IAANZ experiance..
I fully understand the sausage factory idea vs. the guys who train next door. However to get a student loan I had to go the the 'big shiny' school. If I had the cash I would have gone to cheaper alternatives. Then again: the young pilots who come back from conventions where pilots all over the country meet, it does seem that IAANZ has the the best airplane/instructor student ratio, best weather, best location etc.. etc.. (comparing the big players now) and if I didn't get my wires crossed (because this bit of research was done before I started there: IAANZ is the cheapest of the sausage factories.)
For you internationals: If I had cash and could do it over again I'd go to South Africa where flying is also cheap (I think its JAA there) and you don't have the curse of NZ's CAA, albeit brilliant but local licence -as my interests include going to Europe where you don't need 3000 hours or so to get into small local airlines. - as one thread above said, you'll sit here forever before you see your right hand seat in the smallest turboprop.