Answers
posted by Darren C in New Zealand forum
Hi Elias
It's best to use Trade Me (www.trademe.co.nz) to find flatmate situations and houses to rent, rather than realestate.co.nz.You shouldn't have any problem renting if you are foreigner, especially not if you have references. It's harder to rent if you have pets. You will have a tenancy agreement with your landlord and you should check out www.tenancy.govt.nz for the laws as you have right as well as the landlord.
Re driving: if you live in the middle of the city (e.g. Auckland, Wellington, etc) then you don't need a car, but you won't get much for $600/month here unless you are sharing with someone else. However, you can live in one of the smaller cities, e.g. Hamilton or Napier and pay around $100-150/wk in rent, but again it's likely to be shared accommodation or pretty grotty.
If you do want to learn how to drive you will first need to learn the Road Code using http://www.drivingtests.co.nz, then apply for your learner licence and take a theory test. Once you have your learner licence you can drive with another experienced driver. In your case you will probably need to hire an instructor until you know people in NZ.
Goods and services: some are expensive, some aren't. Check any online supermarket website here to get an idea of what your weekly shop will be. If you use the Asian markets it will be cheaper.