Jase the ace

Can anyone tell me what is the nicest place to live in New Zealand? We are thinking of moving there from the UK.
Whats weather like etc? I like water skiing so prefer coast or lake.
Never been to NZ but seems lovely place to bring up 2 small children.
Where would you avoid living?

WheelsOfSteel

Don't know the NI but if you need to work Christchurch (rural surounding areas/Bank Paninsula.
If not probably Nelson area.

Weather changable but my understansing is not too much over 25degrees but for a more prolonged period than in the UK say from Nov to April. Winter is cold but heh, you need that for the skiing ; -)

Tooanfrom

Jase the Ace--I don't want to put the "Mockers" on your plans to come Down Under , but I see you have put "We are thinking of moving to NZ"
I am thinking of becoming a multi millionaire this afternoon, but I don't like my chances --with all the best wishes in the world-have you taken that first step? I.E. do you qualify on NZ's criteria?

WheelsOfSteel

You have to start somewhere. I once thought about living in NZ... and now I am. JFDI!

MaryMc

Jase,
I'm thinking along the same lines as Toanfrom. Have you looked into all the requirements of moving here? there's plenty of info on the net for you to look at.
Whats your trade?
As to where is the best place to live, well I'd have to say Whangaparaoa, of course as I live there
MaryMc

jandjuk

I wouldn't avoid living anywhere in general. Personally I would live in anything smaller than Auck, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, or Dunedin but that's just me.

There are particular suburbs I wouldn't live in, but no area in general.

The weather varies dramtically. The far north is more sub tropical - milder weather, but wetter.

Then the far south is more similar to the south of England, though parts can be more extreme.

Some good places for water skiing would be Rotorua & Taupo lakes, the southern lakes around Queenstown, or somewhere like the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland.

garrisondamn

Ok, I'm biased, we live in Nelson, top of the SI. What can I say, it's been wonderful living here for the past 3 months ish, the weather has been a bit changable up until a couple of weeks ago, but now it's great, warm days at last.
We were here at the start of July, (mid-winter) and weather was pretty good really, sunny & about 10-12 degrees average in the day, cold at night. We can still get the odd morning frost now, but by 10am its gone.
The landscape here is great too. good beaches and snow capped mountains in the background. We have anice beach about 3 mins drive from our house, where we were watching kite surfing on the w/e. They do all sorts of water sports here, not sure how far away the nearest ski field is though. The Abel Tasman National Park is about 40 mins away.
The property prices are high and some say wages are low here, but we manage & didn't have much dosh to bring with us.

Look it up on the web and have a look at some photos. The same goes for any other region in NZ.
There are lots of nice places in NZ, including Whangaparoa which has been mentioned here (was up there myself last week)

Like I said, I'm biased, but I love Nelson!

Good luck

WBB

this question could never be answered, a nice area to you might be the pits to me etc, if we all had the same idea of a nice area we would all be living there.

if that makes any sense.

Jase the ace

Thanks everyone for posting, just to answer an earlier question. We have done more than just think about moving and we are elidgeable for entry to NZ, its now just finding a place that suits us.
I want somewhere that is warm or even temp most of the year would like a nice town on the coast or lake.
Any ideas on great town and and great suburb.

Hear what you are saying about "everyone has different idea of what is nice or not" but would you want to live in the bronx? this may give you some idea of where i'm coming from about nice,
Thanks guys and girls
Jase

Tooanfrom

Jase the Ace.First of all ,if I have upset you in any way I apologize. So far over the last 22 yrs everyone who has visited from the UK, USA,France, and Germany have all wanted to up sticks and move to NZ. The fact that we have been living in 5 differing locations, all in the top half of the North Island, has'nt mattered--they liked it all! Do a reccy over here it will be money well spent. As for living in the Bronx --if I was living in a cardboard box on the banks of the Ganges, the Bronx would suit me fine.

Jase the ace

no offence and point taken any other advice about anything in NZ greatly appricated,schools,colleges etc. Thinking about doing a reccy anyway sounds like money well spent.
Again, no offence taken always take peoples views tongue in check unless otherwise stated,
regards
Jase

Tooanfrom

Sorry Jase no can do on the schools-we don't have any ankle biters. As the PC people would put it " Look for an area that has not got a Lower Socio Economic population" so in your case fer Gawds sake steer clear of Otara. A copper mate of mine reckoned he could cut the crime rate of Auckland by two thirds if they allowed him to put a fence round Otara. If I had kids and was in "control" of them--I would go rural--it is only when you get big groups of teenagers, who are so insistent on" their" rights that your rights go out the window. Kids are like puppies ,if you don't control them when they are little, they will bloody bite you when they get bigger. Having now sorted the world out, I will go and have a beer or thrice.

jandjuk

Jase, the problem is that your requirements are met by just about every town in NZ! I could list a bunch of towns, and all would have nice areas to live, and all would have areas you wouldn't want to live. You need to to narrow it down further if possible. You could try getting a travel guide book out of the library (eg Lonely PLanet) as this will give you a good description of leisure activities in each area.

If you're looking for somewhere mild - then you're mostly looking at the Bay of Plenty, Auckland, or Northland - the temperatures here don't get much below 5-10 degrees celcius even in winter. (If they do not for very long) - but they also tend to be wetter than average, and quite humid in summer.

If you want drier weather, but hot summers and cooler winters, then you could try Taupo, Nelson, or Christchurch.

There are very few major places in NZ which are not near the coast or a lake. Even Hamilton, which is inland, is only 45 minutes from a surf beach, and 30 minutes from lakes on which you can go waterskiing.

Do you want cosmopolitan city lifestyle, smaller town, or a rural lifestyle? NZ shops and amenities are much less than in the UK, so if you think this would bother you, you may need to stick to the big cities.

Employment may also be a major consideration for you - you can't expect to turn up in a place like Taupo (beautiful though it is) and expect to find work in any chosen profession. It's too small and is largely tourism driven.

Ben.M

Jase, there are a few links to weather sites where you can check the stats for different areas of NZ in the Geography and Weather section of New Zealand Links.

Ben

Jase the ace

Thanks for your replys
To answer a few questions posed by yourselves. We live rural at the moment in the uk but rural in the uk with 64 million people is not as rural as the similar sized island with nearly 4 million. We can still reach a good sized store in 15minutes, we are also near the coast which I like. What I dont like, which I was hoping to avoid are large groups of youths which need, shall we say, correction. This is what is happening in the UK and there are no laws to deal with them or their poor attitudes.
Enough of the ranting, the info on weather is more than useful, just to entlighten you guys as to my chosen profession I am a fully qualified car technician (mechanic) but have been a police officer for the last 5 years. Would like to police in NZ but can't until I'm a citizen then have to start again which im not keen on as I'm now a trained detective. Like the idea of small car lot and workshop employing a few people so I can retire, sound like a great dream!!
What are taxes like in NZ are you taxed to death like here in UK.
look forward to your replies
Jase