Name Andy Fuller From Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Duration 10 years Occupation Self-employed Interests Kayaking, mountain biking, water skiing, golf, surfing, multisport, running As an active outdoor person, Andy Fuller couldn’t resist the lifestyle that was offered in Rotorua. “Originally I came to New Zealand to go kayaking as it has plenty of rivers and then thought I’d give New Zealand a go as a place to live.” He says the quality of life is infinitely better than the United Kingdom - especially for an outdoors person. Since moving to Rotorua 10 years ago, Andy has been heavily involved with the sport of kayaking – representing New Zealand and coaching the national team. When he’s not in his kayak Andy can be found mountain biking, water skiing, playing golf, surfing, doing multisport or running in the forest. Andy is sure he wouldn’t have been involved in outdoor things to the same extent if he had stayed in United Kingdom.“ The options just aren’t there – getting access to places is difficult. You have to pay to access waterways like rivers, lakes and canals. Here you can roam pretty much wherever you want, there are no strict rules. My friends in the United Kingdom are very jealous of the lifestyle I have here.” Andy doesn’t think the cost of living is any worse in New Zealand but says it can be a bit tough when you want to go back to the United Kingdom on holiday. “You can have a really good quality of life here because you can easily get out and do lots of stuff.” The immigration process was quite a long one for Andy – taking about a year. But he says the move to New Zealand wasn’t too difficult. Kayaking King Kicks Back“Leaving friends and family was hard to start with, but I now think of myself as a ‘Kiwi’ - but I don’t think I will ever be really accepted as one – I still get the odd joke about being a ‘Pom’.” Andy says he loves absolutely everything about Rotorua and New Zealand, and is always raving about how fabulous it is here. He says he always laughs when people talk about traffi c problems here – “it’s more like a ‘rush minute’ rather than ‘rush hour’.” Getting involved in a small business is an opportunity Andy does not think would have presented itself in the United Kingdom.“I just love the people and the way of life here,” says Andy.