dave77

Hi,

I know this is a daft question, like asking what is best red or white wine!

So I was wondering if people could tell me some of the good points and bad points of each city and their surrounding areas. eg places to see, schools, amenities, crime etc. etc.

We were originally focussed on the Canterbury area, but I have seen a job advertised in NP and am tempted to apply as I have heard good things about NP and it does look a lovely area

Thanks in advance

hazeandsteve

Christchurch smells of poo....

alanmacc

thats only coz you left it here the last time you visited

lapsed kiwi

NP - milder climate, nicer beaches, smaller town, 3 hours from anywhere
ChCh - bigger city, closer to good skiing, international airport

Given the choice of two, I'd probably go for NP but have never lived there (I went to school in ChCh). I'd rather live where I am than either though

dave77

thanks for the comments! just out of interest, when you say 3 hours from anywhere, do you just mean the nearest city?

When we stayed in ChCh last year I thought it was in good proximity to the likes of Hamner springs, Kaikoura etc. which are ideal for day trips....is this not so much the case with NP?

lapsed kiwi

I've never lived there but a friend did for a year and it was a bit of a running joke that NP is 3 hours from anywhere (in fact probably 5 from wellington, Auckland). I have visited there and it seemed nice, but I'm easily swayed by good beaches.
I'm not sure where you'd go for day trips from NP in terms of towns. You'd probably want to like the local stuff like the coastline, mountains, forest etc

Jo-Chris

Hi,

We live in New Plymouth and its a great little city with loads going on, great beaches and the mountain however it does take over four hours to get to Auckland and about the same to get to Wellington, but it depends on what you want.We went to Taupo for the weekend last weekend and it took 3 hours to get there - the drive was beautiful though!! NP does have everything you need unless your a shpoaholic!! You can get daily flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.


Good Luck

harrogate girl

[QUOTE=dave77;8419337]thanks for the comments! just out of interest, when you say 3 hours from anywhere, do you just mean the nearest city?

When we stayed in ChCh last year I thought it was in good proximity to the likes of Hamner springs, Kaikoura etc. which are ideal for day trips....is this not so much the case with NP?
[/QUOTEHi

I have lived in KERIKERI two hours drive from Auckland and if we was in need of bigger items we had a full one hours drive to the nearest town.

We have been in Christchurch now for over 5 yrs but a short drive into Christchurch we have all we need, and we have a wonderful beach that I get to my self most days when I walk my dog!!!and it does not smell.... What I would say is get the best job offer.. you could always move on later like we did. best of luck.

Genesis

NP all day long. Chch too big for me and I have never ever heard a bad thing about NP. Whereas Chch and Palmy are always in the news for the wrong reason. I would live there. Too settled here in the suicide capital of the world however. Only downside is a decent airport is quite a few hours away to collect rellies from when they visit. However no one comes to see us so that's not a problem. If I can sell the house I will move..alright?

cows_go_moo

The joke in New Plymouth is if you can't see the mountain it's raining and if you can see the mountain it's going to rain later!

Seriously, it rains (and is actually quite windy) a LOT of the time. Much more than in the UK (unless you are from Wales people tell me!).

On the plus side, it has good single sex schools and a really cruisy cafe/beachy/surfy feel.

dave77

really! I guess being west coast it will see more rain than somewhere like canterbury on the east?

thanks for the comments people

expatkath

Never been to NP so can't comment on that, but I lived in Ch'Ch for 16 years and saw a lot of changes over that time. Crime is getting worse all the time in Ch'Ch, they've just had a run of nasty murders. It is a funny place, it's now a large city but still feels very parochial and inward looking. YOu can get to some great places for day trips, it's a good base to explore the whole of the South Island, you can ski easily. As for the swimming I'm not too sure, it was always too darn cold for me down there and the beaches are miles away from where most people live. In winter it is freezing and the houses aren't equipped to deal with the cold, we regularly had ice on the insides of our windows. Most winters snow shuts down most of the City, especially the Hills cos they don't grit the roads. The schools are pretty good. But it can be a very racist, intolerant place, revels in the blokey rugby loving reputation it's got. It's the only place in the whole of NZ where I have witnessed fights and felt scared at night in the City.....I live in Auckland now and have never once felt scared! But it does have a great Art Gallery, Museum, vibrant Arts scene, theatre, tons of free events and festivals like the Annual Buskers Festival throughout the year so probably more to do than in NP.

teeym

Well, I like New Plymouth and I like Christchurch too. But which is better? There's only one way to find out.......

Lee Lee

Brilliant! Wish I'd thought of that

CarolineSwan

Well everyone knows how i feel about NP and if you ever hear a bad word you can gaurentee they have never visited, before we moved here we were told by friends not to come here bla bla bla, well we made our own minds up and we did and loved it, turned out he hadnt been lol.

Yes it rains but so does the rest of NP it doesnt rain every day, until yesterday where it rained for an hour before glorious sunshine it hadnt rained for 3 weeks. Our parents were over from isle of mann and could't believe the weather. Infact you know the tropical climate in Papamoa watch the weather forcast we normally same or better , so it is good(not kidding here we always compare so know this true) Also we dont get all the earth quakes etc that the east coast do being on the west coast

it is a fabulous town with everything you need lots of food shopping places, may not be on a par with glasgow/london for clothes but there is lots and i have not had trouble finding nice clothes/shoes and believe me im a shopaholic and a shoe collector lol

we are 1.5 hours to wanganui ,1.45 to palmy 4ish to welly, we did papamoa in 3, hamilton around 2.5 4ish to Auakland

That said there is millions to do around NP a good few beaches in town and their abouts, good few beaches in the coast road, the amazing mountain which has lots of walks on it. there are lots of parks you can go walks in or to have pic nics etc , we have 2 zoos and lots of gardens. we have the races, tsb theatre which have fab shows on all the time, the cue theatre, the museaum a great swimming centre, anyway i could go on,

Also i think it is fairly cheap here compared to other parts of NZ i mean i work in a cafe/restaurant and it is expensive compared to others here but i still think it is cheap, heres an example we had a group of 17 in last week they all had a main course plus drinks the whole bill came to $290 how cheap is that??

As i said we love it here and right from day one i was settled and can honestly say in 16 months never felt home sick, infact i feel more at home here than i did in the UK but we are only 3 people everyone has their own ideas of what they want and dont want. We went to Papamoa for Xmas last year and it is a beautiful place,we were supposed to stay a week but lasted 2 days because we just wanted to get back to NP and hang out here, this is how beautiful it is.(papamoa is beautiful too im not putting it down we just missed NP)

i also cant compare it to CHCH as i have never been but it is a place i want to visit as it is beautiful i hear

Hope any of this helps you