GPATC
I thought you may have got a response by now - maybe by PM?
I left NZ about 2 years ago so, my info may be a bit out of date.
Pay - when I left a top of the grade approach controllers would be earning about NZ$120-130K before tax. Pay rises over the last few years (I believe) have been about 3-4% - not quite enough to keep up with real inflation. After qualifying you will start on about step 8 of a 19 step pay scale, and with lower qualification and/or shift loadings. My best guess is you might get as high as NZ$70K before tax.
1 - There is at least one American in the NZ system (at the training centre) and many other nationalities. How well foreign controllers are recieved is more dependant on the person rather than where they come from.
2 - The Christchurch Centre is a modern centre and well laid out compared to some I have worked in. It is located about 2 km from the airport on the North West side of the city.
3 - The general shift pattern is 4 on 2 off, but there are some variations to that (6:3 or 5:2:5:3). You will get about 35-40 days leave in a year (that includes days in lieu for the public holidays). Each sector has it's own leave booking systems and unless there is a real staffing shortage, there is not usually a problem getting leave when you want it.
4 - Generally the schools and health care are ok. You will probably need to get private health insurance as there are waiting lists in the public system. Schools vary from suburb to suburb and some of the public schools are as good if not better than the private ones - but the price of houses in their catchment areas will be higher. You may wish to consider private schooling - it will cost you about NZ$15K per year for secondary school fees. (check out the school websites for more accurate information)
You will be able to join the company superannuation scheme and this will be included in your package. The company will put in $2 (minus tax) for every $1 you contribute up to a certain percentage of your salaray. Be wary of this scheme it has a history of poor performance - some years it has made loss of as much as 17%.
Hope this helps
Jaws