Two hearts & new start

Hi I’m Gabriel Morasis, I’m originally from Brazil, I’m 35 years old and I’m now living in New Zealand.

I was living in the United States when a friend of mine told me about New Zealand and I decided I needed a change.  So I decided to investigate, found out more about the country and I made my decision to move to New Zealand and give it a shot.

I studied Sports Massage, graduate as a Health Therapist and came to New Zealand with this Certificate.  I worked for Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Rehab Hospital specialising in Arthritis. And they sponsored me to stay in the country for longer.

After that, I retired doing massages I probably had massaged between 3 and 4,000 people and for me that was enough.

I decided to find for a new challenge so then I joined the New Zealand Police and now I have been working for the Police for the past almost 3 years.

Ah, when I saw an opportunity to leave the city I decided not to leave because the quality of life is great.  Our water is fantastic. Our bush is fantastic.  We have 6 big lakes, we have a wonderful forest … I confess that living in a small city like Rotorua, 80,000 people, you do miss the social activities that you find in a big city, but that’s not a major because Rotorua is a very central place, we are 1 hour from the sea, and 2 ½ hours from Auckland, so it’s a very central and a very handy place to be.

Very often people ask me the reason why they should come to New Zealand. I strongly believe that you come to a country and see with the eyes of the native, because this place is unique, we are far away from everywhere, but New Zealand is a very young country that provide opportunities to everyone pretty much, I think that if you want to be a safe environment and grow a family, or start a business, come to New Zealand.

If you like being a busy environment you might like Auckland.  If you are somebody who has a strong European ties you might think you are going to Wellington. But there is a place for everyone in New Zealand, I’m sure.