garyb

Hi,
I lived in Wellington for a couple of years back in the late 80s. I am returning back to Auckland now (Wellington was a but too dismal weather for me). I have seen some recommendations on suburbs.

I was considerig Papakura - from what I can see it is semi-rural semi-urban, not too far from the sea.

Any body got any comments i.e. is it crime free, weathly or poverty stricken etc.?

cheers,
Gary

Kiwipaul

Not to sure about Papakura but south Auckland is def the poorer parts but Papakura could be beyond them.

From memory Otahuhu, Manaku, Mangere and around were the bad areas. Yes it is close to the Manaku harbour BUT the main Auckland sewage works are at Mangere, you've also got the airport down that way as well, so your call.

xpat19

Yes - Kiwipaul is right - Papakura does have quite a lot of poverty as I've experienced through dealings at work. Lots of HNZ housing ( Council Houses) and folks on benefit.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but might not be what you're looking for ?

xpat19

just one more thing if you want semi rural etc. try West auckland - it's got great beaches, country side, easy to get to other parts of Auckland
Hey ! maybe I should work for the tourist board !!

Pastor Flaps

Its still early days, but I am looking at moving to new zealand to work for a company based in Wiri outside of Auckland.

I currently commute into london so am happy to travel a bit to get to Wiri.

Can anyone recommend a good area to live. We are looking for somewhere for a family of 4. We have two kids aged 5 and 20 months. Would like to live in the country or near a beach. aslo would like some land with the property.

Reading some of the previous comments, south of Auckland doesnt sound that great.

Come on all you buding Estate Agents, find me a place to live.

PF

Loki

My husband is a PE teacher and we are landing in Auckland on 4th July. Any tips on good areas to find good schools and rental accomodation? We are having two weeks off job hunting when we land in order to find our feet

garyb

Thanks for all the details guys ..
I take West Auckland you don't mean the place in County Durham?

I think I'll give West Auckland a try then. I fancy somewhere that is fairly near the sea, fairly near the city centre for commuting and somewhere where the houses are a bit more spaced out (i.e. 1000 m2 sections) - I'll have a breeze through West Auckland estate agents and see what comes up.

Can anyone compare/contract West Auckland and the North Shore.

cheers,
see you soon

Kiwipaul

West Auckland is fine, lots of houses virtually built into the forrest, you will find a few Lifestyle blocks but they could be going fast as it's close to Auckland. A lot of it's Green Belt and the Waitakeries (ignore spelling) are huge. Beaches are dangerous for swimming as bad rips and surf, also black sandy beaches. The coast here is very undeveloped, with lots of painter, artist, surfer and the like communities. Their are also large areas of West Auckand that have the conventional houseing estates.

North Shore.
This is where the BEST beaches are and where some of the most expensive houses (Beachside Takapuna and Milford) in Auckland are. It's where I lived for 7 years in Glenfield, about 5 kms from the beach and 10kms from the CBD. Must be the fastest growing region of Auckand and the only problem with it is access to the city (the harbour bridge and feeder roads remind me of the traffic jams in the uk).

However when I worked in the city I would catch a bus 07:15 and be at work in CBD for 08:00, so you decide. My last job was on the shore 10 min drive to work magic.

Move

Hi Everyone

I noticed your posts about different suburbs in Auckland.

I have posted this information as a new topic but I will repeat it here. There is a book called 'Where to live in Auckalnd' it is a indepth 226 page handbook that describes each suburb and its pro's/con's the schools, local facilities etc.

Actually the book was arranged and published by a Brit so it may have the angle your looking for.

You can find further information on the book (review) and how to buy it at www.dacentre.com

Cheers

xpat19

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kiwipaul
Depends what kind beaches you like !!!

Kiwipaul

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xpat19
Sure does if you are a keen (and competent) surfie, West coast is for you, and forget the North Shore, or any eastern beaches around Auckland.

For nice safe beaches for swimming or just loungeing around, with virtually no risk of rips and tows the North Shore is for you.

I've never heard of anyone drowning off the North shore beaches (they don't even have lifeguards it's so safe), but on the West Coast thats a totally different ballgame. You can expect a few drowning their every year, and they DO have lifeguards at a few locations, but the beach streches for about 50kms.

garyb

There is something dodgey about that book "Where to live in Auckland". I went to buy it under "UK" and is started asking me for state and zip code - there was no means of entering english counties, psot codes or UK as a postal address.

smithone

I've just bought a place in Auckland found this book pretty useful but the prices in it are over a year old and therefore not a true indication of house prices in NZ.

It's useful to identify areas to live but you should go to real estate sites to get a feel for prices.

garyb

It looks like I was a bit premature on the book front, there was an option to say not living in USA

Move

Hi

I can assure you the book site isn't dodgy, I am the owner of the site! I have formed a business relationship with Barbican publishing to sell this product for them.

If you look in the payment details you will see a blue link that reads "outside the U.S?"

If you click on this it will change the address layout.

Kind regards