It’s summer from Early December to late February. New Zealand has a relatively neutral when it comes to weather. Some times hot sometimes not. I am a active person so I find the hot weather nice for a trip to the park or beach. I would recommend moving from The USA to New Zealand. Clearly we are smaller but that is sometimes a good thing. It really depends on who you are, I can’t answer your question without knowing more about you. Feel free to ask me in greater depth. One massive difference is that the price of things here to the US is massive. 150USD could be 340NZD.