Ericjotegs

We as a family are moving to albany nz on 28th dec and where wondering what it is like as a place to live ?

Schools for our daughter 12 year old ?

What is the best areas to live ?

Sorry on a high at the moment 😂

Are their things for our daughter to meet new friends ASAP ??

Look forward to a reply

Spacecake799

Well Albany is a built up area now. Are you buying/renting?
There are schools around. Albany high, pinehurst private school.
Theres a westfield mall which is ok but not to UK standards.

Good luck

batesfamily

Why Albany? your title says moving to Albany but you ask where is the best area to live?

Justcol

Its OK, that's all there is to say...
Its just another North Shore suburb.

Bo-Jangles

Wondering why you are already set on the idea of Albany if you haven't researched the location and places to live

Albany covers a massive area which borders on rural to industrial in parts. Budget will be a big factor in whether you choose relatively cheap new build townhouses, megabucks McMansion or something older in more established parts. The building there is still progressing at a rapid rate with high rises, warehouses, shops and new hotels and stuff going up every day. A lot of it is not pretty and traffic is becoming more of a nightmare everyday.

garethwm

Hi. Exciting times indeed. It wasnt that long ago that Albany was just farmland with a village, so most of it is fairly new and modern. None of the schools or areas there are shabby or undesirable, that I know of anyway. Your daughter will start school at the beginning of February so only about 5 weeks after arriving. Up until then she may make friends with the neighbours kids. But even if the job is in Albany there are other suburbs to the east closer to the sea within reasonable driving distance to work. Or if you are able to afford something with more land and more rural theres the areas to the west around Riverhead way.

Ericjotegs

Thanks for that , just found a place to live outside albany so we will live there temporarily till we see what we can get. Are their any expat meetings or night that we could go to as a family ??

Justcol

I would say, try not to be too close to the shopping mall as traffic can be pretty busy at times.
From memory, as I've not been up there for about 4 years and places in Auckland are changing fast
I would say anywhere on the south side of Dairy Flat road / Albany expressway is nice
I seem to remember the closer to the river you got the nicer the suburbs seemed to appear
The homes are mostly all good sizes and the street are well laid out and not to busy they are mostly
residential only and not street that are used to cut through from pne place to another.
Near the gold course always looked nice and there are some nice homes out along the Avenue and Kell park area.
I seem to remember there was a leaky home issue with many of them but that was being addressed
and I think they were all gutted and properly repaired so there should be no further issues
I never like the Albany Heights area, it was still very new when I was around there and just didnt feel
as settled as some of the other areas

Traffic can be a pain and it doesnt get any lighter at the weekends.
The mall is a decent size for NZ (small by uk standards) but should be enough to keep teenagers happy.
There is a "old town" area along Dairy flat road with a good smattering of nice cafes / wine bars / eateries,
and I think the old Albany pub might still be open which was good place to go and used to have the odd kiwi band
or local musicians on occasionally
As has been said, its a area thats growing rapidly and may have changed since I was last working up there

Be aware, its not a cheap place to live with pokey little 2 bed apartments starting at half a million plus,
but will assume you've already looked at property types and values

Bo-Jangles

$500k will just about get you a 1 Bedroom Flat these days

Secure and Convenient! - realestate.co.nz

1 bed and a multi room with large balcony - realestate.co.nz

Justcol

Buys you a couple of acres, 4 beds and peace and quiet down here in Otago. . .!!

garethwm

Good news about your accomodation. Google the Albany Newcomers Network. Could be just what youre after to get your social network going.

simonsi

Quite a queue of traffic coming down the highway into Albany from Dairy Flat in the mornings...

Clappy

That will all be heading past Albany towards Auckland.

I work in Albany. Even though my journey to work takes me in the opposite direction to the traffic heading towards town, it is easier if I start work before 7:00AM because the traffic gets much worse after that.

There are a few people at work who live nearby and their journeys to work are easy. That is the theory, in practice they all start early too.

Ericjotegs

Because my job is based in Albany and we’ve rented temporary accommodation there, hence why we’ve asked about areas to try get helpful advice!!!

simonsi

I know, I lived just North of Albany for 3yrs...but a jam is still a jam, at least all the roadworks along the highway past AJHS and ASHS are finished.