mrhodgepodge

Hi,

My family and I are considering relocating to Bay of Plenty from England and we're looking at Waihi Beach as our location.

Can anyone tell me what the local schools, shops and accessibility to Tauranga is like?

Does Waihi have some sort of community? And how safe is The Bay of Plenty as a whole, crime wise? (drugs, robbery, violence, youth gangs).


Any local info on Waihi Beach would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks
Simon Hodge

gilliano77

Hello, I can help you out a little as my boyfriend is from waihi and I went there last oct so can give a Brit's view. It took us about 40-45 mins to get into Tauranga but we weren't going at peaks times.

From memory there was one main supermarket. There are basic shops there, if you've been to NZ before you'll know that their shopping areas aren't like ours. Their towns are like our villages. Nothing wrong with that but don't expect too much.

We stayed at Waihi beach which is nicer. I Imagine its a good place to grow up but it is out of the way.

I'm not sure i'd want to relocate to Waihi but it depends on what work you do. If its mining it will be a good place to work otherwise hmmmm..... You'd certainly get the kiwi experience as I doubt there are many expats.

Good luck!

martyc

Are you thinking of Waihi for work reasons? i.e. the coal mines! From my experience there is not much there in terms of opportunities for your kids. My sister in law lives there with her children. If I had the choice I would move to Tauranga and commute as this would offer broader horizens for your children. Waihi beach is very nice!

Good luck with your decision.

concretepump

theres a great tattooist think its on hazzard street , i go to him every time were in nz his name dean holland and wife heidi

waihi is a nice place if i had a job there i could live there, we lived and worked in tauranga so would have been a bit far to travel

mrhodgepodge

Thanks for the replies guys!

Apologies - I did mean Waihi Beach.

I run a catering business in the UK and would be looking to work as a chef to begin with, before looking for a new venture of my own.

We want to be close to Tauranga, but thought being just outside would offer better outdoor/beach/activities and be safer (lower crime) for the children.

My concerns on Waihi Beach is that it might be a little isolated. But the beach may make up for that, if it has a big enough community.

Can anyone tell me how easy/long it takes to get Tauranga from Waihi Beach? Or is there a better option nearer the city - perhaps a small town or suburb with food market, fresh food stores, food culture?

johnht

Don't know if it's 'better', but if you're looking at that side of Tauranga there's Katikati whch is a bit nearer than Waihi. I've only spent an hour or two there shopping when we were staying nearby and like a lot of places the shops are just either side of the main road through town. Its claim to fame is the murals painted throughout the town.

John.

mrhodgepodge

Thank you John. I will take a look...

gilliano77

Hi mate, boyfriend of gilliano77 here.
I'm originally from Waihi Beach and also spent many years in Waihi. Waihi Beach is a great place to live, and to bring up kids. It does only have the one primary school, with the secondary school located in Waihi, which is about 6 miles away. A school bus service is provided. The primary school has large playing fields and a swimming pool. (Most school in NZ have pools)
The population of Waihi Beach through the winter months is around the 1000-1500 mark, but over the summer period peaks at around 8000-10000. A lot of the houses are holiday homes for people living in Auckland and Hamilton, which remain vacant through winter.
The local shops are located on Wilson Road, and consist of a supermarket, fruit and vege shop, a hardware store, a bakery, real estate x 2, a chemist a couple of takeaways and a restaurant called 'The Porch'. Another local restaurant in 'Flat White' and 'The hot Pipi' (Pipi's are a local shellfish).
The beach is very safe for swimming. I can't remember the last time anyone drowned there anyway. Fishing is good, if you like doing it. Tauranga Harbour is just to the south, with good fishing spots around Anzac Bay.
Tauranga is about 45mins away with Hamilton around an hour. Katikati is a nice town for sure, but at around 4000 people its a bit bigger.
As far as crime goes, nothing really serious happens in the area. I think in the past both Waihi and Katikati have had associated gangs of sorts, but the local cops keep a good eye on them. My parents live just out of Waihi, with my father living on the same farm he was brought up on. They leave there keys in their cars and their doors unlocked at night. Ok, probably not something you would do in town, but crime isn't really a big issue there.
Any other info/questions you have, please ask!

mrhodgepodge

Hi boyfriend of gilliano77,

Thanks for the great insight, very much appreciated mate!

Waihi beach sounds like a good base for us initially - As we will be renting, we can always move closer to the city if needs be...

What is the demographic of Waihi beach: Professionals, retirement homes, unemployment etc?

Is Tauranga generally a safe place to raise children - Any drug or crime problems that aren't reported on visitors/tourist websites?

Thanks!!!

Justcol

Dont get hung up on the "safe" thing.

Even the worst place in nz is better than the best the uk has to offer.

yesterday i watched a mum get out of her car with her small daughter (about 4yr old)
the mum sat down in the cafe i was in and gave the girl some dvd's to take up the road
back to the shop, she also gave her some money to buy some sweets while she was there.
it didnt bother her, it didnt bother me (ex social services in the UK )how safe do you want to be. ??

NZ is NOT like the UK but dont think that small towns are safer than the cities

mrhodgepodge

When you're moving half way around the world to a new country/culture/environment with two small children, safety is quite important.

But I see what you mean about cities and towns.

BTW - The UK isn't exactly South Central L.A. Here small towns and villages are certainly safer than the larger cities. Some of our cities/large towns (York, Bath, Guildford...) are incredibly safe. Shocking weather though!

Justcol

I know, I only left the UK 3 years ago with 2 children of my own.

gilliano77

Hello Mr hodgepodge, boyfriend is away but I can answer for you. Probably more retired people in Waihi beach than young but I didn't really notice it being a retirement centre. At the weekend the porch cafe was packed with young people. The main thing I'm guessing is that house prices will ber more expensive than Taurange due to its location. Some of the houses on the beach go for well over a million dollars and obviously there will be cheaper houses away from the beach but they were pricey, although probably not in comparison to the UK!!

When we were there we saw Orca's surfing the waves, my boyfriend has lived there for years and had never seen them before, its a lovely area.

The other thing to remember is it is a seaonal town. Rammed in the summer, dead in the winter.

Good luck with your decision.

mrhodgepodge

Thank you for info.

We love Tauranga and it's defiantly the place for us. After reading through the threads on here we've decided Papomoa Beach is the type of place we're looking for.

Odd question, but I've read that many dogs roam free in the area (pit bulls etc), is this true? Not really dog people! Children hate them...

hazeandsteve

We popped into Papamoa Beach a while ago.
One thing that caught my eye was that the newer developments seem to be following the UK trend of jamming as many houses into a small place as possible.