Hi my name is Sue Coleman and I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse. I came to NZ in Jan 2012 with my husband and 2 daughters from Lincoln, UK.
The process to come to NZ took me about 12 months.
The easiest part of the process was getting a job with the help of Accent Health Recruitment!! The most challenging part of the process was going through the nursing registration process and figuring out their 'speak' and what they wanted from me. Accent Health Recruitment were very helpful and gave us pointers when I got a bit stuck.
My first impressions of NZ were friendly people, clean country and the best parts of NZ are the slower pace of life, people are more accepting of differences between people, fantastic landscapes, better weather than UK....you can just be yourself!
What I miss the most is my friends & family and a really good curry!
My advice if you are planning to come to NZ is to do extensive research into where you want to live, take into account the needs of your family versus location, this is very important to help you all settle in.
I would also advise when leaving, say your goodbyes at home; don't wait until you're at the airport!