Not sure about climate zones sorry! I think the whole warm & humid thing depends where you are as NZ is a very long country. Aoteroa or land of the long white cloud :) Up in Auckland it is warm & muggy. I found gardening there a nightmare as the slugs & snails got almost everything. I'm now down south in Dunedin. It's a whole heap colder & much less humid but so far everything I've planted seems to be growing quite fine.

With the vege seeds, try it & see if they let you bring them in. I was able to order a whole heap of organic, heirloom early varieties of tomato seed more suited to colder climates from the abundant life foundation. I ended up ringing MAF & they told me they needed to be declared as seeds, you need to know the latin name for them & they need to inspect them.

As to being in IT. Yes there are loads of jobs here for IT ppl - mainly in the larger cities like auckland. You probably won't get paid anywhere near as much as you would in the US tho'. & yes property prices are rising somewhat over here. Check out www.realenz.co.nz

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to find an area that is somewhat drier and cooler so perhaps we'll be looking for a home in Dunedin!

Joan

I have to say I am biased, I love Dunedin! But then I am on the peninsula so we do have a much milder micro climate than the rest of the area. The top of the south island around Nelson & Motueka is beautiful, as is the west coast.... actually virtually all of NZ is beautiful. it is quite varied & all bits have plus & minus points. It really depends what you want.

We just ended up being somewhere we liked the almost very best where we could afford land with awesome sea views & a bit of bush & was close enuf to civilisation for the kids.

If you are able to get in the country without a job & you have some money. I would recommend travelling around the whole country for a few months to see which bit you like the most. You could always buy an old banger & do WOOFing if money is tight.

Joan

New Zealand's climate is nothing at all like zone 10b ones in the mainland US. The reason why we can grow 10b-type plants is the extraordinary mildness of the winter in most parts of the country. This is truly an oceanic environment. Overall the climates here are most comparable to those in Oregon but with milder winters. Even in Auckland and northwards you will not be anything like as hot as you are in southern California in summer. The temperature here rarely exceeds 27°C (sorry, you are going to have to get used to the metric system that all the rest of the world except the US uses!) and although it can be a bit sticky in late summer, its nothing compared to the god-awful stickiness in the S.E. States. Winter daytime temps in Auckland are generally 10°- 17°C, night temperatures can be anything from 13°C down to close to zero. Down south, in Christchurch and Dunedin, summer temperatures can be similar, though its less sticky, but winters are significantly colder with subzero temperatures and they can get significant snowfalls.

House prices have been rising comparatively steeply in Auckland and on scenic parts of the coast of North Island recently but they are still low compared to Californian (and British for that matter) prices. I think the median price for a 3 bedroom house in Auckland is now around NZ$320,000, though I can't tell you where the exchange rate is at the moment, its shifted recently.

cheers
Peter Richardson

Here is a link that might be useful: Some photos of a garden in Auckland earlier this month

And speaking as someone who grew up in Dunedin, "drier" isn't exactly the adjective I'd use to describe the climate.

Best - exop