Australian Rebecca Johnson said she was pretty much forced to stay in New Zealand.
Originally from Busselton in Western Australia, Johnson met her Kiwi ex-partner when they were both living in Perth, and she decided to follow him home to Taranaki.
“I was sort of shocked,” Johnson said when asked about her first impressions of the place. “Taranaki 11, 12 years ago is very different to the Taranaki that is now. I found the pace was slower. I missed a lot of the cultural things I’d been involved with. But I made it my mission to find my place and find my niche here.”
Johnson landed a job with Farmers before the move and, while she earnt less than at David Jones in Perth, she felt her life in New Zealand more or less made up for it. When she had a child here – her son Zac is now 10 – she felt unable to leave, but she’s chosen to see her situation as an opportunity rather than forced exile.
Have you started again overseas? Email [email protected]
“I’ve turned it into a really positive experience where I’ve built a really fantastic life here,” she said. “It’s a great place for my child to grow up and, coming from big cities in Australia, I’ve kind of benefitted from being in a smaller community.”
Since Australia announced a faster pathway to citizenship for Kiwis, New Zealand media have published dozens of stories of Kiwis who have sought – and found – better lives across the ditch.
Supplied
Having a child in NZ made it hard for Rebecca Johnson to move back, but she says she’s built a ‘beautiful life’ here.
Australia’s greater number of employment opportunities, higher wages and warmer weather have lured Kiwis for decades and, after a stem in the flow during the earlier part of the Covid-19 pandemic, the outward trickle has become a stream again. Some even fear Aotearoa will experience a mass exodus.
Australians make the opposite move, but not in nearly such high numbers: The estimated 670,000 Kiwis who live in Australia far outnumber the some 70,000 Aussies who reside in Aotearoa. So why do Australians decide to switch sides of the Tasman Sea, and how do they find it once they get here?
Johnson said there are many things she misses about Australia – her family, the weather and the higher wages included – but believes New Zealand has given her opportunities she wouldn’t have had in her homeland.
“In Australia, there are a lot more people vying for positions, whereas in New Zealand I’ve been lucky enough to find myself in roles that I’m not only very passionate about, but also support the community and do great things for the region. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that as rapidly if I’d still been in Perth.”
Supplied
Johnson with her partner Kristian Davies, mum Caroline Parker and son Zac.
Johnson spent almost four years as the marketing and communications manager for the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust, contributing to major events such as the Taranaki Garden Festival and Womad, before taking on her current role as marketing manager for New Plymouth’s Centre City Shopping Centre.
“Knowing that I missed (the cultural aspects of Australian big city life), I was very easily able to connect with people and organisations in creative industries,” she said. “So I found a way to bring more of that into my life here in New Zealand.”
She said it was a couple of years before she earnt as much as she had in Perth, which reflects the higher average wages across the ditch. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that the average wage in the so-called West Island was A$94,000 (NZ$100,000) last November, while Statistics New Zealand says the average weekly earnings equated to an annual wage of $77,844 in the year to December 2022.
Johnson has also found that New Zealand residents don’t have the same negotiation power with salaries as their Australian counterparts.
She also finds it more expensive to live in New Zealand, but thinks the quality of life here can make up for it.
Supplied
Johnson loves having Taranaki’s wild west coast beaches close by.
Living in Ōkato, a small community sandwiched between the perfect cone of Mt Taranaki and the Tasman Sea, Johnson appreciates the natural beauty of her surroundings, and that she has been able to meet many “amazing” people who share her passions for fashion and the arts.
While she finds it hard being so far away from her family in Australia, the close friendships she has forged here have eased the strain somewhat. Her friends, she said, have become her de facto family.
Asked whether there is anything that surprised her about New Zealand, she said she has found that the pace of life is still slower here and that “things take a bit longer to reach here”.
“People tend to be happier to keep things as a status quo, and it’s a bit harder to push ahead and make things happen, but they do eventually.
“I guess the flip side of that is the creativity in New Zealand. I’m very lucky I’ve been exposed to the arts sector – so people doing amazing things whether it’s artists, musicians, or people who create through paint and pottery.”
Supplied
Johnson said she feels fortunate to have been able to continue with a career path in sectors she’s passionate about: Fashion retail and the arts.
As a marketing manager though, she sometimes struggles with Kiwis’ tendency to keep quiet about their talents.
“They don’t talk about it as much as we do in Australia,” she said. “You really have to extract all the good things that are happening to be able to share and showcase it.”
Johnson and her partner Kristian Davies, a Kiwi who lived in London for more than a decade, plan to move overseas within the next few years, but she will always look back on her time in New Zealand with fondness and gratitude.
“I had a child here and that limited my options to go back, but I’ve definitely made the most of it,” she said. “I’ve forged an incredible career and a beautiful life, the people here are amazing, we live in a beautiful place – we’re right near the coast, we have the beaches right near us. So I feel I’ve been lucky. New Zealand is definitely my home for now. But in my heart I am Australian. I don’t think you ever lose that. You always sort of stay connected to your roots and where you’re from.”
Twenty-one year old Brisbanite Yasmin Ranford also followed another person to New Zealand – in her case her sister.
Supplied
Johnson said being away from family motivated her to forge close friendships in her adopted homeland.
“My sister moved about five years ago while I was still in high school and I planned to follow, but by the time I’d finished school and my university degree, Covid happened,” she said. “So as soon as the New Zealand borders opened I was on a plane over here. Because I’m like “I’ve got to”. And it’s so easy – you don’t have to worry about visas or a timeframe.”
Her sister suggested she settle in Blenheim, where she lives, but, feeling the wanderlust, Ranford bought a car and set out on a road trip through the South Island, planning to keep driving until she ran out of money and decided where she’d like to live.
She liked the look of lots of different places, Queenstown, Wanaka and Cromwell included, but completely fell for “gorgeous” Glenorchy, drawn to its mountain-hugged remoteness despite being just a short drive from Queenstown, and easy access to hiking trails.
With many in the hospitality sector crying out for workers, she landed a job easily with her food industry and barista experience.
“I just rocked up to one of the only cafés in Glenorchy, and I was like “Hey, do you have a job available?” And they were like “Yeah, when can you start?” sort of thing.”
Brook Sabin/Stuff
Ranford said she ‘fell in love’ with Glenorchy on a road trip around the South Island.
The café offered staff accommodation, which she found fairly priced at $185 a week for a room, and she quickly settled into a rhythm of serving customers before heading out to explore the hiking tracks.
Ranford said Tasmania felt more foreign to her than New Zealand, describing the Kiwi and Aussie cultures as very similar.
That said, she missed the hobby groups that are so prevalent in Brisbane, saying she struggled to find classes or group activities in and around Queenstown that weren’t focused on tourists, farming or walking. Eventually, she created her own art club, inviting people around “to do a bit of painting and stuff like that.
“But it seemed to be a bit of a foreign concept to them, I guess. Not that they weren’t enthused. I found that a lot of people were excited to join a club, but nobody wanted to do the work to set it up and that sort of thing.”
She wonders whether the time of year had something to do with it, having heard locals are more inclined to engage in group activities in winter when the weather puts an end to many outdoor pursuits.
But when winter rolled around, she found that “most people just wanted to hang out and drink, and not do much else. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I still did what I wanted to do, and was by myself a lot. I don’t think we do that much as a society anymore where we just spend time by ourselves. It was a bit more freeing I guess.”
Ranford said she became more active in New Zealand, appreciating how easy it was to go for walks, camp, and generally immerse herself in nature.
“I could have done these things in Australia, but I never really thought about doing it. Whereas in New Zealand it’s encouraged.”
She also appreciated the sense of community in Glenorchy, and that people went out of their way to help one another and take care of their communal backyard.
Unlike Johnson , Ranford found the cost of living in New Zealand fairly similar to that in Australia, saying she saved more than she did back home. Of course, eschewing big city life in Brisbane – where restaurants and clubs frequently persuaded her to part with her cash – for a small town played a big part in that.
Ranford returned to Australia this May, deciding to spend time with family there and save some more money before heading overseas again – potentially to Europe.
“New Zealand is a great little stopgap,” she said. “You just move overseas, see how you feel, see if you can live away from family, see if you like a different culture. It’s a good way to test the waters.”