Oz has more startups, even Google have an engineering team located in Sydney. As for VCs, there are quite a few, but compared to the Silicon Valley VCs they don't have the same appetite for risk. Compared to NZ, there are more ops, etc. Cost of living in Oz is somewhat higher than for NZ, but not by much. You have to remember that Oz is about the same size geographically as the US, but with less than 1/10th the population. If you want to ski a lot, the NZ south island is heaven. If you want to surf and enjoy a beach culture, then northern NSW and Queensland are terrific.