# Happy Canada Day to the Canadian expats in NZ!!



## jnbates (Apr 21, 2011)

I hope the Canadians in the crowd are able to find ways to celebrate a bit today! All our stuff is still in a container, leaving the port of Vancouver today actually. The only Canadian-like insignia I have on any of my clothes is a Banff T-shirt and cap.


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## jnbates (Apr 21, 2011)

yay Canada wheeeeeee! 

*and the crowd goes wild*...


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## jawnbc (Apr 28, 2012)

jnbates said:


> yay Canada wheeeeeee!
> 
> *and the crowd goes wild*...


Happy Canada Day--my last one in the country for a while most likely. Typically low key here in Vancouver though I've worn my colours (Canada Rugby World Cup jersey, home red) all day!


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## jnbates (Apr 21, 2011)

HAHAHA! Nicely done!


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## Kiakaha_Chch (Jul 2, 2012)

Happy Canada day!

Im a New Zealander (married to a Canadian) based in Vancouver. What I wanna know is why would a Canadian move to New Zealand?


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## jawnbc (Apr 28, 2012)

Because NZ rocks!


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## G-Mo (Aug 17, 2011)

Kiakaha_Chch said:


> Happy Canada day!
> 
> Im a New Zealander (married to a Canadian) based in Vancouver. What I wanna know is why would a Canadian move to New Zealand?


I'm a Canadian (married to a New Zealander) based in Toronto. Same question goes the other way... Why would a New Zealander move to Canada?


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## jawnbc (Apr 28, 2012)

jnbates said:


> HAHAHA! Nicely done!



That was me during the 2010 Games. Women's hockey or Ice Dance gold--can't remember which. I was there for 7 of our 14 gold medals


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## jnbates (Apr 21, 2011)

Kiakaha_Chch said:


> Happy Canada day!
> 
> Im a New Zealander (married to a Canadian) based in Vancouver. What I wanna know is why would a Canadian move to New Zealand?


Well, here's why _this _Canadian family moved to New Zealand (from a different thread):
What prompted our move was the really long and harsh winter of 2010/2011. About a year ago I was at my wit's end after putting up with it (central Alberta climate) for 22 yrs. I'm 43 y.o. and felt I'd had enough sub-freezing temps to last a normal lifetime. My wife's in the medical field and in this region she is pigeonholed into only being able to work certain aspects of her field. The structure for that work in NZ provides much more flexibility and professional opportunity for her.

We've been very sensible (too sensible?) with our finances over the years so we're at a point where we can take this chance (as low a risk as it seems to be, so far), and our kids are young enough to not be entrenched in social networks yet. Family is not close by and we don't see them nearly often enough to make it worth it to stick around here while putting up with almost 7 months of no leaves on the trees.

Most of all, I see old guys retired and staying around here. I figure I'm working and saving so I can do whatever the heck I want when I retire, so I ask them why they're sticking around. I always hear that it's because the kids stayed in the area when they moved out, and they've got grandkids now that they don't want to leave. That's when I realized there's no way I want to get caught like that, so we planned to move and raise the kids someplace where we'd want to live when we retired, anyway! That way, if they don't go far and if they have kids of their own, we'll already be right where we want to be.

I guess maybe life here has become easy (both making plenty of cash, home has a lot of equity in it, fast cars, cheap fuel/clothes/food) - time to change things up. And time to show the kids that, if they ever want to do stuff like this when they grow up, it's a big wide world out there and they can do it, too.


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## jnbates (Apr 21, 2011)

jawnbc said:


> That was me during the 2010 Games. Women's hockey or Ice Dance gold--can't remember which. I was there for 7 of our 14 gold medals


Benefit of living in Vancouver at the time - nice! In that picture your face is the personification of joy - LOL!


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