Sailing into safe harbour

Ashley and Charlie Daws once served in the Royal Navy, so they had plenty of the sense of adventure needed for a move halfway around the world to New Zealand.

“We’d both served in the navy and had visited virtually everywhere we’d wanted to go, but I never made it to New Zealand. Then a family friend, who’d just returned, showed us his photos and I knew it was a place I had to experience. Of course, there’s a difference between holidaying somewhere and living there, but as soon as we visited we knew it was the place for us. After all, we loved an adventure and having lived in about ten houses during the previous four years, moving around wasn’t new to us.

It was clear New Zealand would provide a great environment for our children – Louis, seven, and Olivia, three. Without wanting to knock the UK because, after all, everywhere has its problems, we realised that when our kids became teenagers and wanted to go out on their own, we would have worried. We won’t here.

We moved in December 2007 and on our first day visited Whangarei Falls, one of the most photogenic waterfalls in New Zealand. We were walking along a track and a group of kids approached. They all said, ‘Hello!’ which seemed weird because Charlie and I couldn’t remember the last time that had happened in the UK.

But everyone has been polite and supportive. We often have barbecues on the beach and the other day I forgot the gas bottle. A Kiwi family realised what we’d done and lent us theirs. We didn’t ask for it, they just came over. I tried giving them money for the fuel but they wouldn’t take it. People just want to be friendly and help out.

We live at Arkles Bay in Whangaparaoa, which is Maori for Bay of Whales. Pods of orca and dolphins are regularly spotted in the ocean. The climate is lovely: in winter, average daytime temperature is about 16 degrees and in summer it rarely gets above 30, so it doesn’t see the extreme temperatures you get in, for example, Australia.

As soon as we’d decided to move, we identified areas we liked the sound of and would consider living in. But you have to visit to really find out what a place is like. When Charlie and I saw the places we’d identified, we’d have moved to any of them; then a guy told us about Whangaparaoa Peninsula, which we fell in love with as soon as we saw it. It’s far enough from Auckland yet still easy to reach if necessary.

We live on the crest of a hill and our balcony overlooks the ocean – it’s gorgeous. I bought the house without Charlie knowing but, luckily, she trusted my judgement. Last September, I visited New Zealand on my own because Charlie, who’s an anaesthetic technician, had been offered a job in Gisborne, an area we didn’t know much about. On my way back to Auckland, I popped in to an estate agents to see someone I knew. He showed me around various properties, including some we’d seen on the internet and there were two I loved. By the time I could contact Charlie, I’d already placed an offer on one of them and the paperwork was being organised."

Read the full story in our March 2008 issue. 

For more information on moving to New Zealand, visit Ashley’s website, www.uk2nz.co.uk, which provides everything you need to know about emigrating, finding work and living in New Zealand