Hi Guys,

I'm in a position where I can move from Germany to New Zealand (in the end of 2008). I have worked in the IT most of my life, but have slightly changed direction and getting started in manufacturing deep sea robots. Due the work I need more water than we got here (obviously!), but I want to keep the mountains and the nice sceneries of Schwarzwald and the Alps :cool:  So New Zealand has been on top of my list, and seemingly I have not many problems getting accepted to the country as a new enterprise. I haven´t yet decided the location, but have plans to have my next holidays there and look for best area (around April). I just want to make sure I can also have my hobbies there (one thing I don´t want to lose!).

I have few cars I´ll be taking with me, my two '57 Dodge´s and my Sisu off-road truck (build year 1977) with a trailer. I guess I can import them with no probs? How in general the officials think about modifications (remember I´m coming from the "TÜV"-land)? Are the laws regarding vehicles close to British? How common is to see 50's cars and is there a club or something to join?

Sorry for so many questions, I just want to have a better idea what I can take with me and what are the expected problems. Thanks!

Cedric

Btw, Cool - I saw this is thread number 57 !!!

Thanks for asking, yes its arriving next Tuesday to Bremerhaven Hope its ok. Everyone is really expecting that car, can´t wait! I think in the end the car has more sea miles than road miles, LOL.

A friend works for relocation company in Switzerland and she told the president of the company is moving from USA, and he has a really expensive Aston Martin. They had a special container for that car, so safe that there would be absolutely no damage to the vehicle if for some reason the container was dropped 20ft to the ground. I have more options when I´m moving out from here (if the plans go well), so this type of safe container is one option. One problem is I have so much stuff the move will be major project, I know this from experience (moving from Finland to Germany 1.5 years ago).

 Cedric

Hey Guys,

Sorry for my late reply, been really busy lately fixing my trucks (I´ll put two for sale on February) Thank you very much for the info! I used the links you supplied, and yes its bit funny I can only register one vehicle per year. I´m not married so its only me ruining your area, but I think I´ll first register the Custom Sierra and then the D500 (its still a project and I rather do it slowly but perfect :). One problem is, I have the big off road truck Sisu + a special PTO driven trailer with crane, and this should be used to transport the robot + gear. I would need this truck in operation immediately, hope I can still register it on my new "to be" company name and use it. Otherwise it will be my only car for a year... I already have seen Glenn's website (a year ago I got a hint from FinFury57), your car is awesome workmanship, guess I will be working really hard to earn your respect! If the other people are like you guys, I´m sure I have no trouble settling down there (the list of cars is impressive!). So, which island to choose - I haven´t yet been there so I guess I must make the trip first and then decide. To me its not a big deal, I just want nice location for home in an area where I can also create my business. I already have browsed much information through the internet, and you really seem to have the optimal living conditions for my type.

The robot (ie. ROV = Remotely Operated Vehicle) has 3000-3500m (heavy workclass) max operating depth restriction (most ROV´s in the world are made for depths less than 3000m), go any deeper and the size/materials start to add up. It has two robotic arms, its fully moveable in all directions and several cameras + lights. I haven´t yet chosen a 3D sonar, they are bit expensive so it will be last purchase made (technology is also moving fast in this area), but I´ve run simulations in PC and things should work together. One can add extra instruments depending of task, there are a long list of makers of different tools for them). The robot can search areas autonomously (or follow pre-programmed paths or pipes), without the cable - so its actually also an AUV = Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. The ROV has a build in PC (with backup chip "watching" the PC) and has already a limited image recognition (it can compare stored images versus seen objects). Nowdays you almost always have underwater GPS and gyro etc.. Normally for work tasks its operated via cable from ship/another PC (the robotic arms are not operationg in AUV mode). So it already has pretty much artificial intelligence built in, but so far I have only run tests on software simulator (which I made first). Everything regarding robots + underwater work is really interesting, thats why I want to change my job a bit (I've already worked over 5 years as CTO for oil company running the main system development team). But I´m not a rich guy, just have to work hard to make it work, everything at the moment goes to these projects. There is so much to learn and that makes it really interesting. Even if I would not succeed, I must give it a try! If something goes wrong, I call the system Skynet and rename the robot as Terminator, upload new software and we meet in the past! LOL!

I have nothing against saving nice cars from bottom of the sea - just arrange a ship for us and lets go! But we must be careful with the robotic arms, they are hydraulically operated and very powerful (this could be Glenn´s task;). But Andrea Doria sank 25.7.1956, so I guess not many parts for our cars...

Cedric

The only bad point, you are really far! This will be most expensive move from country to country I have ever done, I have so many tools, parts etc. I must sell two of my three trucks, and my motorbike (guess otherwise I would have to convert the steering to rear wheel...), I have realized how much stuff I have which I never use, its always "some day I´ll need that".

So why are Kiwis moving to Australia from NZ?

Sisu is a Finnish made truck, they are also famous for the axles - you know most of the road trains in Australia/NZ have Sisu planetary gear axles? When talking of military vehicles, they make really heavy duty trucks that are able to withstand the hard Finnish winters, forests, swamps and ice.

Thats the type of truck I have (see picture), really hard-core off-road truck The construction is clever, the engine sits in the center of the truck giving 50/50 weight balance, the chassis is flexible type giving really enormous range for wheel movement, for example you can lift any of the tires over 1 meter from the ground and still the others are touching the ground. Pneumatic locks on all axles, turbo-diesel engine (I have 235bhp, 950Nm engine), 7.5ton mechanical winch usable from front or rear, 5+1 gear ZF transmission, Rockwell Hi/Low gearbox, un-breakable Sisu axles, and most small parts German made. The exterior is purely functional and well thought, I like the "styling"... And its very good to drive! I could write hours and hours about the truck Man must have some hobbies

Yeah, I absolutely hate spiders I have nothing against Australia, but as I live on the border of Switzerland, I like smaller compact countries with magnificent sceneries. Switzerland would be the one of the optimals for me, except there´s no sea and people are speaking Swiss-German (close to my area). So, NZ is the closest next to Switzerland in my mind, with mountains, forests, fields, sea etc. To me water is very important, as I grew up at Finland where are around 56.000 lakes I´m used to having water close tome. If the environment is too dry its not my style. But from the point of my future work, the whole region, Australia, NZ etc. are perfect! But hobbies are very important, so is the climate a problem for the vehicles?

Do you get any German wheat beer there?? That will be something I´ll greatly miss if its not available!!! Perhaps I bring some with me on my holidays so we can have a taste We can later visit some NZ hospitals;)

Cedric

I also prefer to do the bodywork myself, I give no trust to anyone else. I try to get as many things done here as possible, but as I also have the robot project and the Sisu truck - time & money is always the problem. I bet good chrome is hard everywhere, due the legislation is hard to start a new chroming company, and time is money. Good chrome takes a long time, I´m not sure if everyone willing to pay for that.

What comes to the autobahns, they are really great - in case of accident somewhere you may have a huge traffic jam, but sometimes its possible to maintain really high speeds. My best ever was with my motorbike (Honda CBR1100 XX), 7 hours from the very south (Lörrach) to north (Trävemunde) in 7 hours incl. all the stops at gasoline stations (with that speed you need to stop about 5 times during the trip). That trip was around 900km (560 miles). In most areas there are speed limits, but in places where there are no limits and the roads are clear you can achieve really high speeds, my record is 300km/h (ie. 186mph) with motorbike (that was the top speed), give Kawa ZZR1400 and 200mph is possible. Here you got to have a fast car or bike, at least once. In my area many people die per year riding their bikes and having accidents on the mountain roads. So, I know that to live longer its better to have slow cars, slow speed and no motorbike;)

So if everything goes wrong after moving to NZ, I´ll start my own bodyshop For the big war, I´m prepared - like I told, the robot can be easily customized for killing the human kind

Cedric

So the plan is to shout a round of Speights! I've never met a real Kiwi girl before, so you got me interested

Btw, in this small village we have one Australian! I met him just on last week in the local pub - he married a German girl years ago and moved here, he's musical artist and plays trombone/jazz. Thats wierd for some coming from AU! He was so German nowdays, that even I speak better English, haha!

Cedric

Guys, change of plans

My 75-years old mother recently got stroke and as a result she got a mild dementia which will slowly worsen. As she needs more care and family around her (I'm the only one), she has to live in the same country as I do. Unfortunately - I get permission to New Zealand, but she doesn't - because of her sickness. NZ is not accepting people who have a decease or permanent illness that requires constant health care. There is no way around it, even if I pay everything its not accepted.

As the business what I want do, requires deep sea water and my requirement is an English speaking country - there are not many options. Moving inside Europe is easy, so I had to make arrangements to move to England. Actually today I received confirmation I got an apartment from East Anglia, and I'll be moving there on this weekend!

My plan B was moving to Finland, but because I found the apartment from UK so quickly, I decided its the most convenient option. And England already has a lot of water around it

I'm very sorry about the change of plans, but as you can see - I have no options, without complete permits its not possible.

Cedric

Tc, sorry I think you got me wrong - I was in England during the weekend! All the dreams about NZ went to rubbish bin... But I got to be looking at the positive side, at least the moving is bit easier since its now only 600 miles from Germany, not 6000 miles!

Cedric