Southland

The last place people look, and one of the best

A guide to living, working and settling at the bottom of the country — written for healthcare professionals, by the team who help them move.

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15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free

Welcome

Nobody asks about Southland. They should.

Southland is the bottom of New Zealand — a broad green farming plain with Fiordland at one end, Rakiura across the strait, and Invercargill in the middle of it. A hundred and three thousand people in an area larger than Wales.

Unlike the other far-south options, this region has a base hospital. Acute medicine and surgery, an emergency department, intensive care, maternity, paediatrics and imaging, serving the whole region, with a rural network reaching into Fiordland and out to the island. Real hospital medicine with a wide catchment.

And Invercargill has the cheapest city housing in the country — not "affordable relative to income", the lowest actual prices of any city in the country. The cost is the weather: cool, changeable and windy, with a dark midwinter. If that doesn’t put you off, very little else here will.

Nau mai, haere mai ki Murihiku.

Ngā mihi nui — the Ethicare team

The long curve of Tautuku Bay in the Catlins, surf breaking along an empty beach backed by native forest — Tautuku Bay · the Catlins, east of the city

Southland, in short

The five-second version

~103k

People in the region

~10 min

A typical commute

Cheapest

City housing in the country

~9.45pm

Midsummer sunset

Where

Murihiku — the southern plains, Fiordland north-west, Rakiura across the strait

Climate

Cool maritime. Mild summers, damp winters, constant wind — and enormous summer light

Main hospital

A base hospital in Invercargill serving the whole region, plus a rural network

Getting home

Flights via Christchurch or Auckland; Queenstown two hours for trans-Tasman

Contents

What’s inside

Fifteen chapters in five parts. Nine are written for Southland; the rest are national and live once in Moving to New Zealand, so you only read them once.

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to SouthlandThe last place people look, in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why SouthlandThe arithmetic, a typical week, and where else we might point you Read now → 03 Southland at a glanceA green plain between Fiordland and the Southern Ocean — and a 9.45pm sunset Read now →

Part two · The region

04 Healthcare in SouthlandA base hospital serving a region the size of Wales, and a rural network reaching into Fiordland Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveTen places compared — the city, the coast, Gore and Te Anau Read now → 06 Getting aroundEmpty roads, a ten-minute commute, and the distance to everywhere else Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingThe cheapest city housing in New Zealand, and why most clinicians here buy rather than rent Read now → 08 Renting a homeYour application pack, bond, tenancy rights and the Healthy Homes standards Shared · national 09 Money, tax & bankingIRD numbers, KiwiSaver, opening an account and sending money home Shared · national

Part four · Everyday life

10 Food, shopping & the everydayBluff oysters, blue cod, cheese rolls, and a region with a real food identity Read now → 11 Fiordland, Rakiura & the south coastA World Heritage wilderness two hours away and an island national park an hour by sea Read now → 12 Driving & licencesConverting your licence, buying a car, a warrant of fitness and registration Shared · national

Part five · Belonging

13 Te ao Māori at workPronunciation, the words you will hear on the ward, and marae etiquette Shared · national 14 Finding your feet & your peopleHow friendship works here, and building a life outside the hospital Shared · national 15 Visas, registration & the moveWhich visa, what your qualification is worth here, and the order things happen in Shared · national

Sophie’s insight

Nobody asks me about Southland, and it is the region where I have seen people build the most life the fastest. A base hospital, a house bought outright within a few years, and Fiordland two hours away. The weather is the cost — everything else is in your favour.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

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