OVER & OUT

In NZ, and around the world, Covid has prompted people to leave big cities in droves. Could this be the beginning of a huge shift?

-  JANE CLIFTON

At 22, Sophie-Lee Archeris way outside the profile of people who would normally move to the provinces for a quieter life. As an Auckland restaurant manager, she's used to being on high alert. But after two years of Covid hogging the headlines, it all got a bit too intense.

“Just about everybody you talk to is angry or upset, and it's all anybody talks about.” Even off duty, she found she couldn't escape the general anxiety. “I always thought one day I'd like to move to Tauranga, to be near the beach and the open air and have some space - just not this soon."

Archer is about to start work managing a local restaurant and has already found a flat more affordable than her Auckland one. A friend is moving to Australia's Gold Coast for similar reasons. “He just wants a bit of peace from all this anger and craziness, and an easier pace of life.”

Melanie Tuala feels much the same way. After 11 years in high-stress jobs in Auckland and Wellington, the 34-year-old has recently moved to rural Bay of Plenty. For her, the crunch came after the second lockdown.

“We'd just had enough, and decided now's the time. So we chucked most of our stuff into storage, except what we could fit into the SUV, and we crossed the [Auckland] border and got a rental down here and started looking for houses."

Tuala admits she had been thinking about moving for a long time, but was put off by the thought of having to take a large pay cut. That concern evaporated once remote working became the new normal. “I realised, 'I can work from anywhere now, and earn the same salary wherever."