Catchafire

Well why not?

We spent two years in Auckland when we first arrived, before moving to Marlborough. Bought a 3 bed house for $250K in 2006 and are raising our family here.

$350K will get you alot here.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Cate...ch_suggested=0

Marlborough has the lowest unemployment rate in NZ, you are surrounded by amazing scenery, lots of outdoor options on your doorstep. It is dominated by the wine industry, but there are opportunities if you are in IT, law, accountancy etc. Its not all picking grapes.

So all things being equal, could you leave Auckland? Or do you consider there not to be any real opportunities anywhere else in the country for you?

davros1984

Would love to. If it was down to me I'd leave Auckland in a flash.

However... for the Mrs - its Auckland or back to the UK.

Thanks for letting me know about Marlborough though!

dannigirl

Because provincial living is matched with provincial wages. Biggest drawback for lawyers/professionals coming to Dunedin is the low wages......lifestyle/affordable housing does not make up for the shortfall in wages (apparently). You have to be pretty senior to be making the big bucks. It is probably professions such as nursing/teaching who do better in smaller cities - more likely to be on a higher than average wage but not able to earn huge money to be able to afford to live in Auckland.

Also, I think provincial NZ is a huge change for people. Lots of people underestimate small town living here.

Bo-Jangles

I agree, all the usual multi-employer collective arrangements pay flat rates throughout the country, with no weighting or allowances for living in the bigger cities. So teachers, nurses can do well in the provinces where cost of living is lower.

lisamct

I didn't come to NZ to live in a small town and look at the scenery. I came for work, I can work here in a way I couldn't back in the UK, but I wanted my non-work life in to stay pretty much the same as far as possible.
So for me Auckland is the only place I want to live that allows me to do that (tried Rotorua for a year first off and almost went stir crazy)
I acknowledge that this means buying a house will be difficult, I'm in the process of house hunting at the moment on the Shore and its certainly not easy. But, if my plans all go to crap and I cant buy here I'd rather rent in Auckland than buy elsewhere so here I'll stay.

whitesand

Folks live in Auckland for two simple reasons. One is work, the other because they want to. As one who has spent some time in country towns I believe if we weren't in Auckland we wouldn't be here. NZ small towns are not my thing as they can be quite dire. I also didn't particularly like the South Island.

barnsleymat

I must have missed the magic of living in Auckland during the 12 months we endured there, if city living is your thing the UK wins hands down.

Auckland is a city with no spark, no heart, it's a soulless uninteresting expensive city with the odd nice beach.

whitesand

I heartily agree with you. Auckland is a somewhat, boring country town which has grown but never developed much. Lacking a decent rail system and diabolical bus servies, it doesnot compare to to other cities around the world. However, for us it is the only country town we would live in here.

MrsFychan

I think it's personal, if we had to move Auckland way for work then I would have to look somewhere as close by as possible but not Auckland itself and MrF would have to travel in, much as he did in the UK. Visited Easter time and can say won't be back any time soon, but then I find Wellington CBD too big so Auckland really didn't stand a chance

davros1984

MrsF - what is it that you didn't like about the city of sails? It's not that bad (i.e. compared to living in B'ham or London), its just very overvalued.

MrsFychan

its just to cramped and tall for me. never been to Birmingham and to be honest hardly went to London as to busy and cramped but not as tall as Auckland.
As I said Wellington is nearly to much for me but I think having less tall buildings makes it seem less cramped.
It did look impressive from Devonport though.

Snap Shot

We did. More by accident than design. We came to Wanganui on the strength of my husband's job offer. This was after three regrettable months in Christchurch in 2011.

We bought our house here in Wanganui in September 2011. Would we have come to Wanganui as a first choice ? No, Christchurch was the go. We weren't sad to leave though.

I'm still looking for paid employment and I've been turned down so many times I'm on the point of giving up looking. Despite being quite resilient, my confidence can only take so much.

If other people have been able to get the secondary income where they live then ok, it just doesn't seem to be happening for me. My old salary back in England seems like a fortune now.

It's ok here and our house is nice but it's not forever.

I like Wellington, now I've got to know it a bit better. It's nice and compact.

Auckland ? No thanks. I'm not paying hand over fist to live in the same town as my in-laws ! Over inflated prices for truly average houses. When you wake up in the morning, you're still in Auckland. Heartsink.