hanjan

Hi,
There is the possibility that my husband may have a job in Dunedin. When we did our fact finding tour to New Zealand, we didn't make it as far as Dunedin, and havn't up until now seriously considered moving there. We therefore have absolutely no idea (apart from what we've read of course) what it would be like to live there. Can anybody shed some light on what it is like to live there, what we can expect from schools, what suburbs are considered good/bad , you know all the usual questions!
Thanks JANET

kiwi_child

Been a long time since have been to dunedin but it's a rather nice place. Downside is it's cold in winter and also quite a hilly city. Beautiful views from places Mornington and Anderson bay (again from memory re: names)

As I recall caversham and south dunedin were a bit dodgy, but after 20+ years my info may well be outdated now.

Housing prices there are good compared to further north.

It's a heavily scottish influenced city and in many ways a far more attractive prospect than say christchurch to live in I think. Definitely worse places in NZ to move to in my opinion.

kiwi_child

You might get more of an idea from these links:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/index.cfm?l_id=141

www.stuff.co.nz

southerner

Here are some useful sites for moving to Dunedin:

http://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/?page=about_moving

http://jobs.odt.co.nz/

http://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/?M...n/pdf&ext=.pdf

We have lived in Dunedin the last 3 and a half years and think it is a great city, particularly from a family perspective. It has 120,000 inhabitants, in a fairly compact area nestled around the harbour and local beaches, and yes, there are some big hills (some would say mountains) around too.

Climate: is probably the thing about Dunedin that gets "bagged" the most, relative to the rest of NZ. Its dryer than most places, but does tend to be a bit colder on average. Like most places in NZ, the c**p weather tends to pass fairly quickly and we seem to have been getting some wonderful winters recently (almost had a drought last year). The last week we have had day time temps of between 15-20 degrees for the equivalent of early November in the UK.

The biggest employer, and a big part of city life is the university. It is the oldest and most traditional uni in the country, seems to have the best or close to best academic and research reputation in most faculties, and importantly seems to have the best all round student lifestyle.

Business in Dunedin is mainly small companies, with a few exceptions. A lot of head offices have moved north, or to Oz over time, but there are always new businesses being grown and the overall business scene is incredibly vibrant. There seem to be a lot of technology companies doing well.

Areas: the most sought after suburbs are Maori Hill and Roslyn (on the hill), St Clair (by the beach) and Waverley (on the peninsular), and there are only a small number of areas that have a bit of a reputation.

Schools are all of a pretty good standard, and there are a few with extremely good reputations. Thanks perhaps to the scottish influence, educational facilities on the whole are probably the best in the country.

There are good shops, a great range of restaurants and cafes, and extremely good museums, galleries and swimming pools.

One of the things we like most about the city is that it has great facilities and opportunities for kids that a city of this size has no right to have. The maximum time it takes us to drive anywhere is 10 min, and within 15-20min drive are a huge range of stunning beaches most with good surf.

Something we take for granted is that southern NZ has the best overall scenery in NZ, with Fiordland, Stewart Is, Catlins, Central Otago, Otago Peninsular, Waitaki Lakes/Mackenzie Country. It takes about 3 hours to drive to Central Otago (Queenstown/Wanaka area) from Dunedin.

Hope this helps, please feel free to pm me if you wish.

SirEglamore

We've been here now for about 6 weeks and loving the area. we live by Lake Waihola, a 25 min drive south of Dunners, and 10 mins from the airport . Hills, rivers ,lakes,beaches and green places everywhere and no more than 10 mins drive. I'm too busy working at home at the mo but hope to get a job soon. what work is hubby in? kids love the place as there is so much for them to do and the safer roads in the village mean they see their friends more than they ever did back in UK. good luck.

ex_exile

Its a really nice place, the town is hilly though even for New Zealand. Lots of students, many of whom are asian which means there is a wide choice of ethnic eating places. Noticibly colder than say Christchurch. Airport is about 30km outside city which is also unusual for NZ and watch out for the speed camera by Carisbrook

southerner

Yes, an incredibly frustrating bit of 50km/h road is strategically placed between two sections of motorway. In a few years it will be all motorway, but meanwhile caution is required.

Jacque

Lived there for a year 9 yrs ago now and loved it. Bit cool though!!

Make sure you take the time to explore Otago harbour and visit the albatross and penguin colonies- very worthwhile.

Dunedin is a very friendly city but you won't need your bikini- the nearest beach (St Clair I think?) is FREEZING!!!!!!