NZ is kind of expensive and cheap at the same time. It's hard to describe exactly. When we lived in CA we had more money coming in, but much more going out.

For example, schools. NZ and the US both have free schooling. But to get the nice relaxed school that we liked we paid a lot more in the US. NZ has free healthcare. People complain about it a lot, but it's been good to me with various ailments, and easier to access than the US where we had good health insurance. Although the dentistry was better.

Or like dining out. Cheap place in the US is cheaper than a cheap place in NZ. But eating out at a nicer place is cheaper by a lot in NZ. It's like there's a higher starting point but lower variance.

When it comes down to it, we loved our time in the USA, but we love NZ more and felt like life was better on about half the income.

I also realise I know you, we've chatted online before wave