Kiwi expat finds Melbourne more refined

Gordon Ramsay's maze restaurant in Melbourne is run by a Kiwi chef. Photo / Supplied.

Rachel de Sain is one of around 425,000 New Zealanders living in Australia.

Until recently most expats favoured Brisbane and Sydney. Queensland especially has been a magnet for New Zealanders. Last year 45 per cent of the 47,782 migrants chose the Sunshine State while just under 20 per cent went to New South Wales.

But de Sain, like one in eight other Kiwis, has opted for Melbourne, attracted by the lifestyle and the way business works in Victoria.

Originally from Tauranga, de Sain, 30, worked in the UK mobile sector for seven years before moving to Sydney where she helped set up the world's first mobile phone TV channel for MTV.

For the past two years she's been based in Melbourne, where she runs her own digital media consultancy, Flaxworks.

She shares an apartment with a Kiwi chef at Gordon Ramsay's new Melbourne restaurant, maze.

"I just enjoy the way people in Melbourne do business, and I prefer the lifestyle here too," she said.

"Sydney can be a bit cut-throat. You ring and ring and ring, and no one answers the phone. It's more a case of 'who's yacht were you on at the weekend' or 'what party were you seen at'.

"In Sydney it's really all about who you know. Eventually you get a meeting and the deal happens.

"In Melbourne there's more of an Italian and European influence so you'll meet for a coffee, and chat and chat and chat. Sometimes the deal might take up to a year, but I like that. I'm more of a relationship person.

"I went back to Sydney recently to see some friends, and we went to a place in Bondi where there were six of us at one small table and three eastern suburbs princesses at a bigger table.

"I went over and asked if they would mind swapping tables, and they just looked at each other in an 'I can't believe this person is talking to me' kind of way.

"I think that's more a reflection of Sydney's eastern suburbs rather than other parts of the city. But if that was anywhere in New Zealand, or Melbourne, people would have been 'sure, sweet as' or 'no worries'.

"I feel Sydney people are much more into what they wear, who they are seen with or what table they get at the restaurant.

"We've got the comedy festival here, so much live music, amazing restaurants. I know it's cliched but I don't shop at the supermarket, I go to the local market. Melbourne's a bit more refined."