How should I choose hosting for Australia and New Zealand?
The short answer
Include Sydney in your shortlist, then test from both countries if you serve both. Amazon Lightsail lists Sydney as a supported region, but an Australian location is not automatically the best option for every New Zealand visitor.
In more detail
Separate your Australian and New Zealand audience when comparing hosting. Visitors in different cities and on different networks may not see the same performance. Use that distribution to decide which regions to test.
Amazon Lightsail supports Sydney. Confirm the exact product’s current region list rather than relying on a cloud provider’s general map or an old hosting guide. Also check which related database, backup and storage services are available for your setup.
Compare real page requests from Australia and New Zealand, including mobile networks and busy periods. Test dynamic pages as well as cached content. Choose the region that meets your measured performance, reliability and budget needs, without assuming a fixed intercontinental latency or an automatic search-ranking benefit.