Wages do seem quite low and I was really shocked when I first came out here but I was still in the habit of converting back to pounds and didn't really have an understanding of how much a doller is worth and what it will buy.

If you have good equity in your UK house and can buy mortgage free over here it's a great help!
Everyday living costs are roughly the same as LadyMandy said, whiteware and electrical goods are roughly on a par with the UK to so they do seem quite expensive but the big ticket things are generally cheaper - more so in the south island than the North.