Ohakea is not "in the middle of nowhere" bit in fact only 18 miles from Palmerston North and a two hour drive north of Wellington. It is also nowhere near the "desert plateau"! The Army has that privilege! I drove past Ohakea quite recently, and it is very evident that a lot of money has been spent there of late.
Otherwise, you've just about nailed the facts!
The rebuilding of Christchurch WILL be paid for, and IS funded, and will be done over a period of years, not overnight and, of course, any potential applicants for RNZAF posts won't be going there anyway!
The other great news is that NZ isn't in the EU, has it's own Supreme court, no compensation culture, no ambulance chasers and actually deports unsavoury characters!!
