[KiwiHopeful]

The best way to get a sense of rents is to have a look at TradeMe.co.nz's rental property listings for the area. Most of the rental agencies list there, as well as independent landlords.

I haven't found the various cost of living calculators to be too useful myself, or necessarily reflective of the actual cost of living here. Groceries, for example, are generally under-estimated--especially since the price of milk and dairy products have gone through the roof. (Milk was about $2.50 for 2 litres when I arrived in July; now it's $3.00 or more most places.)

FWIW, for 2 adults and 2 children (ages 3 & 5) we pay about $200 per week for groceries. (We don't buy a lot of pre-prepared or packaged foods and generally eat pretty simply and unextravagantly.)

Electricity for a small 3 BR house runs us about $150-$300 per month--obviously more in winter than now.

Petrol is currently $1.74/litre.