My final farewell...

Well everyone this is the last time that I'll be writing and the last time you'll be reading as this is going to be my final blog!

When I last wrote I think I'd said we would be moved in by now however this isn't the case. We have however spent the weekend up in Manly preparing the house for our Sea freight consignment arriving and as you can see from the photo taken on Saturady at little Manly beach, Lily is very happy! We literally can't wait to get fully moved in now so we can start to prepare for baby no:2 coming, Poppy, Ava, Barker is due in only 4 weeks, scary...

As far as work goes I feel I've made a good start, it still feels strange as I'm not into a routine and believe me I'm a man that likes routine, however this is going to take time. Over the next 3 weeks I will be meeting all my store team members, as I'm going to be working a mixture of day's/night's. So this should give me a great opportunity to build relationships with all the team members that work around the clock, across the 11 stores.

In summary and even though we haven't moved in we feel really settled in NZ and the move across couldn't have gone any smoother, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that's has played a part in our move across to the other side of the world. We couldn't have asked for anymore and from a professional perspective the Warehouse has supported us in everyway shape and form.

Thank you everyone as well as those that have taken time to read.

David, Helen, Lily and Poppy.

Settling in...

Well it finally feels like we're getting there, 11 weeks in New Zealand and we have a confirmed moving in date to our new home at Manly, 11th of February. The house itself is perfectly positioned as it gives Helen and Lily the opportunity to be close to some fantastic beaches, amenities and of course their friends. As well as giving me great links to my Region and the Store Support Centre, on the North Shore. Our belongings should also be arriving on the same weekend, even though they had to be re-directed from Sydney. Gemma our Relocation Manager was fantastic once again. As soon as she'd learnt our circumstances had changed, she was straight into organising mode. To be fair I think I'd referred to Gemma in my original blog as been a bit of a star, so nothing new there as once again she's gone above and beyond.

Batten down the hatches...

I'm also now in my penultimate week of my training and therefore I start my first live week in only a matter of days. Throughout my training I've met what would seem to be the entire Store Support Centre team, clearly this is a major exaggeration. However I feel like I've started to form some good solid working relationships, that over the months to come will help me massively, as there is only so much you can take in across a 12 week period. So to all my fellow team mates at the SSO and out in the field beware, I might well be calling on you. Since my last blog I've completed some visits on Region 8 as I said I would, including a few more, so that now takes me up to 38 stores out of a group of 89 total. Meeting some of the Managers and team members in Region 8 was great and it has allowed me to start to understand a little more about the people I'm going to be working with and the locations we operate and serve our customers in. I was also lucky enough to have an overnight stay in the Bay of Island. This photo was taken early on the second morning. As you can see it was worth waking up to and it would be fair to say that it beat all the locations I ever stayed at in the UK!

Relaxing and chilling out...

Even though Helen wouldn't support what I'm about to write, I think all things considered the newness and change, I think I've been really good at maintaining our weekends together. In fact we've just had another relaxing weekend together, excluding our shopping mission for appliances, don't ask, the joys of weekend shopping. Yesterday however we visited Browns Bay, one of Lily's favourite retreats and today we spent the afternoon on Takapuna beach. During the trip Daddy thought it would be a great idea to do some father and daughter bonding, which initially involved building a large sandcastle. But after only a matter of minutes, Lily lost all interest so Daddy had to improvise, so the large sandcastle turned into a large centipede - check it out!

Anyhow, next week will be my final blog! So to everyone reading enjoy your week and I'll look forward to updating you on my first live week in my role next week.

What a difference a day makes!

In our case 4 weeks, since my last entry we've gone full circle and I've been given a fantastic opportunity to take on Region 8. This will see myself and the family making a full U-turn and taking on the Region that sits further North on the North Island. Just following on from my last blog Helen and Lily had met me in Dunedin and we'd found a property and I'd also met my new team but based on a team departure we were presented with a fantastic opportunity to pursue any opportunity in the North. Part of me is disappointed as the team on Region 1 were a
fantastic bunch of people and made me feel really welcome. I really enjoyed my time in the stores meeting fellow colleagues and we'd found a spectacular house in a fantastic location, take a look.


A warm Christmas and New Year...

In our case we had great weather over the festive period however New Zealand experienced some of it's worst Summer weather for years, Christmas was fantastic and the sun really shone, in fact Daddy and Lily were in the sea on Christmas Eve.
We also had a great time with our friends that we'd meet from the UK and on Christmas Day we visited for Christmas lunch. New Year was much more mixed however yet again we had a great time celebrating with our fellow Brits! It was also really nice to check in with our families and to be honest we missed them loads however it was a lot less painful than we thought.

The benefits to moving North...

For Helen and Lily it's great as they can continue to build the relationships they've already started to form and the great news is that we've just found a new house in a location that's to die for.

We've been really fortunate to find such a great location that has such wonderful views. We also had the opportunity to meet the family that will be renting the property to us, only yesterday in fact and we really did hit it off so in a lot of cases you could say we've fallen on our feet!

Not long now...

In less than 3 weeks I will have completed my 12 week induction programme and I will be running my new Region. I'm so excited and can't wait. I've now visited 31 stores out of 89, so I have a really good understanding of the opportunities out there and over the next couple of days I'll be visiting 5 out of the 11 stores on Region 8. I also feel much better now that I've put together my strategy and plan for my first 4 weeks on my new Region.

Everything is going to plan. at home and at work!

Well we're now three weeks into our adventure and I think everything is going to plan, he says. Since my last entry I've met all my counter parts from the Regional Management team. I've visited stores as far a field as Christchurch. I've also had a great opportunity to spend quality time with a number of Store Support Centre Colleagues, including the Chairman and CEO, which has given me a good understanding of a number of area's that make up Head office in Auckland. Everybody that I've come into contact with has been really supportive and has been happy to spend as much time with me as required. This has made the settling in period a lot easier and it's also been greatly appreciated with the business been in it's peak trading period of the year.

Out of work Helen is doing an absolutely fantastic job at bringing up a very challenging Lily, who we believe has decided to enter that troublesome two's phase early. In addition Helen has already started to make a number of friends and after only 3 weeks has Monday's and Thursday's booked for Lily's play group.

We've also made every opportunity of the weekends so far and with the fantastic weather to support we've had a number of weekends at the beach! When the weather hasn't been so good we've made the most of the local attractions and last weekend we took the opportunity to take Lily to the City's Sea life Centre. She thought it was a real blast going on the penguin ride and was so excited.

I'm looking forward to meeting my new team...

At the end of this week I will be visiting the nine stores that make up my Region. I have a 2 day tour planned with Shane, my Line Manager, and I can't wait to meet all the Store Managers and as many of the store colleagues as possible. Helen and Lily are also going to be flying down and we will be viewing property throughout the weekend and the early part of next week. We've had plenty of support completing our house property search. Infact we have a dedicated property agent who has already viewed some properties on our behalf and because we were able to build a relationship beforehand, it's enabled us to really target an area and property that we're going to be comfortable with.

Any how that's all for now. I look forward to catching up with you all in about two weeks time.

our 1st week on New Zealand soil!

As part of our relocation package we've been provided with a high standard of accommodation in Auckland, literally a stones throw away from the Store Support Centre. This is our first stop before we move down to, what The Warehouse calls "Region 1", which is located at the opposite end of the country where Dunedin will become our home.

We've arrived at probably the most exciting time of the year, summer and Christmas. We're still coming to terms with Santa holding a surfboard! We've also has the opportunity to see some of the lovely countryside that New Zealand has to offer as we spent half a day with an Orientation Specialist. This has given us the opportunity to find some quality spots to spend time as a family..

So Lily has already found her favourite park in a place called Browns Bay.

From a work perspective, and after spending 14 years with Sainsbury's, you would think that the transition across into a very different business would have been pretty hard however everything is going well. I've got a clear plan on what I need to achieve as part of my 12 week induction programme and it's been great to get into a number of stores within my first week to understand how I can start to add value and support the turnaround programme that the business has embarked upon.


Not wearing a shirt and tie to work does feel strange and Helen has already pointed out to me that red isn't my colour! She did add however that it could look better with a tan so hopefully we'll have more sunny days like the weekend we've just experienced before moving down to the chilly South!

the selection and relocation process......

From the initial telephone conversation with the head hunter based in the UK to the structured interview and selection process, all things considered, the process and experience has been a very smooth and enjoyable one - no honestly, it has!

You would think that making such a large step in your work and personal life would be filled with stress, anxiety and frustration however we're absolutely over the moon with how we've been looked after throughout the entire journey. From my colleagues at The Warehouse (where I now work) to our Relocation Manager and our Immigration Advisor, everyone involved has been so supportive and understanding. Infact, we couldn't have asked for any more.

Don't get me wrong, patience is definately a virtue, something that Helen is still trying to teach me as completing the visa's and associated paperwork does take time and the waiting, yes the waiting.... Once they are sent it thought it can seem to take forever (and because Helen is pregnant, we had to obtain a medical waiver) however it's worth the wait as this country has loads to offer and the people are great!

Saying our goodbyes to our family and friends was emotional however when presented with such a fantastic opportunity you've got to be really clear about living your life for yourself, and in my case, Helen and Lily and my growing family. Once we'd made the decision to come across, it was really interesting the amount of people back in the UK who said they'd wished they'd also done the same.

we made it!!!!

After spending the last 4 months preparing for relocation from the UK to New Zealand, I'm delighted to say that we finally arrived last Saturday 19th November at 7.30am - to be exact!

Our route took us from Newcastle Airport, touching down in Heathrow for around 3 hours before a gruelling 11 hours flight across to Hong Kong with then a further 11 hours to Auckland. All completed with my fiance Helen (expectant mother - 24 weeks pregnant) and my daughter Lily, 18 months.

To say that we don't do things by halves would be an understatement however I'm afraid that's how we've been ever since we embarked on our relationship 3 years ago. Lily's behaviour was superb throughout the 24 hour trip and we were amazed as to how she took it all in her stride!