This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

Haha, sorry for butting in Supes. I personally couldn't offer much advice because New Zealand is a weird place where the big cities are tiny by murrica standards.

Having said that one of my buddies from high school did move up to Auckland (population 1 million, largest city in New Zealand) to train as a bartender and have more of an opportunity to be his own gay self. (Christchurch's LGBT community took a pretty major hit following the earthquakes). From what I understand he's living off the student loan instead of working, so the situation is a bit different. He lives smack in the middle of town, but Auckland's transport network is pretty poor so I don't know how much fun living out in the 'burbs would be.

If public transport is safe and reliable from outside the city into town, then living on the outskirts'd probably be better. More important than any specific place, in my view, though, is probably establishing at least one contact there and making sure they're available to help you out with meeting other people and finding work and accommodation and actually knowing the city first-hand.