New Zealand was crying out for the skills that my husband, Chris, has as a building surveyor, and in 2007 he received a job offer that was too good to refuse. We were 39 and 49 and wanted the adventure after our children had flown the nest. So, with their blessing, we accepted the contract [says Helen Nicholson].

The decision to sell our two-bedroom bungalow in Aylsham, near Cromer in Norfolk, left us with no assets in England — lots of people said it was crazy but we wanted the cash to set up a new life there.

For £1,200 a month we rented a three-bedroom, detached property in Wellington. As the weeks rolled into years, we surpassed the 30-month agreed term. We were loving the lifestyle and being outdoors, so we decided to buy and put down roots.

Our new home was a self-build plot an hour outside Wellington, in Greytown in the Wairarapa region. Chris designed the house — we had space and beautiful views. The project took a year to complete and cost about £200,000. The house was inland and we prefer the coast but commuting to Wellington daily made it workable as we got the buzz of the city and saw the water. The first home the couple bought in New Zealand — a self-build plot in GreytownThe remoteness did become an issue over time, however, and just as I was doubting it our son, Simon, asked us to go to America to help him out with his young family and the build he was working on. So we sold up in May 2015 and moved to the US. Together we renovated their home in Seattle. We couldn’t stop thinking about New Zealand while we were in America and when our son’s house was finished, we went back — Chris got a job in Papamoa, a suburb of the city of Tauranga, which is located on the east coast of the North Island. It’s stunning — 16km of white sandy beaches. We bought a two-bedroom bungalow two blocks from the beach for about £335,000; prices had risen since we left but we were buying in what is known locally as “paradise”— which it is.• Thinking of moving from the UK to Australia? Your questions, answeredThe beach became our life — it was as close to living the dream as you can get. But at the same time we had family back home that we kept thinking about, particularly our parents. The pandemic was the catalyst for our decision to go home. Jacinda Ardern, then New Zealand’s prime minister, was shutting down the country and no one could fly in or out — we felt trapped.At their new home in Mersea which they bought for £425,000DC MEDIAWe put the house on the market in October 2021. Everyone wanted a beach house and weekenders from Auckland were buying them up at pace. We made £155,000 out of it — our most successful housing investment. Over Covid we also learnt that the new owners of the house in Wairarapa added a workshop to the double garage and had sold it on for an impressive £940,000.At first, we stayed with my daughter, and we then moved into a rental in Hampshire while we got our bearings and Chris settled into his job in London. We were torn about where to live, but in the end we wanted to be by a beach. West Mersea, in Essex, is so peaceful during the winter months. I grew up on Mersea Island and have spent the rest of my life since then coming back to visit my parents. East Anglia is also one of the driest parts of the country and the island has a mild climate. We’ve had to start again on the property ladder and take on a mortgage, but we’re so pleased to be back — settling on a £425,000 new-build, which we bought with a 10 per cent deposit. Helen walking their schnoodle, Bertie, on Mersea beachThe beach is only 500 metres from us and is perfect for walking our schnoodle Bertie — every day the outlook changes depending on the tide and what is washed up. It’s a great place to spot birds —sanderlings, little egrets, curlews and others along the shore. There are so many things about Mersea that I didn’t appreciate when I was younger, but I do now. I work part-time from home and Chris commutes into London twice a week by train from just outside of Colchester. We keep a copy of the tide table handy so that we’re not caught by the water on the causeway, but it’s very unusual for there to be a high tide at 6.30am, which is when he usually sets off. It’s only 20 minutes to the station, then an hour on the train.There are aspects of New Zealand that we miss and we wanted to replicate over here. Mersea Island has given us a natural setting that reflects the slower, more relaxed lifestyle that we had there. The best bit is that my dad is over the moon that we are back. I see him most days and I can walk to his house. Life has come full circle — I am now living only one road away from where I was brought up.