Bracewell (26) confirmed yesterday he had linked with the Firebirds and would play for the side in the capital next season.
Bracewell said he felt like he had stagnated with Otago and was looking for a new challenge.
''It is something new for me and I can't wait to get stuck into it,'' he said.
''They came to me but, to be fair, I was ready for this type of challenge.
''In my first-class career I feel like I have stagnated over the past couple of years. In the white ball form of the game I feel like I have done reasonably well but I feel like I need a new challenge.''
He still had ambitions to play for his country and felt moving north would help his game.
But it was not an easy decision to move on as he had a long association with Otago.
''It was a really hard decision to make. I've played all my cricket here in Otago, played age-group cricket for Otago. I'll always be an Otago man.''
Bracewell is studying extramurally through Massey University and is about three-quarters of the way through a finance degree.
He had been chipping away at it over the past few years and was hoping to get it finished in the next couple of years.
His partner, Lauren Ralston, would accompany him to Wellington.
He had failed to fire with the bat over the past couple of seasons with Otago, which culminated in his being dropped for the final couple of games in the Plunket Shield in March, as he struggled with the bat all season.
Bracewell made his debut for Otago in 2011 and has played 58 first-class games, and has also played for New Zealand A.
He was mentioned as a possible Black Caps top-order player. With the likes of Aaron Redmond and Craig Cumming moving on in the past few years, Bracewell was seen as one of the new breed who would make the step up and score runs for the Otago side.
But he failed to fire and struggled to score runs of any kind last year. Otago Volts coach Rob Walter eventually ran out of patience and dumped Bracewell for the final two games of the first-class season.
Bracewell though is a quality player, who scored big in the early stages of his career, and once in flow can hit the ball to all parts of the ground.
He has a first-class average of 34.90, having scored 3351 runs with a highest score of 190, coming against Wellington in early 2013.
