silverhooves

Hi there
My husband, myself and our two young boys, ages 3.5 and 1.5, moved a few months ago from Scotland (Edinburgh) to Browns Bay. We are looking to make some new friends on the North Shore - both for ourselves and for our kids. Is anyone interested in meeting up? My husband works full time as an architect and I am a stay at home mum, so I would love to be able to make some playdates for my boys as well.
Hope to hear from you,

Barbara

janeyk

Hi I am happy to meet up I live in torbay however I work full time and my boy is 11 so not quite what you need but if you fancy a coffee?

GoingIn2011

I am out west but would be keen to meet up. When we first moved we lived in Torbay and we are always up on the north shore on the beaches! I have 2 older ones at school and a 2 yo boy and I am now a SAHM since we moved last UK Autumn.

Natalie, x

Bev MK

Hi
I'm new here. Hubby has got a job offer for Auckland and as we're on holiday here at the moment (a very meandering route back to the UK from our last expat job), we're currently franctically looking round Auckland trying to narrow down places to live. We spent yesterday looking at the North Shore and were absolutely blown away by Browns Bay, we both thought it seemed ideal and it's in our price range.

I also have two kids - a boy who turned 4 in Feb and a girl who will be 2 in Sept. What do you feel about the area? Would you recommend it for a young family? How easy is it to find rental property - we'd need 4 bedrooms as hubby will do quite a lot of work from home so he needs a study. I don't plan on returning to work at least until both children are in full-time education.

One of my big concerns is that I don't drive. I plan to learn but that could take me a while as I find driving quite hard (I did get a foreign licence once but that really wouldn't equip me to drive somewhere like the UK or NZ). So I need to be somewhere where I can walk my eldest to school and walk to shops etc which I suppose means main things I need within a 30 min walk. Browns Bay looked very do-able for that. Hubby can drive but I don't want to be dependent on him everytime I need something and I don't mind walking, just need to keep it under 30 mins with the 4 yr old!

What do you think?

We're aiming to be here for September as hubby's job needs him at a big conference in October.

Do you know much about the schools in Browns Bay - I know your eldest is a bit young for school yet?

Today we're off to look at the West I think. I'd really appreciate your opinions on why you chose Browns Bay and whether you're happy with it. How long have you been there? Feel free to PM if you prefer.

Thanks
Bev

thehortons

Hey guys,

I've been here for 10 months now and have meet some really great friends. We go to playgroups on a Monday and wednesday if you would like to meet up with us. I go to Little Muchkins on a Monday morning which is just off Rosedale Road. If you look online I think they have a website. On a Wednesday we go to toddle rock which is in Glenfield. I have a 6 year old who is at school and a 3 year old. Please come and meet us. We like meeting new people!!! Let me know if your interested and I will give you more info. Xxxxx

scrubbedexpat094

I wondered how you were getting along . Welcome back,don't be a stranger
Thanks for offering your help

silverhooves

Hi everyone
Thanks for all your replies, its really nice to hear from you. Since there are a few replies now should we we set a date and place to meet? I know its short notice but is anyone free to meet up this coming weekend? (Hubby is off back to the UK for 2 weeks at the beginning of June so would be good to meet before he goes). There is a lovely cafe at Windsor Park which is great for kids as well as the adults and has tons of space. We could do either Saturday morning or Sunday morning or afternoon at the moment so let me know what would suit you.


*thehortons* - I actually go to Little Munchkins on a Monday already - is that you Claire..?? If so, I'm here on your recommendation, it's Barbara with Will and Sam. Are you going on Monday? We are planning on it. Do you fancy meeting up with hubbys too if you're around this weekend?

Bev, we love living in Browns Bay. We just happened upon it when we were looking for somewhere to live and loved it at first sight too. We wanted somewhere with a bit of a community feel to it and we thought Browns Bay had that. It is great for families as there is so much kids stuff on offer, plus it has the beach and a good range of shops. It probably would be ok to get around just on foot as long as you were fairly central, however I do think you'd find it hard living anywhere in NZ not being able to drive so I'd definitely recommend you learn! We live near Freyberg park and I can walk to the shops and the beach, plus a few different playparks and Will's kindy fairly easily - although there can be quite steep hills involved. Rental-wise, I think houses can be quite hard to come by here, as it was when we were looking, however that may not be the case now. Have a look on trademe and see whats on offer. If you'd like to meet up too then come along, you could spend the day looking round Browns Bay again.

Barbara