Customer Reviews
Interesting read, but a bit disappointing - By: Ms. J. L. Brown, 19 May 2008 
We bought this book as we wanted an insight as to what its really like to emergrate. Although the book did provide this, i would avoid reading this book if you are looking to be inspired. We found the narrative of the book to be fairly negative, which i suppose is understandable due to the problems the Goddards experienced. I think this book is most useful for learning from the Goddards' mistakes which to me, with the benefit of hindsight, seem glaring obvious.
By all means this book is worthy of a read, but is not suitable as a 'how to' guide on how to emmigrate to new zealand. For me, all this book did was leave me feeling that I amin need of some different points of view & some accounts of people who took a different tact to emmigrating to new zealand.
A New Life in New Zealand - By: B. Marsh, 02 Oct 2006 
This is a real easy read. It's a lot less factually based than some of the other emigration books but is still informative.
The book is written by the father of a young family from the UK who emigrated relatively recently, I could really relate to their apprehensions & experiences. It has a good balance between the positive & negative sides to emigrating.
An easy but emotionally informative read - By: Bella Blue, 10 Apr 2005 I purchased this book because having just returned from a holidayin New Zealand we are keen to imigrate there - concidentally to the same area as the Goddards(being Tauranga/The Mount).
This book charts a yearin the life of this family of 4, from deciding to imigrate, to the point at which they are relatively establishedin New Zealand - house bought, kidsin school, business up & running.The book's narrative is given by Paul & is straight forward & to the point & though he did share honestly the emotional highs & lows, I feel something would have been added to it if we could of heard about the experience from his wife's point of view as well.I suspect we would of been given more details of the practical aspects & deeper details of the emotional rollercoaster they were on (us women like the nitty gritty & find the finer details helpfulin making decisions).
I too would of liked to have more details of how things panned outin the home such as what to take & not take with regards the home , what was useful/comforting & what was not, what helped the children, what were their difficulties?
Paul focuses more on the business & work side of things & his feelings of how things are going as the male breadwinner. From this point of view I think that it is an excellent book for men to read - there are few books out there written by men that share their real life experiences including immigration.
I would recommend this book to anyone thinking of imigrating, especially families with young children & men. It was an easy but informative & honest read which left you wanting to know how things had gone for them since the year was up & its helped us see some of the realities of a move to another country which you don't experience on a holiday.
How it really feels - all else aside - By: JJBB, 20 Jan 2005 
The Goddards are go-getters, with a positive approach to life who aren't afraid of a bit of hardwork & using their own initiative. That's why I read this book. I really just wanted to get a better idea of how such a move would make us feel, & how we would react to it. Research for the everyday details (how much things cost, weather etc) can all be found elsewhere quite easily, but a real perspective on the most important thing - your sanity - cannot!
This book was a great insight & very inspirational. If you think you have anythingin common with the Goddard family outlook & approach to life, this book will be just right for you. Very easy to read & uncomplicated, you really can get a true sense of how your first year might be. If you aren't remotely like the Goddards, then this might be an eye-opener for you, a great deal can be learned from their approach to it all.
Definitely worth reading if you are even thinking of making such a move.
A personal experience of emmigration - By: , 27 Sep 2004 Fast becoming NZ's biggest celebrities, this paperback fillsin the rest of the story of how Paul Goddard & his family have coped with emmigration. It's writtenin a personal voice & is essential reading for those looking to NZ as a possible new home.
The strong points are that it impresses the level of commitment, motivation & hard-worked required to continue once your there, & have a home & job. One of the most valuable parts of the book is where Paul states that just a move within the UK may be all that is needed. He also talks about how you shouldn't necessarily look upon NZ as your final destination once there. Of the number of books telling about how to emmigrate, this one tells you how you may feel.
The Goddards have succeeded through their hard-work & deserve it, they were ideal immigrants even before they left & these are the very people we needin the UK.
