Living in New Zealand

With a population of just over 5 million people (and a lot of sheep!) there’s not many of us here. Our population density is 18 people per km2 so you can say goodbye to crowded subways and hello to a relaxed pace of life!

Depending on where you live in New Zealand rush-hour traffic is at the least 10 minutes; at the higher end 1.5-2 hours. You can drive from one end of the North Island to the other in 13 hours; you can fly it in one hour. Add 30 minutes onto that flight and you’re in the biggest city in the South Island, Christchurch.

New Zealand is a long, thin country, and that means a LOT of coastline. Most towns are within a stone’s throw of a beach, and if not, it’s generally no more than an hour’s drive. We have black sand beaches, wild West Coast beaches, beaches you can drive on, surf beaches, inner-city beaches and a hot water beach - yes, it’s an actual thing! - where you can literally dig a hole in the sand and soak the day away in the naturally heated mineral water!

There's a reason we’ve been twice ranked in the top three countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Worldwide Educating for the Future Index. It probably helps that we have affordable, quality education here, with sport, recreation and outdoor adventure activities having just as much importance as the academic curriculum.

Every country has a certain amount of natural beauty, New Zealand just has more of it! From the snow-covered mountains of the Southern Alps to crystal clear glaciers, freshwater lakes and rivers, lush forests, native bush and... Hobbiton.

We have no states or domestic borders. Instead there are 16 regions, each of them famous in their own right. The Auckland region is a multi-cultural hub of food, music, arts and culture; the Waikato region is a sightseeing mecca, with glowworm caves, geothermal activity and the afore-mentioned Hobbiton and Hot Water Beach; the southern West Coast region has some of the most beautiful, unspoiled scenery you will EVER see.

Covid hit the planet hard, but New Zealand has moved through the pandemic relatively unscathed, and with employment opportunities in most of the regions across various industries, at varying skill levels.