North of Auckland - worst bits
 

OK, this is an area we didn't manage to visit and is the last area for me to do thorough research on. As we all know I tend to be a bit rosey in the tinted glasses department :rofl: what can you tell me that's not great about the area?

I'm thinking of:

• all sorts of nasty bugs like cockroaches and biting things
• monsoon rain all year round
• possibility of hurricanes(?)
• earthquakes/volcanoes
• being over run with tourists in the summer (potentially a good thing if we move into supporting that area)
• if work moves to the south of the city The Bridge is a commuting nightmare
• housing - don't mention the war cost of the housing
• humidity and mildew/condensation everywhere

Go on, what else have I missed? Wind turbines? Fracking? Pollution? Tell me the worst and I can then settle with it all in my mind. :lol:

Good things would be good too ;)

What's the furthest north you'd go to have no more than an average of a 1hr drive into the city if working towards the southern part of the north shore? Are there any areas you'd recommend avoiding?

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

I've got quite a few friends up that way (north of Albany), and most of them work up there too.

Weather is warmer, but I don't think it's much more humid than Auckland. Not aware of any risk of natural disasters.

Positives for me would be cheaper land prices than Auckland, possibly near some great holiday beaches (so really busy roads in the holiday season), but maybe good rural locations too.

Outside of Auckland you don't get the same range of job opportunities. Most of my friends up that way do sales, retail or farming. Not many corporate jobs up there.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Work would be in Auckland but north of the bridge. Your post is what I was hoping jmh, thanks. I was thinking I might be missing something obvious.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Been here north of Albany since 2007 and there are creepy crawlies, it is warmer than some places down south, the houses are often draughty and damp at the same time (it is possible really!), the Hibiscus Coast is a little drier than Auckland I believe (which can be very wet),there are tornadoes (mainly in one area of Albany) and the commute into or to south of Auckland is a royal pain in the ass.....

Beaches are near, people are more relaxed than North Shore/City (although that is changing as they build lots of big houses around Millwater, etc), there's more daylight in the winter, it ain't too windy, tourists don't bother us (but JAFAs coming out of City to us are more of a disturbance with parking, etc), some areas are a bit ropey but not too bad this far out.

No fracking, but lots of rorting.....with NZ being "Land of the Long Standing Rorts".....opticians, dentists, supermarkets, clothing, tax avoidance, rental prices, etc all being used to stitch us up (by certain Kiwis, Aussie banks, the govt., etc, etc). So in truth, same old sh!t different hemisphere.

Think Rip-Off Britain but without anyone caring - well not enough people to matter.

But don't worry all that investment cash from China will bail us out!
Is NZ ready for $10b of Chinese cash about to drop on property market? - Business - NZ Herald News

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

all sorts of nasty bugs like cockroaches and biting things - no more than other bits of NZ really. Not many biting things

monsoon rain all year round - nope

possibility of hurricanes(?) - no more than rest of NZ

earthquakes/volcanoes - probably less chance than some other bits of NZ

being over run with tourists in the summer (potentially a good thing if we move into supporting that area) - some beaches get busy in summer with people from all over Auckland. Lots of lovely beaches though

if work moves to the south of the city The Bridge is a commuting nightmare - yes, that could be a pain

housing - don't mention the war cost of the housing - bad all over Auckland. Generally (though not always) more affordable the further from the CBD you are

humidity and mildew/condensation everywhere - no more so than other northern bits of NZ. Type of house you have can affect it a lot.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

When you say North how far then would you be willing to drive of morning to work? I'd say commuting from anywhere North of Warkworth will soon become tiresome - Warkworth to Albany wouldn't be too bad.

If your still looking for rural than you need several hundred thousand of your british pound notes to fund this and will be biggest deciding factor in where you can afford to live. It's essentially still Auckland house prices with bells on. For lifestyle sections: Kumeu, Coatesville, Waimauku, Riverhead and Dairy Flat are semi-rural and lovely but will require mucho dollares. Helensville might be more affordable.

Most of Whangaparao Peninsula, Millwater, Orewa and vicinity is predominantly suburban and not much different to the rest of North Shore, with no shortage of back to back leaky McMansions. Have a look at google maps for an idea of housing density and styles.


Tourists mostly wouldn't be bothering to stop off anywhere before Warkworth; this is not Northland. You need to get North of Whangarei for that.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Mangawhai and Waipu aren't that far from the northern end of Auckland - which after all does stretch to Wellsford officially these days. I believe local DC does come with some horrendous rates issues though, due to the (unfortunately normal) council financial mismanagement. But Mangawhai is nice. I'd say Langs Beach would be somewhere I could live.

Have a friend who lives on the road between Warkworth and the Kaipara harbour - says it is not all it is cracked up to be, and misses the Shore.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Also, the motorway, which currently ends just before Puhoi is going to be extended up to Wellsford in the next few years.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/puhoi-wellsford/index.html

It would still be quite a trek to the southern end of the Shore though. Some idea of budget might help us suggest areas

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

I've lived in a draughty and mildewed house when younger so do believe that houses can be both. :thumbdown: Once renovated the house was amazing but we all had lung problems until it was made watertight and dry.

I've dealt with cockroaches before in my student digs - hate them with a vengeance :ohmy: but I know I can do control measures. Tarantulas I can't do :scarper: but cockroaches I can <stomp, spray, baitkill>.

Had to look up what a rort was. Used to those, I'm old and experienced enough to be a cynical old bat when I need to be.

What mechanisms do you have in NZ for keeping an eye on planning applications and industrial developments in the area? In the UK some LAs have websites with all the information on and you can always g into the council offices and ask to see documents.

Our current commute takes us 1 to 1.5hrs in rush hour and 45 mins outside that. We would rather keep the longer commute and live in a rural area than cut it down and have to live in a city.

Previously we've bought a watertight and structurally sound house that needed modernising and done it up to make a profit so we could move up the property ladder. Is that done much in NZ? Anything bought near Auckland would probably only be home for 4 or 5 years, a project as a stepping stone would be good. Eventually we'd hope to move to an area of NZ with more affordable housing and have the lifestyle dream that we used to have here.

Budget for housing depends on what our home here would fetch and that's not clear. Worst case scenario it could be $400k, best case it could be $800k.

Mangawhai is definitely out as it would be 98km from work. I'd been working on the assumption that anything north of Parakai, Kaukapakapa or Puhoi would involve a commute of well over an hour. There's some amazing places near Wellsford but the commute would be around 75km and, I'm gussing, in rush hour could take 2hrs each way. In an ideal world a two bed home with 3hectares of grazing not bordering a dual carriageway or industrial site would be amazing but I'm not sure that's affordable for us at first.

Which area of Albany tends to be tornado alley?

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Ok, if you're after somewhere with land with your budget then I think you will have to be quite far north - beyond Orewa, maybe around the Puhoi/Warkworth area or you will need to go quite far west from the Shore to the Helensvile/Kaukapakapa area.

E.g. This in Kaukapakapa
http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-892307907.htm

Or this in Puhoi (no price given but CV is $520K
www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auction-894647023.htm

Or if you want to be a shorter drive from work you will have to do without the land.

As someone said, Coatesville and Dairy Flat have lots of lifestyle properties, as they are called here. But they are lots of $$$.

There are do-ups around but there are also lots of people trying to buy them to do them up and sell them on. So they don't tend to go that cheaply. A house near me (3 bed, standard Kiwi weatherboard bungalow in run-down condition) was recently sold for $680K to a builder. The entire inside has been ripped out and is being redone and possibly some of the outside will be too. I imagine the price it will get once sold again will be high 700/early 800K so not really a huge profit for the amount of work being done.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

That's good to know the type of house we might look at is called a do-up, they are 'fixer uppers' where I live just now :) Also interesting to note that you have the same in NZ as here in the UK in that builders and property managers are now pricing the individual home owner out the market and the profit margins may not work for an individual person.

I think my big worry is that if we move closer to the city and buy a house with basic garden other costs would spiral. If we did that it would *definitely* be a temporary place to live.

Puhoi/Warkworth look OK albeit giving a long commute. Google maps reckons Warkworth to place of work would be around 55km which is similar to what we do now. Google Earth shows me that SH1, the main road, is similar to the roads we drive on now. Probably important to check anything we buy wouldn't be compulsory purchased at a low price and demolished to make way for the new motorway though :ohmy:

I should know more in the next month what's happening, we're ever so slowly moving towards being a bit more definite over whether we can afford to move over or not. Hopefully we can and I'll be moving into asking all the usual panicky questions about EOI and ITA paperwork. :fingerscrossed:

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Puhoi is a nice little village. Puhoi to (for example) Takapuna is 36km, motorway virtually all the way and about 30 mins on clear roads. The problem would be that travelling in at peak times I would imagine the last 10 or so kilometres would be very slow with traffic travelling to the city.

There are websites with webcams of the motorway (NZTA is one I think) so you can see what traffic is like at various times of day.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Oooo. Tough can of worms is this one . What you see may not match what can and does happen.

Development can be non-notifiable. I'll leave that there for now .

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

They're oftem the ones you need to open though :( thanks for replying Bevs as I know you've had a particularly hideous experience with neighbours and whats permitted.

Many developments are non-notifiable here now too, including major industrial developments. The fines for non-notification are also so low that developers often just go ahead, don't notify and then simply pay the fine if they get a slap on the wrist from the planners. Increasingly it's important to check council planning office websites ate least once a week, every week. Even then they often try to hide things so you also have to call and ask once a week and record the phone call too as evidence.

I was wondering if there was anything like this Lincolnshire CC site for wekkly applications. I'll have a rummage round the Auckland Council website tonight and see what I find.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

I'm not sure if I am going to do this, to be honest. Unless the voices in my head start to tell me to.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

No sane person would unless they were under seige from avaricious and underhand developers like we are. :rofl:

In the last month two more industrial developments have been applied for on land that's adjacent to ours and no neighbour notification or public notices have been done. At the moment we have the application documents via a friendly contact but the council haven't put them up on the web site yet and there's only a few days left to object. By the time anyone officially knows the developments have been applied for the window for objecting will be past.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

If it is decided that it would be non-notifiable then no objection need be heard.
Process regarding such matters have been altered here in NZ recently. This allows for a local councils resource management act to be over-ruled by a governmental accord.
So, one can check the local govt records all one likes. Odds are that unless it is known what is planned in advance somehow , one is not going to be ahead of said planned game until after the consents have been issued.

There is this development at the top of our road for instance which has small sections , some of which back out direct onto a main highway . Water is an issue here alongside other infrastructure concerns. The development was non-notifiable and was approved by the council with restrictions. Said restrictions were then lifted . How this happened is behind a thick veil of fog.

So. Fait accompli but the community was assured that this was it. I know this as I was at that meeting.

So it came as something more than a nasty shock to the entire community when this development emerged from the murky depths.
This is on land that was formerly considered highly unsuitable due to the water table and possible contaminants. It is also non-notifiable despite being smack bang in the centre of this village & despite what anyone may try to do, it will go ahead as the developer wishes.

Our village is already under some duress due to surrounding lifestyle blocks having brought more people to the area. Some of this stems from those that left and are still leaving the Christchurch area . It also stems from those looking for property away from Auckland funnily enough & those looking to move out of an ever increasingly crowded urban environment in the Richmond area just outside of Nelson.

The school is already over-subscribed & the medical centre is struggling.

Do we need more houses here? Well, actually no. Not really. There is no housing crisis here in the Nelson and Tasman area , yet the central government house accord is being used by local councils to over-ride their own resource management act to facilitate developers.

I suppose what I am writing is that there is no use doing a weekly or even a daily check of a local councils records. Therein can lie the way to madness.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Hello Bev, nice Avatar. Is it Christmas already ?

:focus:

Hazelnut, it seems (to me at least) that you are / might be applying the same process of analysis to towns or counties in Britain that you have been applying to prospective areas to live should you come to live in NZ.

If you don't mind me saying, you were keen on the Waikato initially. Then you scoped out Wellington. Now North of Auckland is your current focus, however, the travel into Auckland for work would be horrendous.

FWIW my SIL lives in Dairy Flat and either drives or gets a lift to Albany bus park and ride. She then commutes by bus into central Auckland. The irony being, on days she has to drive herself, she practically parks outside their old house, as they moved from Albany a couple of years ago. This is because the parking spaces at the park and ride are at full capacity by 8am. That includes the car park extension too.

She's come to the conclusion that if, for whatever reason, she drives to the bus stop that day she might as well drive right into town and pay the 'early bird' e.g. prior to 10am fee to park in a car park all day. If that would be more convenient on that occasion.

Puhoi is a nice village. It's where the Puhoi cheese factory is. We had a picnic lunch over looking the stream earlier this year. It's to small to be a realistic place to live, for me at least. I don't want to be back and forth to Auckland or other suburbs either, just getting stuck in traffic jam after traffic jam when all you want to do is go to work, or get groceries, or visit somewhere, or go to an appointment or go out for entertainment. I can't believe people are willing to emigrate to live like that.

Where we live now, just about everything we need is in walking distance. One of the few good things about small town life.

Although, where we lived in Britain I walked to work, walked to the doctor, walked to the hairdresser, walked into town for shopping. That's not to say I/we didn't drive anywhere and that's the same here in NZ.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

That really odd thing called NZ mid-winter Christmas ? :lol: Nooo. I do a Christmas avatar for the real Christmastime. I simply couldn't find a new duck avi to my liking and so decided to use a mug shot for a change

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

OK. It was more a reference to the Christmas/New Year, 'show your face' on B.E.

Midwinter Christmas. Why wouldn't it be ? Oh, wait.

:focus:

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Puhoi may be a pretty little village at times but is the regular weekend hang out and meeting place for all the bikie dudes and their gangs that congregate at the pub in their hundreds.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Thanks for the the responses, I also like the new avatar Bevs. :) It does seem like local authorities the world over are basically under the control of developers. :(

I like the idea of mid-winter Christmas, doesn't that mean you have Christmas twice a year?

I don't mind at all the pointing out that I've been all over the place with locations as it's true :lol: I'm grateful to you all for being so patient with me about doing that. We still like the Waikato area and a couple of others for eventual, semi-retirement areas. It's negotiations with employers that are driving my explorations of different areas as we've taken the decision to live wherever the better work is for a while, probably in a less favourable area, rather than move to a less favourable job in a more affordable area. There's also an element of looking short tem (4-5yrs) and long term (next 20yrs) as I think the two may see us in different regions.

I have removal companies coming in again over the next two weeks and I think that will help us make some more decisions.

We'll be in rented housing for at least six to twelve months while we go through the whole head all over the place, roller coaster ride of moving continents, grief at leaving family and friends and the bewildering confusion of adjusting to new customs, prices and practices that are going to be *way* more different than we think. When we feel a bit panicky we say to each other that not many people our age get to have such a grand adventure and that helps make it exciting rather than frightening.

Useful to know about the Albany park and ride and thoughts around driving into the city. We do much the same now, by the time I've driven to the park and ride (also before 8am) and then got the train followed by a bus and a short walk it's easier to drive all the way into the city and pay to park there.

Where we live now we're two miles from the nearest dairy equivalent, five miles from a supermarket and ten miles from a decent size town. We often cycle or take the pony round to the nearby dairy. We've lived in farming regions for most of our lives apart from a short period 'in the smoke' getting our careers going. It was a great opportunity but it did show us we prefer to have to travel for things rather than be able to walk everywhere. I like the fact we're all different though as it means I can chase housing in the middle of the rural region and others can have the housing right in the town.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

Erm. No. :unsure:

It is silly.


edit...

So. When are you arriving then?
You've had removal companies in, so what is your timeframe.

Re: North of Auckland - worst bits
 

I know you wouldn't go the whole hog, we don't really bother with Christmas at all, but MrH and I do celebrate solstice in mid-summer and mid-winter. We like having two 'pause points' in a year to swap a little gift each and take stock of how we're doing. I can understand not wanting to do major celebrations twice a year though.

We're currently living a Schrodinger's cat existence depending on various things happening/not happening so we will/will not be moving over within the next six to nine months

With regard to removal companies I've been completely open as I didn't want to waste their time and resources doing quotes if the move doesn't come off. They were all lovely and said they thought it better they were prepared in advance than we call them at short notice and need to move really quickly. I think that's because it's not a straightforward move due to the fact we're coming from a farm so biosecurity measures, even for the household goods, are slightly complex.

At the moment I'm spending a LOT of time steam cleaning, shrink wrapping and storing outdoor activity items in a pre-cleaned area ready for a final pressure wash before they are sluiced with all sorts of anti-everything chemicals and loaded into a container. If the move doesn't come off I'm going to have the most decluttered house and cleanest stuff in the country! :rofl: