I must concur with Horsenuts and Cypher.
Stay in the Sth Island, and learn at an Aeroclub, such as Canterbury or Wakatipu.
My experience with pilots from the 'college of knowledge' is they have excellent theory qualifications, perform lotsa checks, but are seriously lacking in handling skills, in particular short field and crosswind situations, wander all around the circuit at night and dont look out the window much!