A community worker on Queensland's Gold Coast says she has conversations "a couple of times every day" with New Zealanders whose move to Australia has gone wrong.
In some cases, the only option left is for them to go home.
More than 40,000 New Zealand citizens moved to Australia in the past year, with more than 100 people leaving through the departure gates every day.
The vast majority were aged between 18 and 35.
Nerang Neighbourhood Centre general manager Vicky Rose, a Kiwi originally from Levin, said she had been dealing with a rising number of New Zealanders who had arrived on the Gold Coast unprepared and ended up in crisis.
"Our families here, for all the right reasons, are saying, 'Come over. Come and live over here. It's good. The weather's great. The wages are good. You can come and stay with us till you get on your feet,'" Rose said.
"But then that job didn't eventuate in the first couple of weeks. And then perhaps they didn't bring enough money, and they overstayed their welcome."
Rose said the centre helps people in crisis, dealing with homelessness, unemployment and family problems. It runs a food bank and is funded to help 154 people find work.
A higher cost of living can quickly erode savings
She told TVNZ's You, Me and Aussie special the vast majority of those job seekers had been New Zealanders.
"Eighty per cent of those, or actually probably 90% of those, would be Kiwis," she said.
The centre feeds about 250 people a week, with roughly 30 to 50% of its food service clients being New Zealanders, according to Rose.
The 1News special You, Me and Aussie examined whether the costs of moving to Australia were worth it. (Source: 1News)
"We're time and time again seeing a number of family breakdowns," she said.
"Our job is to put all the options on the table for people, and increasingly, we're finding that in some cases, going back to New Zealand is the only option.
"I have that conversation a couple of times every day."
Rose said Kiwis needed to treat a move to Australia the same way they would any other foreign country.
"Just because we can get on the plane and not have to fill out a visa application doesn't mean that you should do that," she said.
"Like, you wouldn't go to Italy without first researching where the jobs are, what their current pay rates are, where the cheapest rentals are. You know what it would cost to live in a foreign country — and Australia is a foreign country."
HSBC Australia and NZ chief economist Paul Bloxham told 1News that while wages were higher across the Tasman, the cost of living could quickly erode the advantage.
"Yes, the wage is higher, but you've got to keep in mind that the cost of living is also higher," Bloxham said. "And it depends on which city you choose.
"In Sydney, for example, the median house price at the moment is AU$1.7 million - that's a lot higher than the New Zealand median house price."
Narrowing gaps between Australia, New Zealand
He said the economic gap between the two countries may also be narrowing.
"The unemployment rate looks as though it might be nearing its peak in New Zealand.
"The New Zealand economy has been in a modest upswing, which we think is going to start creating a few more jobs.
"Australia is at the other end of that story, where the economy looks as though it's going to slow down, and the unemployment rate, we think, is set to climb from here.
"So it's not going to look quite as attractive in Australia. It should look a bit more attractive in New Zealand," Bloxham said.
Recruitment experts who appeared on the programme also reinforced warnings for potential immigrants to review their options.
'Treat it like a project' - expert
Robert Walters' David Lacire said the Kiwis who did well in Australia were those who planned their move carefully.
"The people that do well are people who treat it like a project," Lacey said.
"You do your discovery. You look at where you want to go, what kind of job you want to go to, where you want to live, and how much it's going to cost you.
"Then you go into the planning. You've decided where you want to go, and need to go and select very strong details into, 'OK, I want to work there. This is how much it's going to cost me to rent a house, how much it's going to cost me to go to the supermarket'.
"And then the last one is execute. Just go and do it."
Those who struggled had taken the opposite approach, he said.
"The people who don't do well, it's people who just go there and do like the good old Kiwis and wing it and hope for the best."
Frog Recruitment's Kirsty Hannigan said the Australian job market, while larger, had been far more competitive than many Kiwis expected.
Kiwis have to compete with Australians for jobs
"If you're looking at places like Brisbane, you've not only got the Kiwis moving over there, you've also got all the internal migrants going as well," Hannigan said.
"Everyone from Sydney and Melbourne wants that lifestyle change too, so you've got more people competing in that market.
"Then for Sydney, you're moving over to a city with more jobs, but it's got the same population as the whole of New Zealand, so it is very competitive."
Hannigan said Kiwis also needed to be able to explain to potential employers why they had made the move.
"Employers are hesitant about hiring someone that's just moved over because you've not got your anchor there yet," she said.
"You really need to be able to explain to them why you've moved and what your plan is to stay, because otherwise you could talk yourself out of a job."
Lacire said there was also an argument for staying put, with the New Zealand job market starting to turn a corner. "We're on the other side of the turn in New Zealand," he said.
"We've been going through the last two or three years of very hard, hard to find a job. Not too many jobs out there. We're on the right side now, and there's some great opportunities that are available now.
"Everyone is moving over there now, so we would create a bit of opportunity in New Zealand for whoever stays."
Watch the 1News Special: Me, You and Aussie on TVNZ+
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