I suppose ours was a simple case really. Myself (UK citizen), my wife (German citizen) and two young boys (51% English, 49% German ), all fit and healthy. Got two job offers after two months of clicking "Apply for Job" on Seek.co.nz and following a few Skype and phone interviews (including one at 3am). Applied for Work to Residence Visa and accompanying temp visas for the family after accepting the right job for us .. visas were all approved within 2 weeks without any hitch via the Hamburg VAC and the London INZ Branch.
So it's taken from April 2013 to September 2013 to get everything sorted for our move to S. Auckland, where we will be looking for somewhere to live near Bucklands Beach / Cockle Bay. Our flights are booked for November 3rd!
I know that many people have a tricky time with their visa applications and during the process I actually stopped visiting this forum because it made me even more worried about all the things that can and do go wrong. So I'm posting this just to give some hope to those at the beginning of the process, that it is possible to get through this route unscathed with minimum fuss, presuming:
1) You don't have a very complicated background in terms of where you've lived
2) You don't have a complicated medical history
3) You have the motivation to engage with prospective employers despite the difficulties with the various "easy-option-only" recruitment agents
Good luck to everyone!
cheers,
Dom