key - Member
But Inzane you live in Christchurch which is a white trash filled smog ridden place which is flat boring and folk think their coffee needs a litre of milk with it

Yeh, I know... but I put up with it for this sort of stuff...

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and these sort of trails on my doorstep

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Awww... are you jealous John?? 😐

How old is that Diamondback?
Or is the photo from back in the day. I used to live in Chch in 93 & rode all the trails I could there.
As for the going home, I live in Tassie now, but NZ is a fairly easy trip, even at short notice. 🙁 🙁 now.
Good luck with making a hard decision.

I would go stir crazy in the UK, but I place a very high priority on being able to get away into the mountains very quickly to go biking/skiing/tramping.

Yeah cos you can't do that in the UK 🙄

Britain isn't the South East. Go and live in Wales, the North, Scotland, the West country if you want that.

Unless you're moving back to the middle of nowhere you may have issues coming to terms with how bad the country has got in the twelve years since you left. Some on here think that having this opinion is plain wrong, but then they probably live in the middle of nowhere or are themselves pushing this grand "social enrichment" experiment. Me, I'm moving from the (greater London) town I grew up in because it's too much like being in a Airport Terminal, one of five at best speak English as their native language. I feel like a bit of a refugee but hey there you go. Bring on the "drivel-spouting nazi" jibes...

Oh and you couldnt have picked a worse time (economically) to be moving back to blighty

The problem with the UK is that it can be tricky to organise living in the really nice bits. Still quite possible though - depends on what your business is.

My wife and I have been living "offshore" for some 8 years now and are seriously considering a move back to the UK as I'm not certain we can make it through another winter here. We're fairly flexible on where we can live but don't want to return to our roots in Staffordshire though I used to love Cannock Chase for its accessability from our place in Slitting Mill - it was quite literally a hop over the garden gate.

We just don't know where to go. Employment isn't a major consideration fortunately.

Well to be honest most of the country is great - just avoid the big cities.

My mate lives in a normal town and the view from his living room window is like this:

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But better - can see the whole range.

He lives in Brecon?

Bit too small to be called proper town isn't it?

I can't wait to leave!

But I will miss pals and family but I hardly have time due to work to visit my parents-3 times a year for a week?

I hardly see my pals-with workload.

I just want to be in the Sun.

Seriously you'll get over it-you miss your family for sure but use Messenger and talk to them till you get sick of it!

Bit too small to be called proper town isn't it?

No. Not to me, it's bigger than where I grew up. It's got supermarkets, shops, banks, pubs, people, an LBS, whatever you need - and it's slap bang in the middle of more great riding than you could shake a mini-pump at.

Inzane - I would go stir crazy in the UK, but I place a very high priority on being able to get away into the mountains very quickly to go biking/skiing/tramping.

molgrips - Yeah cos you can't do that in the UK

Britain isn't the South East. Go and live in Wales, the North, Scotland, the West country if you want that.

Not trying to be nasty, but Britan does not have what I consider to be real "Mountains", not like the French Alps, or the Southern Alps. There are however lots of big hills, with trails for miles... but it is different to what we have here, or what you find in the Alps.

Oh, and I have lived in Wales 😉

kiwijohn
How old is that Diamondback?
Or is the photo from back in the day. I used to live in Chch in 93 & rode all the trails I could there.

That Diamondback is probably 1992 or something. That photo might be almost a year old...

There have been a lot of trails built up the hills since 93, and we are still building a lot more!!

This is probably the best thread Ive read on STW - for once nobody is trolling, no juvenile name calling - just good honest adult discourse, cheers guys you have really brightened up my day!

But to the meat of why I find this thread so appealing: Im a brit living in San Francisco with my G/f & her 2 kids & all the great bonuses that brings. My problem is that the W coast of the US is so far away from anywhere else (like NZ) that in fact Im closer to Tokyo than London!

Yeah I miss the buzz of London, I miss heading out for a long w/e with the bike, I miss packing up & going home at the end. But times & life changes - how dull would it be if we never moved to a new place? Rode a new trail? Some aspects of US culture drives me nuts but then so does a fair chunk of the UK's culture..

NZCol do what feels right & only you know what that might be. Its tough to decide I know - there will always be aspects of both that you like & dislike, you just have to find a way to way them up.

Molgrips - great pic of the Beacons!

Brack - yep your not the only one oh & I hate to say it but I think an ex of mine said the same thing once..Maybe we need to talk 😉

s'alright - as i sat on the deck last night doing a con call in my shorts and t-shirt while gazing at Mt Tapuae U'Uenukue as the sun started to drop I realised that theres no danger of getting me back to the UK anytime soon so we've decided to put some strategies in place to let us have the best of both worlds 🙂

While we do have real mountains (and I have climbed a couple of the big ones here...) i tend not to take my bike up them ! but i can ride from the house easily, i can paddle my ski in < 5 mins from the house, i can get to work in <15mins and while the beer is not brilliant i can always heat it up in the microwave first 😉

Thanks all for the constructive comments - appreciate it.

Col, Wgtn and happy with that thanks !

NZCol, one thing I have been told by numerous people is that if I visit home (UK) beware the buzz factor. This is when its good to see old friends n family, places etc. If you do go back have a long visit first to get the initial excitement over with. WWW.EMIGRATENZ.ORG has a returning home section in the forum.

agreed on the south east thing, this place is slowly killing me inside!

There just isn't any countryside!

The cotswolds/chilterns/south downs are just molehils surrouded by crap towns and smog.

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NZ Col how long have you had that DB?

Looks very similar to one I had when in Christchurch....?

Good Thread. I moved to NZ with my wife and 2 kids 18 months ago, i stay at home and look after them which brings it's own issues as i'm used to being in work and providing for my family rather than taking the eldest to kindi or changing napies.

we talk of going back to the UK (not that we would for quite a long time) or trying out another country like Austrailia, Canada, US etc. I feel sometimes that i miss the UK, the countryside (specifically cornwall: wales just looks like parts of NZ)the trails in UK, and sometimes family. The family issue is more important to the wife as she is closer to hers, but i do feel quite uneasy when mine are not well, and would prefer to be closer sometimes. Also i have nieces than i'd like my kids to meet someday.

What prevents us returning is what we have here and what we could never have in the UK is:
1) a 4 bedroom detached house in a 'good' part of Auckland 2km from a nice white sand beach.
2) walking distance to very good schools and kindi's and parks without heroin needle on the slides (yes we had them in Somerset).
3) only one of us having to work to afford a resonable life style. So therefore the kids knowing both their parents (as the wife teaches and so basically doesn't do a full days work, but don't dare tell her that!)Also you can spend more time together as a family here.
4) lack of people, even in Auckland it's easy to get away from people for a walk, ride or surf in relative peace and quiet.
5) being able to see the stars.
6) oh and about 400 UK a years for council tax - where they actually do stuff too!

Things i don't much care about in NZ and make me want to leave!

1) being away from family and freinds from UK
2) Idiots - not so much chavs as just morons that hoon round in jap cars throwing beer bottles out the window - i think it's an NZ and Oz thing - hard to go for a road ride without shreadding a tyre.
3) Apaling driving! i've driven all over europe (including Portugal) and i feel a lot safer there! (i was very nearly killed 2 days ago on a road ride - very scary)
4) Not the weather - it's way better here!

It's a tough decision to make, moving back - we just wouldn't do it as the reasons we left still exist; having to work your ass off just to live, poor schooling (before you lot start - the schools here (at least where we are) are a lot better, my wife's has taught in a lot of UK schools and two here so she keeps me up to date oh and cramped expensive housing that we'd be paying off for the rest of our lives. the constant feeling of being shafted by taxes just for being middle income - there is no stamp duty here, tax on most things is less.

Yes there is a lot to love about the UK, it certainly isn't all bad by any means, except Luton, that really does stink - but we left so we could be a family - it just means that we can't be physically near the rest of em.

brack - the DB isn;t mine, but I do have my rather fetching 1990 Kona Explosif which i ride to/from work on sometimes !

Hmm yeah interesting to read of others over here. My main worry is family but I think 12years down the line the UK would be too much of move for us and given our lifestyle here we can work a way to spend enough time there while still doing all the things we want to do in our lives.

And driving - oh yeah, i hear you. I was almost nailed 4 weeks ago on a road ride rather bizarrely by the lead vehicle for a Triathlon coming the other way. They decided to overtake another car even though i was coming towards her, she put me off the road into the buches. Incredible, doubly so considering what she was doing at the time. I reported them to the police and she fronted up very apologetic but still didn;t really grasp the concept that she could quite easily have killed me had i not been able to get off the road! She saw me, but carried on because "She had to get in front" - the police are keen to revoke her licence for 12 months....

brack

NZ Col how long have you had that DB?

Looks very similar to one I had when in Christchurch....?

That DB in the picture is mine. I have only had it about a year... It is all pretty original and in good running condition and I even have the original smoke tyres for it. There has been talk of running some retro racing (and there was one race run last year).

@alexathome. I agree, the driving and idiots in boy racer jap cars here in nz are appalling. Drivers and road manners etc in NZ are terrible!!

I thought it'd be different out of Auckland - but just as bad in Wellington! I was turning right (arm out at 90 degrees) just about to swing right (only doing about 15km) when i car hoons up from behind at about 120 km in an 80, i thought he was going to go to my left - but no the d1ck overtakes on my right, i just caught a glimps out my eye as i looked over my shoulder, one second more, or if i hadn't of just seen him and swerved back and i'd of been at right angles to a car doing 120 km! i was so shaken up that i had to stand at the side of the road for a while and compose myself. i'd like to say it was the first time - now the wife wants me to give up road riding. Then again i wouldn't ride down the A37 either!

That is one thing i miss i suppose - people from the UK are, although not generally as friendly are however more curtious, especially on the road - for a place with has a reputation for an easy going layed back sort of a place, put them behind the wheel of a car and they are ****in idiots.

@alexathome. I agree, the driving and idiots in boy racer jap cars here in nz are appalling. Drivers and road manners etc in NZ are terrible!!

Inzane, dead right about Christchurch. The place is over run with chavs.

[url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10497192 ]news story[/url]

I was there during that w/e. It was a shocker

walking distance to very good schools and kindi's and parks

Got that here.

being able to see the stars

That too.

Don't confuse living in crappy parts of the UK with living in the UK. The things that most people complain about in the UK aren't ubiquitous by any means.

Exactly.... molgrips has a good point! Speaking as someone who's work colleagues seem to be emigrating ( and returning) at a sheep like rate of knots??? (not too sure about that quote?).

I find it amazing that so many 'couch dwellers' think that just by relocating to the other side of the world that they will suddenly fall into a new way of life and become adrenaline sports junkies and bbq socialites overnight.

Most of those that have left have chosen to live in crappy areas of the UK and live their lives in a very mundane way.....if I lived in Slough I would be chomping at the bit to emigrate....but wouldn't have got myself there in the first place and would consider moving elsewhere in the UK first.

I wonder how many people have comitted themselves to the big overseas move and have been to embarrased to back down for the worry of losing face?

Why not emigrate.. to Wales, or Scotland? 🙂 Great riding, cheap(er) houses, great riding.. quiet roads, small towns, peace and quiet, did I mention the great riding? 🙂

I love where I live !

Where's that then brack?

Chichester.....

I windsurf/ kitesurf...and most wind directions can be covered around here.

The South Downs are right on my door step....and Im still not bored of them!

Ive lost count of how many days I can be out on the Downs in the morning and then sailing in the afternoon.

All topped off with a great summer season of festivities and live music/ real ale. Good access to London should I ever feel the desire....for culture.

Oh and something happens at Goodwood every so often.... :^)

One of the reasons I live in Wgtn is that I can ride, paddle and run offroad from my door while having a 15min commute to a very well paid job in a major city. I live in a house that is in the bush with a veiw fo the ocean and no-one near me. While I accept that you can live in some lovely places in the UK (my parents live in rural scotland and it has great riding etc from the door) given the population you'll not be able to do all those things anywhere would be my guess but am happy to be put right. Sure I could easily live near them, buy a fantastic house but i'd be commuting at least 90mins to a 'decent' job. If I chose not to work then i could live anywhere - but that applies in NZ as well. If i didn;t need to work I'd probably live somewhere more rural.
However all that said - your life is your life and if transplanting yourself halfway round the world will not change your attitude or your tolerance which always surprises me. The number of UK people who come to NZ then whinge that its not like home is amazing - i know its not like the UK surely thats why you came here ???? I've heard all sorts of moans about lack of choice of clothes/food/braodband providers etc etc - so what ?
Anyway i'm sure there are lots of great places to live for happy people like all of use 🙂

Molegrips - just out of interest where abouts are you in the UK?

""""Why not emigrate.. to Wales, or Scotland? Great riding, cheap(er) houses, great riding.. quiet roads, small towns, peace and quiet, did I mention the great riding? """

And Molgrips - i've lived there - never again thanks.

lived NZ 2 years.
Came back cos i'd ordered a new elise (shallow or what...) and it was ready to pick up.
Loved NZ.
Great people.
Great place.
NZ has it's own culture, i liked it.

But did i fancy seeing my parents only twice a year?
Do i want my kids to grow up without grandparents?
Do i want grandparents to grow old + die having seen their grandchildren a handful of times?

NO.

I'm glad to say most of the peoples experience on here of the uk are alien to me. My experience of the UK is no traffic with mountains,lakes and sea on the doorstep. I can go out for days on end only seeing a few people. I can climb, ski, sail and be in the alps in 3 hours and see all my family in 15mins. How long from ChCh to Wannaka,Q-town, North island?

yes it's expensive in the UK, has a high population the politicians are whores and it's going to the dogs..but it's home.

Incidently if you think the PC brigade is bad over here, try NZ for a while.

I dare say i would have a different perspective if i was stuck in a shitty job in a shitty city.

But i'm not.

Good luck to you. As i'm sure you know this isn't the "truth", it's just my point of view.

Cheers

Andy

And Molgrips - i've lived there - never again thanks.

Care to expand on that? Where did you live and why didn't you like it?

I live in a city with moderate access to decent countryside and trails. Not ideal - there are nicer places I'd rather live.

polarisandy - thanks for your post, v interesting.
Can I ask where you have moved back to in the UK and what you do for a living ?
PS I;m not a stalker or owt , just interested !!

We moved to Chch NZ 6 years back, and have no desire to live in the UK again even though i will always consider myself a yorkshire man, its crowded, trafic is manic etc the weather can be a bit trying!
we are not close to my family so that is not an issue and my mum visits every year for 6 weeks, but she is getting on now and i do wonder what i will do when she is older and maybe sick.
The only thing i could say i miss about the uk is the biking, i think the access to such a vast network of trails BPaths old droving tracks etc accross the moors like in the peaks and dales cannot be found anywhere in NZ - yes there are some good places but just not the same.

I am going on a visit the the UK in sept (taking the bike) i am sure i will enjoy it but be glad to get 'home'i think like they say the grass is always greener on the other side - but it can soon go brown.

I can see your pull NZcol to be near the family, but if you have a sucesfull business here and a good life do you realy want to go back and start all over again? if i was you i would thinking about having 2-3 months back there so you get away from the holiday aspect and a bit more into life, (leave your heart out of it) do you have a business partner/good staff you can leave to keep the business ticking over? Do a house/life swap for a few months, bet there is someone on here who would hapily swap with you for a few months.

I've been in Welly for 5 months now. I am finding it really swings and round abouts. Expat I totally agree. There isn't the trail network like home so kinda feels somehow limited to where you can ride. I am a graphic/web designer so technology is a big one for me so I'm finding things a bit backwards in that regard.

I'm really glad I came here but my heart is in the uk so will not be too upset to go home. Got lots more choice for bike stuff!!!!!

I wouldn't bother going back if you have no job or anything or you will be turning straight back round.

Expat - yep thats precisely the decision we have come to and what we'll do is do some longer visiting trips and makemore of an effort - i didn't go back to the UK at one point for 4 years. Anyhoo its all passed and we're deleriously happy to be at 'home' again even with its foibles.
Agree re; trail network though. There is a lot of good riding around but i definitely agree. Giddyrob if you fancy a ride then let me know, i'm in wgtn and know pretty much all the tracks as I have mapped the whole area for roganing and orienteering !!!

there are no good tracks here in wellington. Move right along, nothing to see..... ➡

So where should us Brits in NZ ride so we can emulate the trails back home?
Chch has a pretty good trail network in the port hills but to be honest they are not exactly technical or very exciting (after you have been riding them for a few years) Vic park doesnt count cos its mainly DH, there are some good walking tracks in the hills which are far more tech than the mtb ones but obviously i have NEVER riden these......

in Welly have only riden the Karopoti course/race (in 2.49 🙂 but there does seem to be a better trail network (manmade) than chch, but thats what the locals say, Nelson has some realy good stuff - and some big hills! Roto Vagas forest is goog but i guess after a few months it could get a bit stale, but at least the trails (some of) are challenging.

My MTB skills have deff gone downhill these last few years with no realy tech stuff to challenge me.

So the question is from a Brit point of view where should one live in NZ (Kiwi's need not reply cos they have not experienced real trails and will be blinkered....)

But on a positive, riding is often who you are riding with, the weather, the views etc I have done back country rides staying in huts, i do a lot of racing and enjoy training so when i am out i am not always thinking about the quality of the trail. so no i wouldnt move back just for the biking. i am sure the drive to the peaks and the number of people there would make me realise how lucky i am to be living in NZ.
I rd ride a bit as well and so faw have not had any dramas with trafic - but then i usually ride outside of rush hour.

Maybe we should have a 'brit meet' were we can go out and whinge about the trails.

col i'm a Dr and live in the lakes.

Anyway in the cold light of day i have to admit that... the coast experience isn't quite the same as rolling out of bed and down to Taylor's, the skiing isn't quite Mt Hutt, the hills aren't quite the Great Divide and the sailing is different from balls out, insane Skiff racing on Lytleton harbour. NZ is a truly a great place.

But there is an alternative view of the UK, admittedly a relatively privileged one, than commonly given.

I moved from 2 yrs of work and walkabout in NZ to 3 months in Putney/London, after which i quickly moved to the Lakes. My view of the UK could be quite different without my job or location.

Re the aging relatives/kids/grandkids-not seeing parents thing, it must be a really difficult decision, but for that reason alone i'm glad i came back.
Right now, i've got a 3 and a 5 year old, the thought of them moving to the other side of the world at some time in the future makes me very sad. So at the moment i've got a very biased view of things. I guess if their prospects of living in a nice environment, good job, lifestyle schools etc etc was much better away, then i would get over it.

I heard a good cliche the other day "your kids are only loaned to you"

cheers

Andy

Expat - as a scot with some experience of riding a lot in scotland i would say .... there isn't really anywhere that would be classed as the same. As was said before the network of trails etc in the UK has been built up over time and NZ, as a relatively young country does not have that network. Also the geography is quite different and as a result tracks are often steep, and ruogh so are not suitable for biking. Saying that there is a lot of stuff but you have to go looking. The Karapoti area is a good example - on your eay round the course there are at least 4 off track bits of very very sweet singletrack that exist - the descent off Dopers for example has a great piece of track down the RHS as you descend - but unless you have a good map you wouldn;t know it was there, you literally have to ride through a bush to get to it !
I've ridden a lot of places over the last 12 years and would say that each area has its own gems - Welly has a good network of trails, Makara Peak and also some other good stuff within a reasonable distance. It also has a lot of good cheeky trails(tm) that if you are brave you can ride (Orongorongas, Ride Track at Kaitoke etc) but i would _never_ condone that. But as you say its all different. I have ridden through the back of the Clarence - 3 days of lovely riding staying in huts thats probably as close to Scotland as I could remember. In that 3 days we also saw a grand total of 0 people.
I've stayed in ChCh quite a lot as well (I worked at Mt Hutt for 2 years ...) and ridden the Port Hills, as you say if thats your nearest riding then you'll quickly tire of it. But then you have stuff up at Mt Grey, Ashley Forest, Wharfedale, Cragieburn etc not too far away, even up Windwhistle/Rakaia theres some nice stuff. Depends. Very interesting though. I was in Scotland for a month last July and rode some lovely lovely lovely stuff in Scotland, some blasts from the past, my 14hr epic on Skye was v memorable for a variety of reasons.

Wellington? Well the karapoti is a road ride and not really that fun if you want something technical.
Try Makara Peak, Wrights Hill, Mt Vic and the Southern Walkway, Carparts up in Brooklyn are all very nice tracks with a decent amount of technical challenges. Further afield there is Belmont and mt lowry/Wainuiomata which is a really gem.
Sorry to say expat, but I found the tracks in the UK pretty benign and all a bit ho hum. No offense, but there are a lot of pretty average bridle ways which while they are good to put routes together aren't that exciting technically wise.
Have you been and done Wakamarina or Nydia Bay? I doubt you would fine something as technical as those trails in the UK.

Nydia Bay - indeed - a tech fest that one
Wakamarina - i still rate this as the most grin inducing ride in NZ
Kill Devil - more technical than Waka and worth the pain of the climb to enjoy the descent (60 switchbacks is it ?) OMG its fun in fact, I am there from Thursday so will make a point of riding it again 🙂
Karapoti does have a fair bit of technical stuff on it - whats the rock garden ? the bit from the top of Deadwood to TiTi inc the Devils Staircase is pretty technical.
Expat is obviously pretty handy though with a < 3hr poti time - lots of people trash talk it but to get under 3hr is quite hard (for the record I have done 3:00:51 in the race and 2:44:00 in training 😉 - i did have 2 punctures in the race that year !)

@molgrips - i lives in wales for 7 years - maninly around cardiff, and quite some time in Camarthan and Aberystwyth. I found the place to be pretty to look at, but very little to do (except in Cardiff) the sea not clean (as i surf) the beaches on the whole and by comparison to NZ dirty - the crime levels high, especially around cardiff and the schooling by comparison the nz - not good at all. Also as i was not born in Wales you are constantly made to feel like an outsider. Here for example yesterday i went riding in the Hunua ranges met a kiwi who invited me to stay at his 'batch' whilst on my forthcoming cycle tour, walked from my house to a quite beach where my son played in the 22 degree pacific for an hour then had a BBQ in the sun in shorts and flip-flops in our garden that you could of fitted 5 of our old house in - and we discussed it again and decided no we won't be leaving soon.

Yes Karapoti is a gravel rd with 3 big hills and a few good bits in between but i have only ever been to welly to race not to explore.
Re the UK tracks - you musent of looked very hard! Wakamarina gravel rd to trail head, walking track climb which turns into hike a bike to the summit - yes nice decent with a lot of switch backs through the forest though, hardly that technical though.

my memories of the peaks are being able to ride a differant 30mile loop eack weekend (none of this out&back stuff)and if you know where to look some prety hairy stuff thats all natural, but then the BP are usually full of the red sock brigade and if you dont get to the carpark at ladybower before 9am its full!

As i say, the trail network in the UK is far superior to NZ and until the end of time always will be, when you have a population of 65mill (ish I think) compared to a population of 4mill and a landmass thats almost the same size (? guessing there though).
Saying that, i can get to places quickly due to the fact no-one really lives here 🙂

So next time i am heading through welly Col i will mail you and you can show me some of wellys hiden gems - thats if you havent scarpered back to blighty.

Ha ha Col my 1st Karapoti i did 3:00.12 bugger, 3 of us came out of the gorge together they just got a gap on me, and my tired cramped legs just couldnt get back on....... 2nd time i had trained for it hence the time. understand it was a bit 'wet' this year, next year i will do my age group - might get on the podium:-) dont fancy the warmup climb with 1000 riders in front of me though...... 2:44 is reasonably handy though.

Expat - do that for sure always keen for a ride and fishnchipper will be as well assuming he hasn't broken another bike (!)
I've no idea how those boys do 2:15 etc - how ??? I'm no bunny and even getting under 3 is hard work no matter what condition the track is in ! My 2:44 was one of those gem dry fast days with no issues and just on fire. Never again. Honestly the singletrack in there is soooo good , esp the Dopers DH which is hidden, its an absolute cracker and brings you right out at the river as well. Anyway yeah drop me a line, I am also going to be in ChCh quite a lot in the next 6 months so we can go ride aruond there as well .... i have lots of access out tyhe back of Mt Somers etc as friends own a few stations out there...

fishnchipper is now John key

Thought so 😉

Expat. You need to get out of town some more. There is fantastic technical riding about 1 hour out of Chch. I am sure that many people in many places in the world travel a lot longer than that to get to technical riding.

The Port hills are nice to have an after work blast on, or if pushed for time on the weekend... but the riding out Mt Grey, Mt Thomas, Mt Oxford, Craigieburn, Mt Hutt is awesome. Only thing is you might have to learn to hike-a-bike to get to some of the best stuff... Most of these rides I ride as loops.

If you have a bit more time then Croesus, Kirwans, Waiuta etc are good riding. Nelson Blenheim is fantastic with Nydia, Wakamarina, Whites Bay, peaking ridge, Hackett/Browning and Kill devil to name a few.

The other place I really enjoy riding is Alexandra, but you need a local to show you where the trails go (not that they are hidden, just there are tracks everywhere and you need to know which one to follow.

Kill Devil Hill, now that takes me back. Must be 12 years since I rode that hill.
If you're driving through Blenheim looking for a ride, head out to Whites bay & do the Mt Robertson loop, now that is technical.
Edit; I knew inzane would stick his oar in while I was typing that.

Oh and I have not done Karapoti since 94. Was on a rigid heavy steel bike, thumbshifters, cantilever brakes etc. Did a 3.05, but possibly could have done something quicker if my rear derailleur had not blown apart halfway through...

yeah yeah yeah we all have stories like that 😉 😛
I did a 3:45 the year, and this is true, i got a puncture on big ring just after TiTi, tried my pump which promptly shot its guts out into the bushes ! Eventually managed to persuade someone to lend me a pump. Halfway up Dopers my chain snapped and it too went the way of the bushes and for the life of me i could not find it so I ended up frewheeling from Dopers all the way to the finish - nightmare ! Truly is a great race ina sort of brutal way.

Yea i do need to get out more, but 2 small kids sort of stuffs up weekend/long day epics - i could just go for it but the fall out with er indoors could be messy 🙁 moral of biking story - dont have kids. IMHO

yeh, I hear ya. Many of my mates are getting sprogged up too...

I have managed to avoid that trap so far...

Coming late to this thread and strongly identifying with it. I moved to WA so my wife could be near her family and for a better life. My folks are in the states and family in the UK wasn't a hold for me but I really miss my best mate. And there are many aspects of the UK that I miss. Probably more that I don't but what I wouldn't give for a crisp clear winter morning in the Scottish highlands just once in a while.

I could never have in the UK what I have here. There are downsides tho and alexathome I so agree with the driving / hoons thing. In the end there's always a compromise but I set my mind that this was not a trial, it's a long term thing and any other attitude would set me up to fail or at least be unhappy. For others leaving family behind you have a harder decision.

I've lived abroad for about 14 years and I'd say that the thing that tempts me to live back in the UK is not the scenery - though I miss it like hell - it is the people, and the feeling that you are understood and can be understood. Not (just) the language, but the priorities, the sense of humour, the culture. When I go back it is really nice to be able to share a joke, share a comment with a stranger, and not be looked at like a space invader.

Been watching this thread and i too can identify with it.
Having lived in WA for the last decade but now back in the UK for the last 18 months. Moved back for many reasons, family mainly as they are getting on in years. My dad died last year and at least I got to spend some time here with him. We have 2 young kids who he might never of seen.
Our experiences and reasons are probably different from all yours but the crux of it all is we choose to live along way from our homes family and culture for the hope of a better life for ourselves and our children and we don't realise how hard that is until you have done it and for many years. My aunty was a £10 pom and has lived in OZ for 40 years and is still home sick!
We thought the best thing for us was to move back while the kids are young and to know where we came from and to know there grandparents. It has been a very hard road and now we are here i am pleased we did it but i also know that having lived away for so long i have changed and i don't see us staying here for ever and that we will one day return to OZ because it was a better life. We live in a small village on the edge of the Peaks and its is beautiful but it is a bit of a gold fish bowl from the rest of the country!

Well i thought i would revive this subject as it still rumbles along in our life.
I've now been backwards and forwards 3 times this year and quite simply - its too hard. Flying for 32 hours to get somewhere for a max of 10-14 days to fly back to go back to work is really really hard work. Chuck in the fact that this has consumed all the available time off i could possibly get from my business i now have no holiday time with my wife (who hasn;t been able to come with me both the last 2 times) and realistically i can't run a business like this, take months of time off and balance life as well.
Other factor have been brought into play like having children and proximity to grandparents etc which mean that being halfway round the world might not entirely suit us.
We've thought long and hard about the pros and cons - trust me, we have a fantastic life here and there are a page full of cons with not so many pros. However the relative weighting of the pros might tip the balance - we're still on the fence.
I guess the struggle for me is the thought of starting again - mates, job (have run my own businesses for the last 7 years), lifestyle etc EEEeeek but then other parts of it interest me. We've agreed it would be Scotland if we do it and poss somewhere nr family so Fife, would involve commuting for us but would hopefully be a new exciting chapter. Main thing is i don't think despite our earlier thoughts that we can straddle the gap very easily.....

NZCol,

[b]Basically you are home HOME SICK.[/b] You nancy boy. Stop romanticising about a perfect place to live. There is no such place.

If you have a dual citizenship then by all means come back as your heart is no longer there. You will not be happy if do not try to give it a second chance. I bet it will only take a slight trigger of something negative and you will be off again to NZ but this time for good. However, before that you just have to do the hard work by coming back to "taste" it yourself once again with your wife.

It is not a long term holiday you know ... it is a commitment to settle down in one place and to accept the place as it is. No point talking about lacking this or that if you are not willing to put in an effort to settle your heart.

What is all these relatives etc about? Did you not go to NZ knowing you were going to leave them behind? Why attach to them when you are going to start your own family soon? Grandparents? Then get the grandparents over to NZ instead if they are so important to the kids? Otherwise, come back for a visit from time to time.

As for running business from abroad you can still do it if you organise yourself properly. Internet technology useful? What business are you in anyway?

So to sum up ...

1) You found a place for "long term holiday" in NZ.

2) Tried to settle there but homesick.

3) Come up with excuses of family etc.

4) The bottom line - your heart has never left UK but only temporarily.

5) You can afford to move around as you wish.

😯

Stop whinging NZcol, summers coming soon, and you do live in christchurch so it must be pretty chilly. If you are going back i'll have first dibs on your patio heater.

Before we moved to Australia, (almost 3 years ago), I spoke to a woman back in the UK. She had moved to Australia with her family years ago, couldn't really settle after giving it a few years here, and moved back to the UK. They actually found it quite difficult to settle in the UK after spending so much time away.

We have flown back a few times, and apart from our families, there wasn't a lot that we missed back in the UK, and just wanted to get back to Aus.

I work in the mining industry here, and work is very good, and picking up quickly again. If I was back in the UK, I would almost certainly be out of work.

I lived in central QLD for 2 years, and it was very quiet, so I can imagine what life would be like in parts of NZ. Once we moved to Brisbane, things picked up a lot for us, and the family are a lot more settled.

Hey NZCol. I'm in Aus, and whilst I would never consider going 'home' I can empathise with you.
Over here, there is a culture, but it's a one trick culture - If you go out for an Indian, it's an Aussie who'll serve you. If it's theatre then it's probably something distinctly aussie. Indeed I don't enjoy Aussie dramas on TV, they just seem more bland than the multi cultural stuff of Blighty. I've tried explaining to people here what it means to actually live somewhere like the UK, where the local supermarket has proper chorizo or other euro exotica. And wine - apparently there is only Au wine.
So yeah, totally not for everyone.
If I had the cash to have a lifestyle that I would feel comfortable I'd be back in the UK. But until I win a lottery (sorry, Lotto) then it's not going to happen.
I used to work with someone who went to NZ then moved back, much for the same reasons - so you're not alone.

Alexathome: I don't live in ChCh. Try again.

chewkw: Can you point out where i asked for the perfect place to live ? You might also want to put your questions before your answers - If i was a ****ing plumber the Internet isn't exactly going to help now is it ? Twunt. I find your response really interesting as you seem to think I am asking for a solution which i quite clearly am not, i was updating the thread because there was some relevant stuff on it. However, you;ve obviosuly got something to get off your chest so I'm glad you have - thanks, its helped me immensely.
You could of course consider the fact that many of your points are utter c0ck really. Particularly your homesick line. I think you'll find I'm not actually but balancing the relative merits of where we are now versus access to family. Indeed i did think about that 12 yrs ago when i 'moved' here but, well maybe not in your life perhaps, circumstances change and drivers to do stuff do as well. Tell me, where do the rest of my family Live ? you don;t have a ****n clue so you can't actually comment you twunt.
However I have finished my sushi lunch now so i will go back to my plumbing. Have fun *kiss*