CatherineL

Ok.... I have spent the last 3 hours reading post which are very informative but some post are worrying me as we have our heart set on moving to New Zealand.
I wonder if anybody could give me an insight into areas...this is what we ideally want:
To move to North Shore, and in an area not run by 'gangs', ( we want a clean friendly place to live) where there are ex pats, rural area very close by to the beach, with a good standard of living.
Thanks xxx

Expat Kiwi

Hi there and welcome.

There are plenty of expats in the North Shore, what nationality would you like: South African, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, British, Irish, Dutch, American....?

Sorry but I don't think it has any rural areas close to the beach as that would be prime land for development and rural is in pretty short supply anyway (if you look at google earth or satellite you'll see what I mean) The most rural close to sea I can think of is Okura, and Silverdale which isn't really North Shore.

Anyone?

RickAlbany

I wouldnt say anyway on the shore was run by gangs lol, from what you say I would recommend Browns Bay or Torbay area, few beaches to pick from and only a stones throw from rural areas

janeyk

a few beer bottles after a warm saturday night and a few loud exhausts is the worst I have seen in Browns/Torbay 5 mins to open countryside all the amenities you want on your doorstep and lots of lovely beaches, and a real cafe culture does that sell it!!!!!

Expat Kiwi

But rural they're not.

NS's cafe culture is ok, but it doesn't tend to shut-up shop late afternoon

Tranmere Rover

Why have you decided on the North Shore, out of interest?

Justcol

You will have to meet some kiwis eventually you know.

Bo-Jangles

How close to the beach do you consider 'very' close? 10 minutes walk or ten or 20 minutes drive? You need to decide rural over beach because I don't know of anywhere that the two go hand in hand.

Rural(ish) areas on North Shore / Rodney boundaries would be Dairy Flat, Riverhead, Coatesville, parts of Albany, Kumeu - all probably within 20 minutes drive to a beach.

kmthor

iused to stay in Okura... my ILs still do... all very nice looking dut you cant walk inthe water there the shell fish are to sharp on the feet.. you cant fish there as its a marine sanctury.. if your an artist (the brush and paint type not the bottle type) your love it

kmthor

this is more like what they want i reckon... i used to have 5 aches by riverhead forest great place but beware of the wind.. it was just over 20KM as the crow flies to the sea and we used to get sea spray on the windows

could also look at helensville

Expat Kiwi

Why Helensville? that's ages away from North Shore.

If you're going out west Kumeu and Taupaki are better options, but they're not exactly close to the sea. Besides which the west coast beaches are wild places with heavy surf.

I'm scratching my head over that one too

CatherineL

Hi everyone and thank you for taking the time to reply to my message feel much better now after reading your threads. ( I read a few bad threads last night and started to become quite worried).
However, you have all given me some realy good advice, which I will keep in mind and when I speak to the agency I can finally tell them places that I am interested in. Thankyou again x

simonsi

Hmmm, that requires some thought and TBH isn´t easy. Wherever you go on the Shore there will be one or more of:

The power-walking gang - roam the streets singly or in twos.

Dog-walking gang - typically on the beach early but beware, they are banned from certain areas at certain time so go underground for periods.

Barefoot-in-the-supermarket gang, tend to 'mob' supermarkets at busy periods. Watch where you step.

Cafe-friendly gang - setup ambushes in street cafe´s, known to immediately pounce on strangers and engage them in good conversation.

There´s bound to be more but you get the idea. Worst I have seen a gang of teenagers do is have a race chasing a plastic bag that had blown away from their picnic....

Have no fear, you aren´t likely to end up in a Judge Dredd block wars scenario on the Shore.

In contrast to South Auckland, drop below 60kph in some areas and your wheels will be gone....

You are quite likely to be killed or seriously maimed by the ludicrous 'turn-right rule' but thankfully they have decided to do away with that in 2012 so just fingers crossed til then....

PM for more details.....

UKNZAUS

sirplug

That'll be me then!

Have you considered Hatfields Beach, Stillwater and Dairy Flat?? All close to the beach (from 2 mins to 20 mins) and quite rural....