New Zealand couple Tim and Eva Mitchell are in the middle of a year-long trip around the world, but the adventurous Kiwi couple say the only thing that made it possible was leaving their homeland to live in Australia.
In 2019, the couple followed the path of thousands of Kiwis across Tasmania in search of higher wages and more career opportunities.
After just 16 months of living in Melbourne, where Eva, 28, worked as an IVF pharmacist and Tim, 33, worked for the same engineering company that employed him in New Zealand, the couple had saved enough to finance a year of travel abroad.
“If we stayed in New Zealand we probably wouldn’t be able to travel – we wouldn’t have saved enough,” Eva told Daily Mail Australia from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
New Zealand couple Eva and Tim Mitchell (pictured in Melbourne) said moving to Australia was “the best thing they’ve ever done”.
“Everyone is struggling around the world, but in New Zealand I think they are falling behind.”
More money for Kiwis moving to Australia
He said that by moving to Australia, the couple earned salaries 30 per cent higher than at home, plus they discovered there were many other financial advantages, such as tax deductions for work expenses, that simply did not exist in New Zealand.
in its Earn travel cents Blog Eva writes that the couple “knew that moving to Australia would mean we could save more money AND save money faster than if we stayed in New Zealand, just by getting better-paying jobs.”
“What we didn’t realize were the many other ways that living in Australia would facilitate our savings goals, starting with having to pay less income tax,” he writes.
‘An average Australian full-time salary of $95,000 requires you to pay approximately $21,300 in income tax per year.
The couple said if they had stayed in New Zealand (pictured) they would never have saved enough for long trips abroad.
“In New Zealand, on the same salary (if you can find a job that pays the equivalent), you would have to pay around $23,200 in income tax a year.”
However, that wasn’t even the best.
“In Australia, you are entitled to claim tax refunds on a range of work expenses,” he said.
‘These include professional fees, work from home costs, work tools, conference costs, work clothes and much more.
‘At the end of the day, we found that Australia not only pays better; it allows you to keep more of what you earn.’
Eva recalled that when the couple moved to Australia, “everyone said make sure you claim your taxes back.”
“As far as we knew we were never able to claim the same expenses in New Zealand, not on normal jobs, maybe if you ran a business,” he said.
‘The grass is certainly greener!’
More career opportunities
Both Eva and Tim enjoyed career opportunities in Australia that they would not have in New Zealand.
Eva went from being a pharmacist in a public hospital in Christchurch to working in a private IVF clinic and in a private sector pharmacy role that she said did not exist in New Zealand.
The adventurous New Zealand couple has been traveling the world for a year (pictured in Cappadocia, Turket)
“With my new job came a raise, bonuses and a small team where I felt valued,” she wrote on the blog.
Even if he had returned to public sector pharmacy, the pay rise in Australia would have been substantial.
Despite working for the same company, Tim also got “a significant pay rise to move to Australia”, something that would have taken him “years” to obtain in New Zealand.
“Shortly after moving to Australia, Tim was able to secure a position of greater authority, which is testament to the career progression opportunities that Australian businesses can offer New Zealand professionals wishing to relocate to Australia,” Eva wrote.
‘As well as a pay rise, Tim’s transfer deal provided us both with flights to Melbourne and a month’s free accommodation in an apartment in Melbourne’s CBD until we could secure our own rental property. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself!’
Better work-life balance
As if charging more wasn’t enough, Tim and Eva discovered that Australians work fewer hours than Kiwis and that supermarkets are cheaper.
“The standard work week in New Zealand is 40 hours (compared to 38 in Australia), so over the course of a whole year there is a difference of about 100 hours,” Eva said.
“It doesn’t sound like much, two hours a week, but it is, and we found it convenient because it gives you time to visit the banks when they are open.”
He also said that in Victoria, “seasonal rebates on dining, activities and electricity bills are offered to all residents.”
“Thanks to these cash back programs, we were reimbursed hundreds of dollars during our time living in Melbourne,” he writes.
Eva and Tim also liked living in Melbourne, which has a population about four times the size of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland.
The couple said that when they finish their trips to Europe and Asia they will return to Australia.
Last year, 5,000 New Zealand-based nurses registered to work in Australia over a six-month period, while fewer than 200 Australian nurses migrated the other way.
“If we wanted something close to the size of Melbourne, the only option is Auckland, but it’s obviously quite expensive to be there,” Eva said.
‘It’s probably on a par with Melbourne, but you get better salaries in Melbourne.
‘You just don’t have the same opportunities. “There’s always something to do in Melbourne, there’s always events.”
After a 10-month stay in Europe, the couple plans to spend two more months in Southeast Asia before returning home, which is no longer in New Zealand.
“I can’t imagine returning to New Zealand,” Eva said.
‘Salary is a big problem. If we could get the same salary we could come back, but we’re still missing the city lifestyle.’
Eva said she and Tim sometimes felt bad about leaving New Zealand.
“We feel guilty about leaving, we miss our celebrations at home, so we feel guilty about missing that,” she said.
However, in most other respects they were happy to be expatriates.
Eva said they wouldn’t have done it.“They left” their country if “they could have taken care of us.
“Australia has given us opportunities that we simply wouldn’t have in New Zealand,” he said.
“People may call us unpatriotic, but we have to do what’s best for us.”
New Zealand PM concerned about kiwis moving to Australia
The exodus of working-age New Zealanders to Australia has become such a concern that it was mentioned in newly elected Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s state of the nation address in February.
“The average full-time worker in Australia now earns $20,000 more a year than someone in New Zealand,” Luxon said.
‘So it’s no surprise that Kiwis voted with their feet. Last year, a record 44,500 New Zealanders left the country.
The higher salaries offered in Australia have been cited as a factor in the nursing shortage in New Zealand.
Last year it was reported that 5,000 New Zealand-based nurses had registered to work in Australia over a six-month period, while fewer than 200 Australian nurses emigrated the other way.
Like Eva and Tim (pictured in the Sahara desert), many young Kiwis vote with their feet.