Go West: The West Coast might be New Zealand's land of opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts. Why won't Kiwis relocate? Photo / Supplied, DWC
Go West: The West Coast might be New Zealand's land of opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts. Why won't Kiwis relocate? Photo / Supplied, DWC
A job in the world’s most beautiful Unesco heritage sites, $90,000 per annum and thus far only three applicants. A move to the West Coast is ripe for the making but even top jobs are struggling to find applicants.
This week the Department of Conservation widened its search for a new biodiversity manager in Haast. Billed as a "dream job" for adventurous types, it has been picked up by international media.
The skillset might be quite specific but the region's development and tourism board says it is not the only 'opportunity of a lifetime' that is raising interest in the region.
"The Coast is a special place that attracts a special kind of person and we're on the hunt for a few more of them," says Heath Milne, Development West Coast CEO.
Along the West Coast there was a big contraction in tourism and hospitality jobs during the pandemic. With the uptick in visitor numbers, leisure and tourism industries are crying out for applicants.
You'd think New Zealanders would be jumping on the new gold rush like it was 1865.
Asked why roles that are turning heads around the world have had so little uptake from Kiwis, Milne says the West Coast is seeing the same labour shortages as the rest of the country.
"It's a jobseekers market all over New Zealand. The West Coast isn't for everyone."
However the reputation as a remote hardy place full of remote hardy bushfolk isn't entirely justified. If you're looking for the 'West End' and city culture you'll be disappointed, says Milne. From the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival to the Tāiko Petrel Festival in Punakaiki, there is a lot of self-sustaining, self-made culture.
"We've suffered some bad press in the past," he says.
Perhaps there is a stigma within New Zealand particularly among urban hubs. Large numbers of international transplants and expats who come to the Coast for the lifestyle.
Milne relocated to Greymouth after several years working in London, and hasn't looked back.
"If you're into your outdoors lifestyle you have tramping, hunting and fishing and access to rivers and the ocean for boating."
To say nothing of the country's largest wilderness reserves.
It's what previously makes it one of the top destinations for international tourism. The West Coast now wants visitors to stay longer.
"We've currently at around 60 per cent of pre-pandemic visitor numbers," says Milne.
New cycle trails and the completion of the Paparoa Great Walk have adventure tourists visiting from around the world.
"Working holidaymakers are back in the country but they always take a while to find their way to the Coast."
With the returning tourists there are some more permanent transplants. Recently a lot of newcomers from cities after feeling the squeeze of inflation, some are just looking to upsize to a place on the Coast.
Glacier guide Sarina Anderson moved to the West Coast six years ago. She's never looked back. Photo / Supplied, DWC
"We've had a family who recently sold a property in North Auckland and move into a lovely five-bedroom for less than half what they sold for," Milne says.
With the median house price sold between $350,000 and $400,000, more Kiwis are relocating for a space of their own, as well as the wide open outdoors.
"It's a family place just as much as it is for adventurers. The schools are pretty good as well."
West Coast's tourism adoptees
The Andersons moved to New Zealand from Yorkshire, England.
Sarina Anderson, who moved to New Zealand aged 12, is a glacier guide, having studied Outdoor Adventure Tourism at Whitireia Polytechnic.
After six years in the area she is practically a local.
"My family and I were looking to travel," she says, with New Zealand a natural choice for their outdoorsy lifestyle. She moved to the area as a student from Wellington to be up among the mountains. "I came to the West Coast specifically for the glaciers and its community vibes. Six years later I am still here.
"There are not many places you could be standing on a glacier looking at the ocean and then have a bonfire in the evening at that beach."
Anderson has carved out a place for herself in the glacier community.
After a tough period without international tourists - the bust which affected many businesses - there is an upswing in visitors passing through.
Steve Gwaliasi instructs a visitor at his carving studio Bonz N Stonz, Hokitika. Photo / Thomas Bywater
As an expat, Solomon Islander and owner of Bonz N Stonz carving studio, Steven Gwaliasi has felt the change in his tourism business.
Gwaliasi fell in love with the West Coast after following his wife back to Hokitika.
"I met my wife in my home country, she invited me to visit New Zealand and I just never went back."
The return of the working holiday visa and those with time to spend on the coast has been a return of life blood to the West Coast communities.
"It's been a tough and especially quiet couple of years. I miss yarning with the young, adventurous backpackers and road trippers from across the world."
Many of the young visitors would end up completing their year-long working holiday visas on the Coast. For some that year becomes a lifetime.
