I spent five months in New Zealand in 2009; 4.5 of those in Christchurch and the rest in Rotorua. If you have a desirable skillset I'd say living in Auckland or Hamilton would be pretty amazing, Auckland about 3 Hours from Rotorua and Hamilton being 1.5.
The South Island is absolutely awesome as well. Christchurch was great until it rained and you weren't allowed to ride on the Port Hills Tracks, but as soon as it dried, you were good to go. The DH is great, the XC is better, and the competition is out the roof.
I think Southstar Shuttles are running in more areas than just Christchurch and Rotorua at this point as well; I heard rumors of Nelson but it doesn't look like that is the case on their website.
I fell in love with NZ while I was there and am really striving to make my dream a reality: moving back there. I do think that having a strong skillset is extremely important and being 1 year out of university hasn't really given me that yet...
The South Island is absolutely awesome as well. Christchurch was great until it rained and you weren't allowed to ride on the Port Hills Tracks, but as soon as it dried, you were good to go. The DH is great, the XC is better, and the competition is out the roof.
I think Southstar Shuttles are running in more areas than just Christchurch and Rotorua at this point as well; I heard rumors of Nelson but it doesn't look like that is the case on their website.
I fell in love with NZ while I was there and am really striving to make my dream a reality: moving back there. I do think that having a strong skillset is extremely important and being 1 year out of university hasn't really given me that yet...