Why do a high percentage of Kiwis live in Australia ?
I moved last year to Melbourne, and the only thing I miss of living in Auckland are my family and friends
Why did I move? Simple fact that I got offered more money to do the same job. To rent a house that's the same size as the one in Auckland, for considerably cheaper.
Pay less on rent, earn more money. No brainer.
Certainly, some things over here are more expensive than in New Zealand but, well, let's put it this way. In NZ, my wife and I (and our child) couldn't 'get ahead', in fact could barely keep our head above water there to the point that we lived with my parents, and then my in-laws. Over here, for 4 months, we survived on just my salary (providing for me, my wife, my child and sister in law) alone.
Now my sister in law has returned to NZ (Couldn't get work due to the pandemic) and my wife got lucky enough to have a job. We are doing MUCH better than we could have dreamed. I've managed to actually treat myself to things that I couldn't over there (ie build a new computer) and home ownership is becoming less of a dream, and something that we're planning out and will likely turn into a reality within the next 2 years.
The weather in general has been nicer over here, there are more job opportunities here should I look to change roles, heck we are even driving nicer cars than we did there.
Now that restrictions are easing, I'm looking forward to exploring more of what Melbourne has to offer.