UK family loving the Kiwi pace of life
Waikato’s emergency manager Lee Hazelwood is looking for his wife and his children, jokingly suggesting they have been abducted by aliens.
Such has been the change in his wife Sue since they emigrated to the Waikato.
‘‘She’s not the same woman, and my boys are different as well,’’ said Hazelwood.
The Hazelwood family from Cambridge were among the 28 people from South Africa, Sri Lanka, Britain, India and China recently granted New Zealand Citizenship at a special ceremony held by the Waipa District Council.
Originating from Britain, Lee and Sue Hazelwood who also lived in the United States for 20 years, saw New Zealand as a safe place to bring up their two boys Luke and Ryan.
Unable to secure the right house for his family in Hamilton, Hazelwood turned his attention to Waipa.
He immediately fell in love with Cambridge as it had similarities to a small town near Manchester where he grew up.
His wife Sue agreed, after some research, that the Waipa district ‘‘was the right place’’.
Everything was ‘‘done at pace’’ in Washington DC where they lived in the US so the slower pace of life in New Zealand took some adjusting.
Lee Hazelwood is kept busy working as the Waikato Regional Council emergency manager.
But he makes the most of his weekends and spare time to get out and enjoy what New Zealand has to offer.
He feels he and his wife made the right decision to come to live here and his family has changed because of it.
‘‘I often look for the probes on my wife, I think aliens abducted her and replaced her,’’ he said jokingly.
‘‘She is so different, because she now bakes, tends a garden, active in sports and we have cows.
‘‘None of this was ever imaginable when we were living in the States.’’
For Luke and Ryan, it didn’t