G’day fellas. I’m on a 12 month work visa in Christchurch. Been here in NZ nearly three years. Most of the that time was spent working in Auckland, then they took truck driving off the skills list so had to move down to Christchurch. There’s plenty of work here and to exchange your class 1 for a NZ class 5 is very easy, quick medical and a 35 question test on a computer, mostly common sense questions, easy, takes ten minutes. I’ve talked to the minister for immigration here and there are NO plans to put truck driving back on the shortage list NZ wide. You have to work in the Canterbury region which includes Christchurch.
It’s long hours and about equivalent pay to the UK. A lot of the work is truck and trailer which can be tricky to reverse. But practice makes perfect. They’re desperate for drivers in Christchurch, why not give it a go? After 25 years in London I’ll never leave NZ.