{"id":395982,"date":"2026-04-24T20:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/395982\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:50:18","slug":"kerry-lee-dewing-opens-up-about-family-move-from-australia-to-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/395982\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry-Lee Dewing opens up about family move from Australia to NZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past few months have been a whirlwind for Kerry-Lee Dewing<\/a>, with the former Shortland Street<\/a> star juggling two toddlers, a trans-Tasman move and a full-scale home renovation. But now she has left Sydney to shift back to Auckland with her Kiwi fianc\u00e9 Jono Bayer and their two little ones, the dust is finally beginning to settle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a full-on, emotional time for us,\u201d explains Kerry-Lee, 36. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of uncertainty around the move and we were waiting on so many pieces of the puzzle to fall into place, but we\u2019re finally starting to see the light!\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the South Africa-born star returned to Aotearoa with her daughter Andie, two, and son Hunter, who recently turned one. With Jono, 39, remaining in Sydney a little longer for his job
in property, it was Kerry-Lee who navigated the logistics of setting up their new life.<\/p>\n

While staying with relatives and parenting two tiny tots, she managed a significant home reno, as well as all the admin that comes with moving to another country.<\/p>\n

\"\" (Credit: Robert Trathen. )<\/p>\n

Three months to move-in day<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took about three months before we finally spent the first night in our house, but all the hard work was worth it!\u201d enthuses Kerry-Lee, who played killer nurse Kylie Brown for eight years on Shorty. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough it\u2019s a huge task when we\u2019re juggling the little ones, it\u2019s great to see the kids happy and settled, with their own rooms and lots of space to run around.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the couple left their busy lives in Australia with \u201cheavy hearts\u201d, Kerry-Lee says the family reached a crossroads when they outgrew their city apartment and the pull of family in New Zealand became impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cSydney is an incredible place, but after having Andie and Hunter, we realised how important it was for them to grow up with a close connection to their grand-parents and cousins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chaos of early motherhood<\/p>\n

Welcoming Hunter, moving countries and renovating a home, Kerry-Lee jokes that she checked off several of the \u201cmost stressful life events\u201d in the space of a year. She recalls when her son had just been born, there were times she found herself with a crying baby on each shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people told us having two babies close together is hard in the beginning, but they\u2019ll end up being best mates \u2013 we\u2019re finally seeing glimpses of that,\u201d Kerry-Lee smiles. <\/p>\n

\u201cAndie and Hunter love splashing together in the bath, and we recently caught them dancing with each other. We feel pretty chuffed!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" (Credit: Robert Trathen.)<\/p>\n

Settling into life in Auckland<\/p>\n

After studying commercial property, Kerry-Lee was working for global leasing company CBRE<\/a> in Sydney and has now transferred to the Auckland office. Although the family is settling into a rhythm in their new surroundings, she admits she hasn\u2019t quite come up for air yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only went back to work once my maternity leave finished, so it\u2019s still early days, plus we\u2019re doing sleep training with Hunter and there\u2019s still a never-ending list of things to figure out with the move,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to getting our evenings back soon and starting to reconnect with friends we\u2019ve only seen once or twice since we got back! Having grandparents close by has been fantastic as they love having Andie and Hunter when they\u2019re not at day care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wedding plans are still up in the air nearly three years after Jono popped the question on a private Queensland island just before Andie\u2019s birth. Family life has taken centre stage meantime, Kerry-Lee explains.<\/p>\n

Wedding plans are still on pause<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand why people get married before they have kids as there\u2019s no time to think about it when they\u2019re little! But now we\u2019ve moved back to New Zealand and completed our family, the wedding definitely feels like the next piece of the puzzle. We just need to find the time to decide what it\u2019ll look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerry-Lee\u2019s fans will be pleased to know while property has been her focus since she left Shorty six years ago, she hasn\u2019t entirely closed the door on acting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pull is definitely still there,\u201d she reveals. <\/p>\n

\u201cActing will always be a passion and I\u2019d love to keep my hand in, exploring the creative side of myself again in some capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" (Credit: Robert Trathen.)<\/p>\n

Open to new adventures ahead<\/p>\n

With their life in Aotearoa falling into place, Kerry-Lee is open to whatever comes next, including adventures abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved here from South Africa with my mum when I was 13, so I\u2019ve always been open to new things,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for kids to experience different places and cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, though, she and Jono are happy for their kids to grow up as little Kiwis.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is becoming less overwhelming and more exciting,\u201d smiles Kerry-Lee. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the benefits of being back, with lots of new connections, friends and possibilities. It was bittersweet to end our chapter in Australia and it\u2019s been a big move, but we know we\u2019re exactly where we\u2019re meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAuthor
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJo Bailey\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Jo Bailey is a Woman\u2019s Day writer who loves telling meaningful human stories. A highlight of her decades-long career is chatting with celebrities, sports stars and everyday Kiwis for the magazine, especially if their stories involve love and babies. A proud Cantabrian, when she\u2019s not chasing deadlines, you\u2019ll find Jo indulging her love of film, TV, theatre or creative writing. She\u2019s currently working on her fifth historical nonfiction book, about a World War I nurse from Christchurch, and is co-writing a murder-mystery comedy play. A music nut, Jo\u2019s career plan B was to become a rock star \u2013 sadly, she can\u2019t sing a note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past few months have been a whirlwind for Kerry-Lee Dewing, with the former Shortland Street star juggling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3376,71407,156,204604,204605,636,111,139,69,117560,204606,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-395982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-cbre","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jono-bayer","12":"tag-kerry-lee-dewing","13":"tag-marriage","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-shortland-street","18":"tag-syndey","19":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}