Howdy J...we just came back from Christchurch (Chch). Both are hi tech execs...thought like you, Christchurch was the place for us. But we found good jobs in Wellington. Chch recruiters poor as most companies are small and do not use recruiters, but we were told networking is the way. But you have to be there to network! Recruiters want to fill slots with bodies right away and they are not sensitive to migration issues. We talked with four of them, reportedly IT recruiters...but as you probably know, if you can't hack the IT world, you stumble off as a recruiter!

BTW, if you like Austin, you'll like Wellington!