So the Kiwis have to drop their prices because the Brits' currency has tanked? How is that fair? Do their businesses get a commensurate drop in costs? I don't think so!

What about all the years when the GBP was 2:1 with the NZD ... where where the howls of "Unfair" then?

And, just BTW ... It's Travellers on this side of the pond.

I was fortunate enough to visit NZ a few times when the NZ dollar was .40-.60 to the US dollar. Since then, it has become considerably more expensive thanks to the pitiful US dollar and the strong NZ dollar, but it still seems much better value to me than Australia.

As long as one doesn't smoke, drink Coke or want to eat in a restaurant, it's not so bad .

Interesting about South Korea, I had no idea.

Yeah traveling to NZ can be costly. But as long as you will do lots of research of the places where you will go and the restaurants where you will dine, then definitely you can lower down your budget. But just in case you think you don't have enough money for it, then maybe it is best not to bother going there.

Okay my NZ friends, I just booked a trip to the North Island. Bring on the advice!

I just finished 8 days traveling around the North Island and am currently in the South Island for another 9 days and am here to tell you it is ridiculously expensive!
Some examples- breakfasts have been offered for $15-18 NZD; dinners seem to run( no matter where we are at) between $28-39 NZD. New Zealand wine that I buy for $10 at our grocery store is $25 NZD at all the grocery stores here. Souvenir tee shirts are between $40-60 NZD.
I am traveling with my adult daughter who lives overseas and travels as much as I do with my job with the airlines and both of us are shocked how high the prices are!

The prices may be expensive for people whose salaries are paid in US dollars because the NZ dollar is very strong currently. For Australians, New Zealand is very reasonably priced. I go to New Zealand at least once a year and find it great value for money. My favourite designer, Zambesi, is much better priced in New Zealand.

My Kiwi friends complain that New Zealand is too expensive, especially the high prices of food, cars, kids' clothing and shoes, airfares.

Compared to the US, where I used to live, petrol prices are high, restaurants are expensive(even taking into account that you don't tip), over the counter non-prescription drugs (like Naproxen/Naprosyn) are costly, kitchen appliances, linens cost more. I could go on, but won't. It reminds me a lot of Hawaii, where many goods are imported from the mainland so prices are higher. What surprises me is that NZ products are often cheaper in the US, such as its lamb, dairy products, wine (as you mentioned, dutyfree). There was an article in the NZ Herald a few days ago discussing how NZ wine was cheaper abroad. I used to pick up name brand NZ wines--very good wines--for $5 a bottle in the SF Bay Area discount stores. Wines that normally sell for around $15 here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10858442

I understand that labor is cheap in the US (in part, because of immigrant labor) so food in markets and restaurants is cheaper. Plus, in terms of produce, the US has economies of scale, large-scale producers who can keep prices down (not necessarily a good thing). But I have been told by Kiwis that another reason that NZ products are more expensive in NZ is because much is sent abroad, increasingly to China. Sheep are being replaced with cows to keep up with the demand for dairy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/7200605/Cows-outnumber-people-in-New-Zealand.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10860750

What did surprise me that folks from UK find NZ expensive.

Right, Susan7, the Australian dollar is even stronger, so NZ might be considered a great value by some Australians.

I know, Melnq8, who knew South Korea was so expensive? I guess I won't be going to Seoul.

I just read that excess baggage rates on Air New Zealand have just gone up. Currently, ANZ allows one free 50 lb. (23 kg) checked from the US to NZ. The first piece of excess baggage will now be $150 unless you pay in advance. Just a year ago, the first piece of excess baggage only cost $70.

I think Qantas still allows two 50 lb. (23 kg) checked bags from the US to NZ.
http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/excess-baggage-united-states
http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/checked-baggage/global/en#jump1

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/airline-revenue-in-the-bags-20130124-2d8gh.html

But Diamantina, you can see why people from the UK currently find NZ and Australia expensive, the exchange rate until very recently was hugely in their favour, as Bokhara pointed out right at the beginning. A very strong NZ dollar is a small blip in the scheme of things, certainly for the last 50 years the boot has been very much on the other foot.

I'm interested you say people in NZ complain about prices as I've never heard that complaint from NZ friends or colleagues. But it is true that Australia and NZ have always paid more than Americans for things like cars, electrical appliances, books, airfares etc.

dutyfree -

If you think NZ is expensive from an American perspective, you'd pass out if you visited Western Australia. I can't even look at prices anymore. I close my eyes and hand over my bank card...seriously.

We've just returned from a long weekend 'down south' in WA and I really, really don't want to add up the receipts.

But at least NZ offers good value. Australia....not so much.

New Zealand may be a bargain for some travelers, but my Kiwi friends and acquaintances do complain about high prices relative to their earnings and wages. Personally, I have for years felt that NZ prices were relatively high compared to median wages and earnings.

For one thing, there are fewer choices here. Purely as an example, in the US there are discount stores like Costco, Trader Joe's, Target, Ross, Marshall's, Big Lots, Grocery Outlet, outlet stores, all kinds of dollar stores that can help middle and lower income families make ends meet. Also, in the US there are countless online retailers that offer free US shipping, like Amazon. But if you order from Amazon from NZ, the shipping charges are high (because NZ is so far away). And some items they simply will not ship. As another example, in the US, if I want to fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles or from Sacramento to Los Angeles, I'll have many airlines to choose from, but if I want to fly from Dunedin to Wellington, I have one choice, so I can't really shop around for a cheaper price.

One thing--and its a very big thing--that New Zealanders and Australians have going for them financially, is socialized medicine. In the US, if workers who need health insurance are not covered through work, they will have to buy their own, which can take a major chunk out of a paycheck. And a medical catastrophe can wipe out one's life savings. According to a 2010 article on the website Yahoo Finance, medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. They quote a Harvard University study indicating that medical expenses represent 62% of all personal bankruptcies. (This seems a bit high to me, but I have no problem believing that the majority of personal bankruptcies are caused by medical expenses.)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pf_article_109143.html

Susan 7, do your Kiwi colleagues and friends earn Australia dollars? Because one reason Kiwis leave for Australia is because they can earn much more there. Though recently I read that more Kiwis are beginning to return, mainly Cantabrians who went there after the quakes.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-02/record-n-z-worker-exodus-to-australia-risks-labor-shortages.html

Clearly, Australia is more expensive than NZ. I used to visit Australia from the US at least once or twice a year; it is probably my favorite country. But I've stayed away for the past six years, even though I now live in New Zealand, which is closeby, only in part because Australia is now so costly. I'd love to go back and might do so, despite high costs. At a certain point, I think if travelers want to visit NZ or Australia, they won't be deterred by high costs, but might save a little more or try harder to search out bargains in preparation for their trip, and while they are here try to cut costs in myriad small ways. I think it is to one's advantage to be an informed traveler.

Hi Diamantina, my friends and colleagues earn NZ dollars. I work in a University and am involved in the arts, in those two fields, I don't think that there's much difference in wages (in terms of what people can buy) between the two countries. Hence, there's a lot of traffic for jobs in both directions--it isn't just one way.

In fact, I think NZ might be a better place to live in terms of housing--Australian housing is ridiculously expensive in the cities. For example a friend (a single woman) moved from Brisbane where she could barely buy a flat to Canterbury where she could buy a house. Similarly, a friend moved from New York where his family of four was in a two bedroom apartment in Brooklyn to an amazing house in Wellington.

I am saving and planning first trip to NZ,

Good news, kenral. You will love New Zealand, and you came to the right place for advice. There are a lot of seasoned and experienced travelers on this board who will generously and enthusiastically help you plan an enjoyable and affordable trip to NZ.

Susan7, yes, I heartily agree that house prices in urban Australia's urban and popular rural areas have been out of sight for a long while. And I don't dispute that Australia is pricier than NZ. I am not surprised that your friends found Canterbury homes cheaper than those of Brisbane, or Wellington's cheaper than Brooklyn (independent of the fact that both Canterbury and Wellington are seismically active).

On our first visit to Perth about 16 years ago, we fell in love with its coastal communities, so we took a look at real estate prices. We knew Perth was an expensive city, a boomtown, but the prices were still shocking, as pricey as Sydney. And that was then! The more affordable attractive places seemed to be where the weather was most extreme (Darwin and the Top End), or more remote areas (like the lovely east coast of Tasmania).

We are originally from the ridiculously pricey (and seismically active) San Francisco Bay Area/Marin County. We spent a good part of the last 22 years taking vacations to areas where we thought we might want to relocate to (mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, other areas of the Pacific Northwest, and southern Brazil). We spent most of our vacations driving around neighborhoods, collecting real estate brochures, researching costs of building, hunting out job prospects, taking note of accessibility and availability of local services (hospitals, supermarkets and other stores, health clubs and other recreational activities), looking at food prices and other costs of living, studying the local economy, considering immigration policies, sometimes meeting with real estate agents, talking a lot with locals. We also did a lot of reading. This is how we ended in up New Zealand. For us, it made the most sense (at least for now). We weighed costs of living vs. earnings, but it was the lifestyle that most attracted us.

As we are approaching retirement, we are already considering where we will move to next. Researching our new move is taking up a lot of my time.

I don't think too many tourists are like us, though, that is, shopping for a place to relocate to. Though just today, I read that foreigners are snapping up apartments in Auckland. As if Auckland real estate wasn't already pricey!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10862236

Susan7, I have enjoyed this discussion. These are issues I think about daily, and discuss every day with friends and acquaintances.

I worked in the art world for many years, as well (mainly visual arts), and what always struck me was the global fluidity of artists. They may work in different countries, move around, as they are part of an international community.

I found a good link comparing prices in Australia and New Zealand. Keep in mind: "The average weekly wage in New Zealand of NZ$1,013 ($843) is 40 percent less than Australia’s A$1,323 ($1,417)." (Source: Bloomberg News, Feb, 2012)
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=New+Zealand

I used to visit New Zealand every year or so, when the currency was wea,er. The most recent time I went, it was getting to be so expensive that it wasn't fun anymore, even with free airfare on miles and friends in Auckland where I could spend some free overnights. Going out to dinner in particular was just too expensive for example.

Now I go to South America, maybe some day I will return but it isn't looking like anytime in the near future. I run into plenty of Europeans over there, especially those that were attracted to hiking/trekking and might have previously gone to NZ.

Hi again Diamantina! Your plans sound very exciting. I also love Brazil, I'm hoping at some point to send a sabbatical there so I can improve my Portuguese. Please let me know if you are coming across the ditch and I can show you the cheaper places in Sydney!!

I never pay more than $ 10.00 for a bottle of wine in the supermarket, there has been some terrific bargains in the last year or so.

If you compare for instance the chain hotels just as an example between New Zealand and Australia you will find that NZ is far less in price. I am going to Queensland soon and had trouble trying to find accommodation that worked out about the same as what I pay here taking into consideration the exchange rate, the Aust dollar is right against us at present. As for Perth it costs an arm and a leg, have a look at www.booking.com for instance and compare between the cities in Aust and NZ. As for meal prices, if you bother to stroll a few streets in any given town or city you will find excellent blackboard deals. Today I had breakfast out for $9.50 including coffee. Don't let other people put you off going where you would like to holiday.