An English couple who migrated to New Zealand say Auckland is simply too expensive and congested to live in, which prompted them to move home.
Stuff reports that Hereford couple Marie Edge and Tim Griffiths had aired their thoughts in a British expats Facebook group, where some other UK migrants had agreed with them.
Mr Griffiths, who works in construction, told Stuff rental property costs in Auckland were "abnormal" and they ultimately proved to be unaffordable.
"When we first saw what the rent was we just couldn't believe it," Mr Griffiths said.
"We had to significantly lower our expectations of housing quality."
He also said Auckland's public transport networks are so "disjointed" that "it's just not feasible to spend an hour and a half to get around town."
"In Auckland you need a car if you want to get around," he said, "but then when you do drive, you're just stuck in traffic for hours."
Stuff reported that other migrants in the expat group agreed.
"It was hard to make friends," one person wrote, "the cliques are so hard to break into - it just wasn't a friendly place."
Another wrote that New Zealand's rental houses "are crap mostly, but if you expect everything to be like the UK, you'll never be happy".
According to latest immigration statistics, the number of United Kingdom migrants coming to New Zealand per year is dropping.
There were about 8929 arrivals in the year to June, which is down 24.7 per cent on the previous year.
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