Many tell me that there are lots of jobs available in New Zealand because the country is experiencing a huge brain drain due to the fact that the New Zealand youth sponge all the education they can get off the state, and when they’re finished, clear off to Australia and work over there, because the jobs are so low paid in New Zealand.

I’m told if you are able to get a good paying job in New Zealand, you can live like a king. However, I’m informed most jobs in high demand in New Zealand (ie Nursing), are very pooring paid and people struggle to make ends meet on the pay – and thus go to Australia in search of better prospects.

I was suprised at this, but I was told that per capita, New Zealand has a crime rate on par with Australia, which is strange for a country of 4 million I don’t really know much about New Zealand as of yet, but from what I’ve been told, it seems as if a lot of the New Zealand youth are very dissatisfied with New Zealand, and see Australia as the “land of opportunitiy”.

Due to the fact that a majority of New Zealanders live in Auckland, many sentiments voiced by people reflect Auckland realities of living. It is true that Auckland has high prices and high crime rates, and it is also true that vast numbers of Kiwis follow the lure of a warmer climate and higher income in Australia.

What this perspective does not take into account though is life in parts of New Zealand that aren’t like Auckland – which means, the vast majority of the country in terms of area. I live in Otago, on the South Island.

I am a lecturer and my wife is a nurse. We earn similar salaries to what we would be earning in Auckland, but real estate prices are a joke where we are by comparison, and we are finding life here nothing short of paradise.

We’ve come to New Zealand from England, and have previously lived in Britain, Canada, Germany, the US, and France. I find it hard to imagine a better place than NZ, know in fact that it probably can’t be found.

Keep in mind that Australia’s advantages also come at a price – high salaries usually attract high pricing, and I have colleagues who have returned to New Zealand from Australia to settle because they perceived NZ to be much more serene and liberal. We’ll be here for good.

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