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North of Auckland - worst bits

North of Auckland - worst bits

Old Jun 30th 2015, 10:05 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Originally Posted by bearskin
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.
No sane person would unless they were under seige from avaricious and underhand developers like we are.

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.
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Old Jun 30th 2015, 11:49 pm
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Default 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.
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 1:05 am
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Hello Bev, nice Avatar. Is it Christmas already ?



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.

Last edited by Snap Shot; Jul 1st 2015 at 1:18 am. Reason: post needed to make sense
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 1:33 am
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Originally Posted by Snap Shot
Hello Bev, nice Avatar. Is it Christmas already ?
That really odd thing called NZ mid-winter Christmas ? 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
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 3:22 am
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Originally Posted by BEVS
That really odd thing called NZ mid-winter Christmas ? 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
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.

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Old Jul 1st 2015, 7:10 am
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Default 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.
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 8:34 am
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Default 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 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.
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 10:11 am
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Originally Posted by Hazelnut
T
I like the idea of mid-winter Christmas, doesn't that mean you have Christmas twice a year?
Erm. No.

It is silly.


edit...

So. When are you arriving then?
You've had removal companies in, so what is your timeframe.
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Old Jul 1st 2015, 1:37 pm
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Default Re: North of Auckland - worst bits

Originally Posted by BEVS
Erm. No.
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.

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