I guess because I've been away for so long, everything seems to be way more expensive than I expected. Of course, the NZ minimum wage of $15 is double the federal minimum here so perhaps the costs are just relative to our respective average incomes. The Kiwi economy seems to be robust, hard to get a seat in a restaurant in Auckland and Tauranga at the times we were there (early Feb).
Just a superficial glance from this end though!