I’ve been avoiding this blog for a long time. I thought our decision to leave Canada back in September 2013 was tough, but after living in this beautiful country for 2.5 years, choosing to leave New Zealand has been much harder.

We have loved every second of living here. From the moment we stepped off the plane this place just felt like home…with one exception. Family.

We’ve been lucky enough to keep ourselves (very) busy over the last few years, exploring every inch of the country and experiencing new and amazing adventures. And we did have our parents and some close friends visit us here to experience a taste of the Kiwi Life, but there has always been something missing. Something gnawing at us that has not weakened with time, but become stronger. The importance of being closer to family.

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If only we could have convinced our loved ones to all move here it would have been perfect! Sadly though that’s an unlikely outcome (despite our efforts)

As we start to move into the next phase of our life, the importance of being closer to family becomes greater. We were at that pivotal point being here 2.5 years that we really had to decide whether we wanted to settled in here permanently…or move back to Canada. While part of me still finds it hard to imagine leaving New Zealand, I can’t envision raising our (future) children this far away from our parents and family.

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And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from living in New Zealand it is to appreciate your own backyard. After moving here we realized how much we took Canada for granted and never truely appreciated what it had to offer. We’ve had this feeling of unfinished business and can’t wait to get back and explore our own country and continue to share our adventures!

Even though I know it’s the right choice, this was not a decision we made quickly. It was a topic of discussion for over a year and something we’ve been quite torn about for months. If I think of where would make us the most happy in our adventurous lives, New Zealand hands down has that in the bag. But looking forward, Canada is where we belong right now and I know we will find new and exciting adventures as we explore our home.

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Many people find our blog because they are considering moving to New Zealand or are already in the process. I’ve always been upfront about the challenges of living this far away, so please don’t let that deter you from moving here. It was the best decision we ever made. But making the decision to move is actually much harder than the move itself and our while our initial plan was to move back to Canada after a year, it turned out when that year came around – we just weren’t ready to go. Now though the timing feels right and I feel we can leave without any regrets.

So while this may be so long for now, it is definitely not good-bye. We know we’ll be back. If not in 6 months when we realized we made a huge mistake, it will be to visit again and likely live again in a few years down the road. New Zealand has stolen a piece of our hearts and has become our second home. I know it will be calling us back again so I’m not that sad knowing our journey here isn’t ending – it’s just going to pause 🙂