Tracy24

Hi

Can anyone advise of nice areas outside both Wellington and Auckland. I'm looking for areas that are commutable to the city, preferably in the countryside, good schools both primary and high schools and areas where a 6 year old and a 16 year old will have enough to keep them busy.

Many thanks.

Tracy

garryhg

Hi Tracey,can't help on Welly i'm afraid ,but we are in the Eastern Suburbs of Auckland and its lovely here..
We are in Cockle Bay but all the Eastern Suburbs are nice...you have Mellons Bay,Eastern Beach,Bucklands Beach Howick all good areas and comutable to the CBD in about 45 mins (rush hour) 30 mins outwith...Hubby does this every day and says its a piece of cake....
Check out the school zoning areas as they are very strict about this..McLeans College seems to be the best school in the area as they do the Cambridge exam there..My daughter is at Howick College,she is very Arty and this College is seemingly better for arty students..she loves it there...

There is a lot for kids round this area,shopping wise you have Botony Centra,Pakuranga Plazza and Sylvia Park all close at hand,there are a couple of cinemas,Skating rink,bowling all in this area too...There is also some lovely beaches....

For more rural areas round here,you have Clevedon,Beachlands and surrounding areas but all adds to travel to CBD,and it would mean kids traveling for College by bus that would leave early in the morning..but having said that it is a lovely area...but not much for a 16 year old to do...Our daughter is 14 and would be bored stiff there..this is just my opinion,it depends on your children and what you are looking for as a family.gl with your choices and hope this helps...Jacky

Tracy24

thank you so much for that info will pass it onto hubby as he would be travelling into the Dockyard in Auckland or the Navy Base there I would imagine... just checking things out in more detail now as he would really like to come to NZ (I'm still unsure) and is hoping to transfer in a few years to NZNavy as he's RN.

Will have a look on some real estate in the areas you have suggested... nothing wrong with a bit of forward planning!

Thanks again.

Tracy

simonmarkellis

Hi Tracy,

Well Wellington way, we are about 30mins north of the city in Porirua, along with a load of other expats... up here the best areas are Whitby, Paremata, Papakowhai, Cambourne and Plimmerton al with excellant schools and commutes into the city. The beach and the countryside is on your doorstep and we are wel serviced by the shops in Porirua, Johnsonville and the Hutt Valley as well as Paraparaumu, a little further north on the Kapiti Coast.

Hope that helps!

lapsed kiwi

If you're going to be travelling into the Naval Base you need to be living north of the bridge - so North Shore City or Rodney District. Howick, in fact anywhere south of the CBD, to Devonport would be a horrible commute. Hibiscus Coast is nice for beach suburbia out of the city. If you want rural, then Dairy Flat, Waitoki, Kaukapakapa are some options.

teambwr47

Not sure exactly where your OH will need to commute to but if you want countryside but still in reach of the city i can recommend the general area east of Howick.

We live in Whitford and our oldest (7) goes to Brookby school which is a proper country school complete with AG day etc and has just 100 kids.

Whitford, Brookby, Clevedon, Alfriston and further south to Bombay, Karaka and Glenbrook are nice, very much countryside areas if a little on the pricey side for a decent house.

From where we live in Whitford it takes me an hour to get to my office which is in the CBD travelling in the 'rush hour' and trying to start at 0830. This journey would normally take 30 mins on a normal day time run. An option which i used the other day is the ferry from either Half Moon bay or Pine Harbour which takes 30mins to the city. The total travel time to work was similar or a tad shorter but the relaxing with a beer on the way home is great.

We stayed in the Howick area when we first got here and its ok but just way to packed with housing and has a similar feel to the North Shore. All the 'bays' are the same in terms of being packed with housing until you get out towards Beachlands and Maraetai where houses still seem to have a sizeable section with many of them. It really was a shock to us just how crammed in Kiwis seem to be happy with in terms of housing. Add in the fact that having windows just yards from your neighbours windows is common and it enforces why you need to like being close to your neighbours. Its beyond me why people rave about living on 'the shore' as its the last place we'd choose due to such high housing density. A sea view is nice but having your neighbours sooo close and next to no garden, in most cases, is not my idea of a nice place to live.....each to their own.

Go for the country option......we've got 50 acres around us and then the acreage of next doors property before the next door neighbours house.......its great and the city/shops etc etc are just a short car ride away. The rent on our place is very similar to what you'd pay for good 4/5 bedroom city house but with, in our opinion, a much better lifestyle.



Good luck with deciding where to live.........

Tracy24

Thanks everyone will have to do some serious house looking on the internet.. have already looked at a few of the areas outside Auckland and they are well outpriced but hey I can dream about some of the houses I've looked at as dreams don't cost anything - plus I'm not into big fancy houses just a decent house with a decent garden and in an area with good schools and of course it has to be a decent area. All your info is a great help.

Many thanks
Tracy