Yes you can buy ASX shares directly in NZ - use a low cost online broker like ANZ or ASB. I buy in large tranches to minimise brokerage ie 7k at a time.
I like REITs because they pay a good income stream. Also I wanted an exposure to the NZ real estate market but didn't want to buy property directly. I buy the listed REITs so the have good liquidity, ie Kiwi Property Group, Precinct Property & Argosy. Yes the fees are higher than buying an index fund but it is still better for me than the illiquidity/hassle/expense of buying property directly.
I am comfortable with a 15 share allocation in NZ because my NZ shares are only a small percentage of the overall portfolio. The bulk of my shares are listed funds offshore so really I am much more diversified overall. I quite like taking the time to invest directly in NZ so its a bit of a hobby. If that is not for you buy one of the Smartshare funds
http://smartshares.co.nzIMO Best hedge against inflation is to be invested in shares & property which should return in excess of inflation. Gold can be a good counterweight to a portfolio giving you a non-correlated investment when markets fall. Of course it doesn't return any income and you need somewhere to store it so it actually costs you to hold it but I suspect it is comforting in times of market falls to know it is there increasing in value.
Timing the NZ exchange rate is hard. Especially as we are at historic highs - I can understand you holding off hoping for the NZD to drop back down. But it is impossible to know when or if our dollar will drop - moving your money across in 6 or 8 tranches over the next 24 months may be a less risky strategy. You will even out the exchange rate risk & whilst some money will move high and some low you can take comfort in the fact that you took the least risky approach and got an average exchange rate over the period. I have friends who bought property in the UK 25 years ago when the exchange rate was at 0.33. They have returned to NZ and been wanting to sell their property but been waiting until the NZ/GBP exchange rate returns to 0.33 and they have been waiting and waiting and waiting. They have lost the opportunity to invest in NZ over that time.
FWIW - I have found the whole business of investing money so much more difficult than I thought it would be. Paying off the mortgage and saving cash is comparatively easy. When it comes to having to invest it there is a lot of information to wade through and no one strategy suits everyone. It really is a matter of deciding what assets you are comfortable with, what level of risk you are prepared to take and then invest accordingly. There is a lot of opinion out there and its good to read a lot & discuss a lot so you can formulate your own investment strategy. Assuming you have average tolerance for risk & because you like gold maybe look at -
60% equities (say 8% NZ, 12% Australia 40% international shares).
Use index funds to keep it simple Smartshares here, Vanguard on ASX for everything else
35% in term deposits and bonds. Our term deposit rates are good, have a look at Rabodirect who are an online bank and tend to have the best rates. Look into laddering - ie splitting your TD's over different time periods. Buy a bond fund for the bond portion.
5% gold
Obviously I am not a financial advisor and this is just the opinion of a stranger on a forum on the world wide web so all the usual disclaimers apply....