janea

Hi i am moving to Timaru in April and would love to no more about it,anyone on here live there or visited there,any info would be great..I have 4 kids age 15,10,6 and 5 is this a good area for them..thanxs

kiwinow

If you do a search you'll find quite a bit on here about Timaru and a recent thread below.
It depends where you've come from. Timaru is a quiet town of about 40,000 people. There's plenty of outdoor possibilities with skifields quite close, lots of sports clubs and a nice beach, parks etc

The schools are all quite good and it's just a matter of finding the one that suits you for location and "feel". My daughter goes to Bluestone Primary School, which has doubled in size in the last few years due to the government closing some of our schools. I have no problems with the school, though I wish they'd left our Intermediate school open. My teenagers go to Mountainview High School, which offers a wide range of subjects, not just academic. Timaru Boy's High used to have a great reputation with a long waiting list, but that is all in the past and now they are much the same. There are also a few private schools if you prefer, eg Craighead Diocesan School for Girls, Roncalli College, Waihi School.

If you've come from a big city I expect you'll find it quiet and there isn't a lot for teenagers which results in a bit of a youth drinking problem, but it's up to your child and what you get them involved in.

janea

Hi thanks for that info..we are coming from manchester uk and are looking for a bit of a quieter life but with more to do out doors..we have looked at mountain veiw high for our daughter and she likes the look of it..

kiwinow

There's plenty of water sports - if you like sailing, fishing, kayaking, jetski etc. There are plenty of walks and sports clubs of all kinds, and most primary school kids here go skiing with the school, and ice-skating at the outdoor rink in Tekapo. Hence my kids are much better skiiers than me. It's up to you to make the most of it and get the equipment.

It can get quite cold in winter - often drops to -3 at night and struggles to 8 by the afternoon, and as I said elsewhere we often have mild summers with the odd hot day, so the sea is often too cold for me. However, the kids don't seem to notice and this year we've had loads of hot days. We get a smattering of snow most years, but it usually doesn't stay on the ground for long. The downside of that is that we aren't prepared when it does hit. You might like to google Timaru's 2006 big snow which brought the town to a halt for 3 days and had some people without power for weeks. However, the last time it happened was 60 years ago.

I guess you won't know until you get here whether it is too quiet. Wages tend to be lower here, but so are house prices and rentals. Kids still sit riveted to playstations etc but many are involved in sport and other actiivities.