Even with the normal expectations and earning possibilities etc.
If you've been advertising a job at a certain rate and nobody has applied, then either the location, conditions or pay are not meeting the market. You can't change the location for a business like this, so you have to change the conditions and/or pay. ie, the true hourly rate for any given job is what you can hire someone to do it for.
It's also not that uncommon for companies outside the main centres to have to pay more than the main centres to attract skilled workers. Why would they move to Putāruru to work for the same money they can get in Auckland?
One key reason to move is cost of living, it's a lot cheaper in many ways to live out in the sticks, especially with housing. Lifestyle can also be part of it.
Yeah, I'm a software developer, and in the past when my time was billable it was billed somewhere between 3-4x what my total compensation was. I get that they need to make money off me but that was a quick disillusionment when I learned what the variance was