I have questions. New Zealand has pretty stringent visa requirements for 60+ day stays, right? Did you have work secured ahead of time to take care of that, or did you marry a New Zealander, or did you just apply for general citizenship?
You can visit for three months, they'll extend to six if you ask, but then you must leave unless you have a work visa or PR, permanent residence. There's a points system and I had almost enough for PR. With a bona fide job offer I'd have enough, so visited first and applied for jobs. Got one, applied, got approved, and moved. Could have gotten the work visa first and PR later but preferred the security of PR. With PR you're nearly a citizen, but you can't stand for public office, get a passport, or own non-residential property. We got citizenship a few years later.