Expat Kiwis love it
With a brother, sister-in-law and niece in the city and several friends planning to move there, she found settling in relatively easy in some respects.
Like Rodriguez, however, she initially struggled on the work front. She secured a job after a month but it was about a year before she found one she really enjoyed.
‘‘That first year was quite hard, but overall it was pretty easy to settle in. I got myself a little one-bedroom apartment [in Richmond], established my group of friends and made sure I had lots on. I guess it was easy technically but hard emotionally.’’
Sheat says she’s been lucky to work in very social environments, but has also got to know people through existing friends and events organised by a friend who runs a Facebook page for new arrivals.
She’s so settled now, she can’t see herself returning to New Zealand, although her home city will always hold a special place in her heart.
Sheat thinks she’s in a similar financial position as she would have been if she’d stayed in Auckland. While she earns more now, she’s also progressed in her career. Rents and house prices, she says, seem to be fairly similar and eating out is probably a bit cheaper in Melbourne.
Not having to fork out for exorbitant cab fares to get from one part of town to another is another big drawcard for her, as is the fact that the city feels alive and buzzing every day and night of the week.
On a recent trip home, she was disappointed to find Takapuna ‘‘completely dead’’ on a weeknight and was shocked to have to shell out $80 in taxi fares to get from suburbia to Ponsonby to meet a friend for dinner.
As an ‘‘outdoors-loving Kiwi’’, part of the reason Sheat feels so at home in Melbourne is that it’s easy to take a break from big city life whenever she chooses.
She travels to parks and beaches throughout Victoria for work and also goes bushwalking and camping with friends in her free time.
‘‘I was really surprised at all the things that aren’t that far a drive from Melbourne [such as] going down to the Mornington Peninsula to go to the beach or to the mountains. There’s a lot of variation in places to visit.’’
Dana Albuquerque and Tania Neale also enjoy the vibrancy of the city and have come to think of it as home – for the time being at least.
Like Rodriguez, Albuquerque moved to the city as a result of the recession. The New Zealand office at the company she worked for shut down and her role was disestablished so she thought she may as well give life across the ditch a shot. Melbourne called, she says, as it was a ‘‘bigger city with more opportunities for the area I work in and more pay’’.
While she had friends in London, she didn’t want to be that far away from her mum whom, after eight years in the city, she still finds it hard being separated from.
Albuquerque found settling in ‘‘smooth sailing’’, finding a job in marketing and the community of Kiwi expats ‘‘very welcoming’’.
Initially, she made the most of the surfeit of bars and restaurants but, now that she’s looking after her two small children full time, finds that most of her activities are kid-centric. Still, she feels her weekends are more cultured than they were when she lived in east Auckland.
‘‘The kids love the zoo, Scienceworks and the museum. Now that we live in the city, everything is so much more accessible and you’re not just spending your time at a Westfield.’’
Many of her friends have ‘‘moved out to burbs’’ since having kids, however, and as Melbourne is so spread out, it can be difficult to keep in touch. ‘‘It’s easier to drift apart and feel lonely sometimes.’’
While the couple earn more in Melbourne, Albuquerque wonders whether they would find it easier financially in New Zealand ‘‘with all the family support there. ‘‘The cost of childcare [in Melbourne] kills everything. If we lived in New Zealand, we would be able to lean on grandparents to look after the kids and we’d be able to save more money. Then again, we haven’t attempted to buy a house in Auckland and I can see it’s a bit ridiculously high there.’’
Tania Neale, who moved to Melbourne with her partner in 2012 after he landed a job there, also finds it hard being separated from family in New Zealand, but feels she has a much better quality of life in Australia.
A nurse, she earns almost twice what she did in Auckland, despite now only working part time, and finds rent, petrol and food cheaper.
‘‘I have a lot more spare time to do things I enjoy… whereas if I lived in New Zealand I’d have to work full time to make ends meet.’’
Like Albuquerque, Neale, 40, acclimatised quickly to the city, meeting people through work, her partners’ workmates and sports (she’s into athletics, tennis and touch rugby). Her 5-year-old son was born in Australia and she’s happy for him to think of the country as home.