We made another big move to Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands after 10 years in Whangaparaoa. Moved onto a lifestyle block with the most beautiful garden. After some renovations on the property it was really our forever home. It is so peaceful and the bird life is sensational. After a number of different jobs here in Northland, I decided to finally follow my passion and do my training to become a Style and Colour Consultant. I underwent the training and set up my new business 'L

Moving to a new country poses all sorts of challenges to a new family - the biggest being that you have left everything you know behind including one of the most important - your family and friends! Starting again in a new place can be very hard and as we all know it takes a lot of time to make good friends and as the new arrivals it is up to you to put in a lot of effort as of course it is you who needs the friends. Those people you are meeting on a daily basis already have

After moving to Dorset it wasn't long before my husband and I had the dream to emigrate to New Zealand as we both felt it would offer both us and the children a better quality of lifestyle. And so the preparations began and before we knew it we had been to New Zealand for a scout around, secured a job for my husband in Whangaparaoa and begun our residency applications for the whole family including Marmite, our gorgeous black cat! Our residency came through in 2005 and by Xm

And so after living in Newcastle for a good number of years, surviving a divorce and being a single mum for a good number of those years, I relocated to Poole in Dorset to join the new man in my life. Dorset is a beautiful area of UK and quite affluent by comparison to Newcastle and some of its suburbs! So here I was in a beautiful part of UK but where was I going to shop!! Of course the Charity Shops (what Op shops are called in UK) - were plentiful and some great finds were