near Hamilton, because if you can rent somewhere nice for less then you will make some savings. I am anticipating living frugally initially- and being careful shopping: no splurging. Our children have been warned about this too. The key thing is- being able to live in NZ and for once enjoy what we have than dreaming of buying what we don't. The one thing we definitely don't want to get is any credit... The cost of rent in ChCh is a big factor as it is almost twice that of Te Awamutu, both jobs sound good so it is really hard to decide which to go for. The ChCh company are offering to pay all expenses re visas, flights, relocation etc plus give us the first month rent free, the smaller company cannot match that offer but they have been very generous aswell. There is also the big question of whether to bring your kids to Christchurch or not, so many posters say it is fine but you just cant ignore all the ones that say dont do it. it is basically a question of do we go with the offer that is cheap to get there but more expensive to live when we are there (ChCh) or the option that is more expensive to get there but cheaper when we do (T A). I'd say that paying for visas, flights and relocation is a huge saving. So even though the rents are higher- I don't think it would match