Dolly Daydream

I was reading a book the other day about the area north of Auckland and read about the Warkworth area. Is it as nice as it sounds? Even more important, is it very expensive? Is it Northland or part of Auckland area in terms of councils? Are there some nice beaches around there?

happynz

I've been through there a few times and it looked really attractive to me.
Depends what you are looking for, I s'pose.
I think Warkworth is part of the Rodney District, so I guess it would be part of the Auckland Regional Council.
Yup. Warkworth isn't on the coast, but there are definitely some nice beaches within a reasonable drive.

mongoosegirl

hi,
my friend lives in warkworth and i visited her on my trip to nz earlier this year. it seemed like a very nice place. i was only there about 24hrs but we saw lovely scenery and, like a previous poster said, there are very nice beaches nearby. whether it is for you depends what you are looking for in a place, but i really liked it. it wouldn't be the right place for me because i need to be within easy distance of a hospital for work and i don't drive, but i can definitely see the appeal. my friend emigrated to live there and says she wouldn't want to move.
tamsyn

Servant24kids

Lived there many years ago with my parents. Warkworth then used to be the service town for the many farms in the area, plus the many holiday homes along the coast. A river runs through the town which has small waterfall, and a lot of people take their boats to the ramp and then out to sea.

Now it is a much busier town, growing fast, and property prices increasing with the demand to live there. Road connections to Auckland are under massive improvement at the moment, meaning it will soon within commutable distance. There is the usual range of shops found in a small town, though I would expect the range to increase with increased population. Schools are supposed to be good. If I had to move to another area, then Warkworth would be a consideration.

Dolly Daydream

Thanks for replies. Sounds lovely. We are going to be looking for something rural for the 2 of us, 2 dogs and, hopefully, a horse in the future. Something rustic!! We want quiet, without being more than 1 1/2 hours from Auckland, allowing for traffic. I'm not a city girl at all.

crosskaos

Hi there,

We live in Auckland and visit Warkworth and Orewa on a regular basis. We absolutely love it there. For us It has the best of both worlds, beautiful scenery and the most awesome beaches. Goat Island is only 20 mins away which is the most amazing marine reserve. My husband and children can't to get in the water to go snorkeling. The next nearest town is Orewa which has a lovely feel to it. It is a seaside town and can become more congested during the summer months.

Accessibility to the City is good, approx 45-60 minutes which will only improve once the new motorway extension has been completed.

Warkworth is definitely an area that we would look into moving to as we want more of a village/rural feel and believe that Warkworth has this plus more.

Good luck with your move.

Lisa

mongoosegirl

hi,
in my previous post i forgot to say if you live in warkworth you can live near sheepworld. i loved sheepworld when i went there! we (OH and i) were the only visitors there at the time though.
also, the first post asked if it was expensive. did you mean expensive to buy/ rent a house or expensive in general? i don't know anything about buying houses and i didn't buy anything while i was there except snacks, but my friend lives there on a teacher's wage. she was living with a kiwi friend until recently but i think she is renting a house on her own now. not sure what will happen with that now though as she has just had a serious car accident and will not be well enough to return to work for a few months yet. and now i've rambled off topic; this is only my third post ever so you'll get used to that!
tamsyn.

Karen2000

Hi

My name is Karen and I live in Warkworth , my husband has been here for nearly a year and I followed a few months later . We were renting until the end of June but have now moved into our own small house near to the local schools.We like it here , my husband works around this area and down as far as the Hibiscus coast . We feel we have the best of both worlds here a small friendly place to live and Orewa 20 mins away and Albany about 40 mins so never too far from shopping areas . I suppose it all depends on what you want from an area it is definitely more rural here but you have all you need close by , a pub several restaurants and cafes , a supermarket etc.They are building a new shopping centre here I think it should be open in 12-18 months and as has already been said when the tunnel opens the journey to Auckland will be cut by about 10/15 mins and the road to Orewa will get less busy ( hopefully ) ! If you are a country girl you will love it , plenty of lifestyle blocks and farms close enough to town . We have found the locals very friendly and I have now found a job in Warkworth , however if you are looking for a specific career you might find a job more difficult to find or you may have to commute to AKL everyday.
If you need to know more details PM me but I hope this helps a little

Karen

lardyl

Hi Dolly....
agree with Karen that the commute to Auckland (not the shore but the city) would be a real pain unless you are aiming to arrive by about 7am or leave before 330pm. Otherwise it can be an hour or so to/from Orewa to the CBD (I drive it daily and have done it at a wide variety of times).
The upgrade of SH1 through the tunnel is going to help with times from AKL to Warkworth but this is still 18 months at least away and then there will be problems at the north end of the tunnel where the lanes come back down to single carriageway. The other issue with traffic is that there are conflicting plans for what will happen to SH1 north of there once the motorway extension is complete - some want to bypass Warkworth altogether, but as I understand from reading the local papers there is due to be a series of junction upgrades around the town that seem to be a "stop gap" and will cause plenty of traffic disruption.
On a postive note, there is always lots of traffic up SH1 early in the weekend and down SH1 on a Sunday afternoon show that the area is popular but long term the commute into Auckland from the north is only going to get worse as the planned developments around Silverdale, Albany, etc will add a massive number of commuters to the already clogged road system. Living up here is great, travelling to/from Auckland is not so.....
Good luck in whatever you decide to do - go and see sheepworld if you have kids, we're annual members and the scarecrow festival is on there still this weekend

uk+kiwi

We visited in Dec 2005 and from a long list of potential places to live (most of which were ruled out), Warkworth was ticked as a possible.

It's a lovely friendly place, although quite small and with very small surrounding neighbourhoods. So fairly quiet.

But personally, I'd agree with others and say it's too far away from the CBD to commute. However this is from the 'why move to have the same or worse in NZ' view point, but you may not mind the 90 minutes or so in the car each way.

Good choice.

Dolly Daydream

Thank you so much for all the replies re Warworth. We don't need to get into the Auckland CBD every day, so no problem there. We want a rural community, not far from the coast, where we can feel safe and secure and keep our dogs and a horse. We enjoy the odd meal out and plenty of walking. Very quiet aren't we!! Incidently, we also can't afford prices like Clevedon to the south!!

lardyl

if you want that and don't need the size that Warkworth offers then how about Dairy Flat, its rural and much nearer AKL. Its just off SH1 and will shave 1/2 hour off your journey times, plus its closer to the beaches than Warkworth. However, Warkworth is more like a nice touristy, rural town - kinda like a Barnard Castle, whereas Dairy Flat is just an area with the odd shop, lots of space and a school. Warkworth has cafes, etc and is close to Matakama which might suit your tastes more. But believe me the drive into Auckland is hard work from north of the Shore and although I do it for the kids it can be a pain, putting another 30 minutes on it each way would be too much for me.....best of luck and great job ENGLAND.........

uk+kiwi

Yep Matakana was nice too.

Dolly Daydream

I can't believe how much I've learned about this area so fast from you helpful people - this website is fantastic!! We are hoping to get out there mid 2008 onwards.

WendyN

Warkworth is a typical provincial NZ town with all the main shops and facilities, a nice town centre next to the river, so nothing too fancy but nice enough to live in. But then there is the coastal route eastwards which leads to lots of good wineries, orchards, superb beaches, Goat Island which is even suitable for diving (and of course snorkelling), idyllic Leigh village, on to remote Pakiri Beach (now the asphalt sporadically disappears from the road). We live in Whangarei which is to the north and the town is much bigger, also has great beaches nearby and fantastic native forest everywhere. We have lived here since Jan 07 and love it! In 1995 I had a fantastic welcome from many of the locals in Warkworth when I travelled there as a backpacker.
Hope this helps, Wendy.