New Zealand, Canada and the USA have user-friendly regulators.
I nearly spat my coffee out.
The New Zealand regulator you refer to is the same regulator who decided when the airlines got wind of the fact they were funding private pilot medicals decided that the best way to recoup said funding was to divide the shortfall by the existing number of class I and II medicals and charge accordingly.
For me, a weekend day VFR pilot, having to cough up ~NZ$300 just to buy the right to be examined came as a bit of a shock. But I just sucked it up and got on with it, despite that now I am older than 40 I need to redo my medical every 24 months. But I am in the minority. When I got my last medical done, the nurse was saying that the number of class II medicals being issued by the outfit I go to has plummeted (nice pun there) as private pilots are going to the RPL and cheaper medical costs or simply walking away from flying. The ONLY reason I haven't gone down the RPL road is, I like to carry more than one passenger to help offset costs.
While you might think the grass is greener over here, it's really just the cow manure.