The meeting with Iain from Protea Pacific was this morning. It went really well. Our plan going in was to move to Nelson where I would start my own internet consultancy. That would be possible, but it is a very long bureaucratic process. It's much easier to go over as a "skilled migrant" with a job offer. Once you've worked for 3 months, you are free to leave the offered job and do as you please.

The only catch is that it's very difficult to get a job without being in country. And we'd need to look in a city larger than Nelson (ie: Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch). We were told it's best to come over on a Visitors Visa, as if you were coming over for good, and start looking for a job. This generally takes four to eight weeks. Once we have jobs, our residency applications would be filled while in country.

We'd leave right away, except Lane is about to start a phatty new job. So we'll be in SF for at least the next 6 months.

Which is fine with us - There will be plenty of time to sell off all our crap.

It was incredible. There's both considerably more and not a whole lot else to say about it. I keep going back and forth between the two. Tomorrow we meet with the immigration consultant. At which point there where either be a whole lot more to do or nothing. Tomorrow is a big day.

Lane photos. My photos. Lane's slightly more informative post on the subject.

Today we leave for Nelson. It'll be nice to have something solid to stand on with this whole plan - Rather than a million scattered pieces of information semi-assembled into open ends.

It's been a little overwhelming.

How much can you know about a country? I don't think "enough" until we're allowed to live there. You never know what little bit might make the difference.

All I've been doing for the last week is know. And clean house.

Twelve hours on an airplane has never sounded so comfortable.

Plane tickets are in hand and a car is rented. In about a week, we'll be checking out what may become our neighborhood in New Zealand. We won't be there long... Just enough time to see some houses and get a feel for the town. It's exciting and wonderful and a bit scary too.