A former Tauranga nurse is doubling her hourly earnings by moving to Australia.

She is also not paying for accommodation, gets a $560 tax free allowance for food, has meals available on shift, and can reach as high as $140 AUD an hour when working overtime.

The proud Kiwi is one of about 5000 nurses to take up lucrative short-term contracts in Australia since August last year, which can earn expats up to $8500 NZD per week.

These fruitful contracts are designed to remedy Australia's own critical shortages, by poaching New Zealand nurses with deals which seem almost too good to be true.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. With many Kiwis eager to make the move, a health recruitment specialist has warned the grass 'may not be greener” on the other side of the Tasman.

So are these contracts as good as they seem? SunLive speaks to the former Tauranga nurse to find out.

The good

In Tauranga, the nurse says she earned $34 NZD an hour. In her new role as a travel nurse near Perth, she earns a minimum rate of $70 AUD an hour.

This $70 rate goes up if she works night shift on a weekend.

'Any overtime above two hours is $120 an hour, and then $140 if four hours of overtime is accrued.”

She says her 'best fortnight” earned her a total of $8000 after tax, after working overtime both weekends.

The difference between nursing in Australia and in New Zealand in her eyes is 'huge”.

'In practice nursing, there is no capacity to earn overtime or penal rates, as the job is regular working hours.”

She says New Zealand hospitals often don't get overtime as the system 'doesn't want to pay”.

'The next nurse on shift is just expected to pick up all the stuff which the nurse before didn't get a chance to do, as well as the workload of her own shift.”

Waking up to her new job in an Australian hospital is 'an absolute joy”.

'I finally feel the skills I have are being valued and all the education I have undertaken is being valued. They have also invested in me and trained me up to be able to triage patients coming in to the ED, and also helped me gain experience in advanced life support – despite me not even being a permanent staff member.”

She also says working in smaller environments gives her time to get to know her patients, and is a lot less stressful than working in New Zealand hospitals.

'So much information that can guide our nursing care can be elicited from our patients when we just have the time to sit and chat with them. This is now a luxury for NZ nurses, when it is one of the cornerstones of nursing.”

The bad

Despite taking up a contract which can earn up to four times as much per hour compared to New Zealand, the former Tauranga nurse says she misses her country 'dearly”.

'I miss my partner, my family and my friends. I miss being in my own environment, with the freedom to live my life as I normally do. But, getting ahead in New Zealand now is becoming a distant memory for most.

'I plan on doing another three short term contracts in Australia and will be looking for permanent work again in December in New Zealand. Hopefully by then, our Government would have pulled its head in and prioritised spending in the health system to retain and attract nurses.”

Tauranga nurses striking for better pay in August last year. Photo: Taylor Rice/SunLive.

If nursing conditions don't change in her eyes, she says its 'always nice” knowing she can 'do another stint” in Australia as a travel nurse.

If people are looking into joining the 5000 Kiwi nurses across the ditch – the former Tauranga nurse suggests looking at a variety of contracts before going all in.

'All agencies and states pay differently and different contracts come with different incentives. If you want something specific, ask!”

The outback

One difficulty for Kiwi nurses moving to Australia is being placed in locations away from big cities.

Tonix Health Recruitment managing director Kate Nattrass says she hears many nurses working in outback Australia feel isolated.

'Some of these nurses are feeling professionally unsafe. They're left a lot in isolation and they don't feel that well supported.”

Tauranga's ex nurse says she feels supported, but the lifestyle can be 'quite lonely” and 'a bit boring” without a car.

'You are expected to hit the ground running as an agency nurse, so don't expect much hand holding from the permanent staff. I wouldn't recommend this type of job to nurses with minimal experience.”

-Additional reporting by Rowan Quinn/RNZ.