We had landed on Canadian soil and surprising the ground was perfectly visible and not covered in metres of snow as we expected! If we could have kissed the tarmac, we would have we were that grateful to finally be here. After the first leg of our journey to Ottawa was complete and we had the much-needed opportunity to decompress from the stress of the past couple of weeks we felt very much like the beautiful jelly fish that greeted us as we got off the plane at Vancouver Airport, weightless, floating and drifting with the tide of passengers as we headed through transit to the baggage collection (brainless could…

After Wednesdays ongoing debate regarding the finer points of PCR testing and the flight cancellation fiasco, we were overjoyed to have finally made it to Friday and departure day mark two! Our ‘correct’ PCR tests were carried out by appointment the day before and true to their word Rako Science provided us our $250 certificates early Friday morning. A heady mix of relief and disappointment heralded the certificates arrival, we were grateful that they had arrived but not only were they not written in gold leaf on the finest quality paper known to man, they stated the same thing that our free government PCR tests AKA the ‘incorrect’ PCR test…

The few days of rest after leaving our home behind were idyllic and just what we needed after the strain of the move but if stress were a three-course meal the move would have been the appetizer! Little did we know that the days to follow would eclipse everything we had experienced thus far. The calm before the shit storm! In the week leading up to the move Omicron had really been making its presence known across Auckland with the number of exposed cases reaching a high of nine hundred. Testing stations were at capacity with test results often delayed due to the sheer numbers (those of you living in…

We arrived back at the house bright, early, and thoroughly knackered the next morning for what should be our final day at the house if the movers were to be believed! Our friends who were putting us up were amazing hosts the previous night and kept us plied with food, drink and great company which was the distraction we needed. Once we finally got to bed that night, we expected to fall into a deep slumber through sheer physical and emotional exhaustion but instead lay there looking at the ceiling contemplating the enormity of what we were about to embark on and marvelling at the enormity of space in a…

The Christmas break arrived before we knew it, in true Grinch fashion we chose to cancel Christmas this year (sorry family for the Christmas present drought!) and instead packed up the house and tried to save money. Every day we waited in anticipation for the mail to arrive bearing our Canadian PR visas, our poor postie was one step away from reporting us for harassment due to our constant loitering at the post box! We were a little disappointed when Christmas day came and went without the visas, Santa was paying us back for cancelling on him. This disappointment was not to last long however, as on the 29th of…

As soon as the lockdown lifted and we went into Level 3 restrictions we contacted the Immigration Medical Specialist in Auckland to see if we could book an appointment to have our medicals done, our first phone call went surprisingly well! We explained the urgency of our situation to the receptionist (who we will call the nice receptionist), she believed that the doctor would not have a problem completing our medicals and gave us a couple of suitable dates for an appointment the following week and we were to give her a ring as soon as we had confirmed a date and could book the time off work. A short…

The rest of 2020 to 2021 went quickly and excruciatingly slowly at the same time! Covid-19 finally reached NZ and lockdowns, restrictions and vaccination mandates became our new norm! We were lucky to be in the position we were, being in and out of lockdowns and restrictions for weeks at a time on thirty-one beautiful acres was a blessing and a privilege and not something we ever took for granted. Don’t get me wrong, we had moments where the frustration at having to continue waiting was so painful and soul destroying that we began to doubt that we would ever get to Canada, especially as in all honesty as soon…