Allo Jon Wanna Buy My Motor?

After an amount of soul searching, we thought we ought to try and sell the car. It's obviously going to depreciate over the next few months, so it seems sensible to sell it now. I know someone who's selling an old Cavalier for £300 with a year's MOT, so that would do as "adequate transport" for the next few months. I felt rather odd placing the advert, a bit like I'd just shot a family member, but then I'm going to have to get used to this feeling because if it won't go in a container, it ain't coming with us. Anybody want to buy an MPV?

We've also decided we ought to open a New Zealand bank account, since we'll have to do this sooner or later. As the dollar rate is slipping again it might be useful to be in a position to make the most of this.

Approved in Principle

After some thought, we've decided to go into the "approved in principle" pile. This means that we have a maximum of 18 months to touch down. We had heard that the migrant levy was being increased by a huge amount, but this appears to be wrong, in fact it's reducing by £5 per head. Whether the cap of 4 persons (currently £460!) is reducing is another matter, and not even our case officer seems to know the answer to that one.

Wooo!!!

Woooo!!!!

Happy new year.

It certainly is - our application for residence in New Zealand has been approved in principle. We now have to decide if we will activate the visa immediately, or whether we wait up to six months. Either way, from the date of activation we have 12 months to touch down in Auckland.

Wooooo!!! again.