New to this forum. Planning first time hunt in NZ.

[whanahuia]

In regards to temperature, What gets many haters from overseas in trouble is that while we dont often experience much in double digit zeros, our cold is as you have figured out, very wet and its very hard to stay dry and incredibly hard if you are damp, to get warm. Ive hunted europe and asia at incredibly low temperatures compared to nz and yet you just dont notice the cold the same. Down is still my go to, but its a religious experience keeping it dry as well as keeping one set of clothes dry as well.
Also treat the east coast and west coast as two different countries flora, terrain and conditions wise. You hunt the two in different manors, so you have the decision to make on what coast you wish to hunt as well.