Moving to the Gold Coast: Here's Why We're Leaving Nelson
Two years ago, if you'd told us we'd be packing up our Nelson life and heading to the Gold Coast, we'd have laughed. We'd just settled back in. New routines. Stability. All of it.
And then we started being honest with ourselves.
The conversation we kept avoiding
Nelson is genuinely beautiful. The winters are a bit cold, the summers are long, the beaches are stunning, and the people are kind. We mean all of that.
But for me, the climate became the problem.
Living with HLA-B27 and suspected Ankylosing Spondylitis in a smaller New Zealand city means long wait times for rheumatology, if you can get an appointment at all. A health system that, time after time, falls short. Cold, damp winters that are brutal on joints. A creeping sense that the place we loved wasn't quite working for the life we needed.
That conversation sat between us for almost six months before we finally said it out loud: what if we left?
Why the Gold Coast?
Honestly, a few things stacked up.
Climate was the starting point. Warmth genuinely matters for AS. Cold and damp are not just uncomfortable, they make mornings harder, movement slower, and pain worse. The Gold Coast's subtropical climate, warm, sunny, and relatively dry, is not just appealing. It's actually better for my body. Not anecdotally. The science backs it.
Healthcare access was the bigger factor. Queensland has strong rheumatology networks, better access to biologics and clinical trials, and a more connected specialist ecosystem. For someone managing a chronic condition long-term, that's not a nice-to-have. It's everything.
And then there was the less clinical reason. Caitlyn and I had been talking about what our life could look like, not just what it was. The Gold Coast felt like somewhere we could build something new together. A place with energy, community, and a different pace. That matters too.
What we're leaving behind
We're not pretending this is easy. Nelson has been home. We have friends and family here. Favourite restaurants, favourite walks, a Saturday morning market we've done more times than we can count.
Leaving is genuinely sad, and we're letting ourselves feel that.
But there's a version of grief that's actually a good sign, the kind that tells you something mattered. That's what this feels like.
The practical side
Moving countries, even just across the Tasman, involves more paperwork than romance. Medicare registration, deciding whether to ship furniture or sell everything and start fresh, finding the right suburb, and getting our heads around the Australian rental market as newcomers.
For me there's another layer on top of all that. Finding new butchers, fruit and veg markets, and products I can trust, then starting the ingredient screening process from scratch. That part of the move is its own project entirely.
What comes next
We leave in three weeks.
We're renting initially because we want to find the right suburb, the right community, the right feel before we put down any deeper roots. We're nervous. We're excited. Mostly, we're in it together.
We'll be documenting all of it here. The logistics, the feelings, the discoveries, the inevitable chaos. If you've made a similar move from NZ to Australia, or from a smaller city to a larger one, we'd genuinely love to hear from you. Reach out via the Contact page.
This is the start of something new. We can't wait to share it with you.