I have been offered 2 jobs in New Zealand, one in Christchurch helping with the rebuilding of the city and the other one is in a small town near Hamilton called Te Awamutu. They are both offering similar wages although the relocation package from the christchurch company is much better as they are a multinational company and can afford more. I have read so much good and bad about ChCh and it is getting very hard to just ignore the bad reports, I will be bringing my wife and 4 kids and dont want to make a bad move for them. Is anybody familiar with Te Awamutu, I have read about Cambridge and it seems nice but nothing about T A. Would a small rural town be too small for a family to move in, make friends and my wife find work? I come from a town in Ireland with about 20,000 to 30,000 people so I am not a big city guy that will struggle to live in a small town. We will only be living on my salary of about $60,000NZ a year until we get the kids settled and my wife can find work so it will be a few months anyway. Which is the best place to live frugally for a few months, I know rent is cheaper in the small town and but is life cheaper in a city with a wider variety of shops to shop around or can value be found in small towns with fresh food etc?