You will stand a chance of getting a temporary partnership based work visa if you can provide some evidence of your partnership when you were together, such as photos, a joint invitation to a party/wedding etc, maybe joint travel around NZ, letters from friends. Then you wlil need evidence that you have remained in regular contact during your separation - itemised phone bills, download of messages on Skype or Facebook etc and then hard evidence that you are living together once he returns. You could also consider setting up a joint bank account now to save for your future together. So long as you apply for the new visa before your current visa expires, you should be okay to get an interim visa while the new application is decided. I obviously only know what you have said inyour post, so I can only base my answer on that information. There may be other relevant information that would affect your case.