Using interviews and questionaires, Megan Hutching has created a lively account of the process of emigration from the point of view of the migrants themselves, often in their own words. She recounts their experiences of the 12,000-mile sea journey to New Zealand and adaption to a life in a new country. Not all agree that it was the best thing they ever did, but most of them remained and now consider themselves New Zealanders. Why did people in post-war Britain make the long journey to the other side of the world? Besides the answers to this question, in this generously illustrated history Hutching also explores New Zealand government policy and the reasons for the assistend immigration scheme in 1947.