calling expats in New Plymouth
 

Hi

Having been back in UK for a year after 5 yrs in Bay of Plenty, I have a job lined up for Jan 2010 in New Plymouth.

We have NZ Passports and plan to mothball the house here in UK for a year.

It would be be nice to hear from expats who live there and your experiences opinions on life there.

From what we have heard and read so far it all seems very nice with lots going on there.

Re: calling expats in New Plymouth
 

Hi there. I think New Plymouth is a lovely place if you like towns as opposed to cities. It has a provincial feel to it and beautiful scenery. It won the Top Town award last year in North and South magazine - am sure you can google the article. My experience is with a young family and I can honestly say it is one of the best places to be with small children. There are so many lovely outdoor places to take them and many clubs and activities for them to join. I wouldn't like to comment on it from a teenage perspective though. It hosts WOMAD once a year and has just had the Taranaki Arts Festival. It has a handful of galleries and a great museum/library. The Bowl of Brooklands offers concerts and there is also a theatre, so there IS culture in the provinces! One downside is limited choice for serious shopping.

Personally I love it - the people are friendly and life is kind. Good luck to you.

Re: calling expats in New Plymouth
 

Hi Mary
thankyou for that.
Yes it seems that the feedback we have had from other folk has been very similar to yours, which gives us more assurance as we never got out to NP during our time in NZ.
Obviously we want to get it right secondtime back and we are looking for something with a bit more goin gon than in Whakatane which is a very small town..very nice ..but more of a retirement destination really.

Re: calling expats in New Plymouth
 

Hi There,

We moved to NP from the Uk back in Nov2008 and we love it, we chose it over our original choice of Bay of Plenty on a meeting with the Mayor who is wonderful person and does a lot for the place.
The walkways parks and reserves in NP and surrounding us are wonderful there's always something going on, the kids love it here too which makes it all worth while!!!

Andrea x