Peter Simkins, 54, is a wildlife TV film editor who has lived in New Zealand since leaving England in 1987. He told Lynda Goetz what he likes best about the country

What prompted the move to New Zealand?

I received a phone call out of the blue in September 1986 from a producer at TVNZ offering me a job. I had been at BBC Bristol for 12 years. I had edited programmes for Wildlife on One, Natural World, Arena, Life on Earth, and many more, but had never been made a full-time editor. I don’t remember saying “yes” on the spot but my wife, Ceinwen, and I probably agreed it was a good idea 10 minutes later. At the time we had two small children, three and five, and within weeks we learnt we were going to have number three.

Who did you leave behind?

We both left parents. Ceinwen has six brothers and sisters, and I left my twin brother, David. At the time we were only going to come for three years, the length of my first contract.

Do your children regard themselves as English?

On May 19, 1987, exactly a month after we arrived, Rose was born. We were still living in a motel at the time awaiting the arrival of our container. So eight months after the phone call we had flown 12,000 miles to a new country, had a new baby, new job, new home and new car. The two eldest settled in well, losing their accents within a year. They still both regard themselves as English but NZ is home. Rose is definitely a Kiwi.

Do you travel a lot?

As a film editor my job is back at base so I rarely get to travel, though I did go to Tokyo for a week last year.

Have you achieved a better quality of life in NZ than you might have done in the UK?

I think if we had moved to a crowded city like Auckland or Wellington it would have been very different. I suspect we would have returned home by now. There are only four million people living in a country the size of the UK, so why live on top of one another? As it was we came to Dunedin, a small town of about 100,000 people in South Island, to a lovely house on the Otago Peninsula with a million-dollar view of Otago harbour, Mount Cargill and Taiaroa Headland which cost us just £20,000. The school was at the bottom of the garden; there are salmon in the harbour and a four-hour drive takes you to ski fields, bungee jumping and jet boats. There are penguins, sea lions, seals and albatross, all within a 15-minute drive. Just last night we went for a walk on the beach and 25 Little Blue penguins came ashore and a female Hooker’s sea lion came over to us before going to catch her supper. So, for me the answer is yes, but it depends on what you are looking for.

Are there many expats in NZ?

Thousands. Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh and has the same street names, loads of pipe bands and Scottish accents everywhere.

How easy is it to emigrate to the country?

It was relatively easy for us since I had been invited to a job which few people at that time were skilled at. Now it is a different story, with all sorts of restrictions, quotas and point systems. However, bring in a million dollars – about £400,000 – and you can, I think, set up a business.

Is there such a thing as a typical day for you?

No, that’s what I like about this job; every day presents a different challenge. Film editing is creating a story with pictures. Even if the stories may be familiar the pictures are different, or the same pictures are assembled to make a different story.

What is your house like?

We have a fairly typical New Zealand villa. Because NZ lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – they are made almost entirely of wood with a corrugated iron roof. The construction allows them to sway rather than crumble in earthquakes. They don’t go for 3ft foundations here, all you need is a 6in-diameter pole in a hole back-filled with concrete. It is not uncommon to see houses that have been lifted off their pole foundations and moved on huge trucks to a new location. Our house used to be a kindergarten but in 1923 it was cut into three sections and floated on a barge down the harbour, then dragged up by ox and cart and reassembled.

From what you have said your interest in wildlife extends beyond film-making.

A great deal of my time is spent with the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust (yellow-eyedpenguin.org.nz) of which I am a trustee. They are the world’s rarest penguins and in NZ live mainly in this area. We maintain five reserves and have five full-time staff, which means a lot of fundraising. We are trying to raise money to buy a 12-kilometre coastal strip where some 45 penguins are breeding. So far we have $400,000 – half what we need.

How often do you get back to the UK?

Probably once every three years, but there are so many beautiful South Sea islands to explore that a 25-hour flight does lose its appeal.

Is there anything you miss about England?

The sense of history. The house we left was 500 years old. Dunedin was not founded until 1848. Also pubs and a choice of beer served at the correct temperature.

Tell me about the cost of living.

If you come here with pounds sterling, which fluctuate from 2.5 to 3 times that of the New Zealand dollar, then things don’t seem too bad; but if you are earning in dollars then it is much the same as the UK. Housing and petrol are cheaper. The average house price in Dunedin is $150,000.

Do you ever see yourselves returning?

I don’t know, but for now my daughters are studying here, one doing a PhD at Victoria University, the other at Otago University. Our son is crewing on a yacht in Malta, but plans to finish his degree at Auckland. My ideal – and this would hinge on me winning the lottery – would be to spend April to September in England and come back to NZ for the ski season and the fishing.

This article was created: 19 March 2007.
This article was last edited: 20 April 2007.

Email Back to top

Site map | About Us | Privacy policy | Contact Us