> outside of Wellington and Auckland, I didn't feel like there were any interesting opportunities in IT (that's a subjective and based on a very limited evidence from discussions with local / personal observations)

Christchurch has a fair few also, and it's closer to the "LOTR scenery".

> but eating habits don't seem to follow. Obesity seems to be a huge problem there

Obesity directly correlates to low socio-economic status here.