The unstoppable move south

Our quiet internal migration

We shared a pleasant lunch with some newish acquaintances yesterday at the home of a couple we’ve recently met. They live about half an hour’s drive away near Alexandra. We were all of a mature age, what you would call comfortably off and happy in our Central Otago lives.

But here’s another thing we had in common – five years ago none of us were living in the South Island.

Much has been made of the external migration numbers of recent times and the ever increasing number of New Zealanders off to live in Australia.

But the quiet revolution in the country’s demographics is the internal north to south trend.

Stats NZ recently reported that between the census of 2018 the one in 2023 more than 86,000 shifted from the North Island to the South, although about 55,000 did go the other way.

Remarkably 4.3 percent of Wellington’s 2018 population was living in the South Island by 2023.

Of the north to south movers in the five years between censuses more than 42,000 went to Canterbury and over 23,000 to Otago, the majority of them in the inland part of the province.

The trend therefore is obvious and, anecdotally at least, it does not appear to be slowing. During what turned out to be a surprisingly social weekend (we don’t have that many) we sat at a dinner on Saturday night opposite two other couples who had been long term Auckland residents before making Central Otago their home too.

So why are we doing it?

In our case it just seemed natural. My wife and I were both born, raised and educated south of the Rangitata River.

(For those geographically challenged that’s the river which splits the Canterbury province, is the border between the South Canterbury and Mid-Canterbury rugby unions and is sort of a halfway line across the island).

We moved north in the late 1970s or early 1980s because it seemed that’s where the better career opportunities were. On reflection they probably were, but I also knew that even though I lived up north for forty years my heart was always in the south, especially the lower half of it.

I couldn’t get that excited about the Crusaders winning all those titles but the Highlanders lone championship in 2015 remains one of my all-time favourite sporting stories. My childhood and school years were dotted with memories of holidays in those small villages of the 1960s called Queenstown and Wanaka. I’m old enough to remember when you could drive cars down the Queenstown Mall. I learnt to swim in Lake Wanaka off the beach at Eely Point.

Coming to this part of the world for my golden years just seemed the most natural thing in the world.

But I’m intrigued by why so many others who don’t have the spiritual ties that we do are making the move as well, some of them at a stage in life when they’re still working for a living.

At our lunch yesterday one couple were both professors at Auckland University but living full time in Central Otago. Another had an interior design business in Auckland and yet another still owned a house there. We’re the only ones who have seem to have completely cut the umbilical cord, but then we were also the only born and bred southerners.

The reasons for the shift are not difficult to list.

Property is sort of less expensive, although not in Queenstown and Wanaka, and probably not for much longer in Cromwell either.

The air is fresher, the sky is bluer and the roads are emptier.

But it’s not all paradise.

Central Otago District and Otago Regional Council rates increases are among the highest in the country during the last three years. It’s not a great place to get seriously sick as the nearest full service hospital is more than two hours away in Dunedin.

In four decades up north I had time in Wellington, Auckland and Tauranga. But as we so often hear from Māori, where you come from is such an important part of your being, of who you are. It is your whakapapa. We white people have the same feelings too.

Because I had ancestors who arrived from Scotland in what is now Otago Harbour in 1848, my heart and my heritage is in this province. This is where I want to live and it is where I will die, although hopefully not for some years yet.

But here’s the thing. I’m more than happy to share my home province with others who want to live here as well. In some places it’s become too crowded already (here’s looking at you Queenstown) but the intrinsic attractions of fresh air, big mountains and no traffic jams (sorry Queenstown) will continue to be irresistible to those unlucky enough to whakapapa to the North Island.

We look forward to seeing more of you - but bring some warm clothes.