madao

No, it's not a joke, sorry!

Reality is I've been offered a move with my company from Wellington to Auckland. I'd be based at the airport. My partner, who's keen to stay with her employer if possible too, could potentially get a transfer to their Hamilton office if we moved.

So the compromise would be to live halfway between the two. Realistically though how long would it take to commute to either from the halfway point and what is there between the two centres?

We would be renting rather than buying at this stage. It appeals we could probably get a bigger place being between the two, rather than based In Auckland, but I dont want to be so remote there is only an expensive dairy to shop in and crappy bar for something to do.

Any suggestions?

(My offer includes $5k of fuel a year too which offsets some of the extra travelling costs we'll incur compared to our current situation)

Snap Shot

It's one hundred kms from Auckland to Hamilton. So, 50kms would be Pukekohe or Pokeno ?

Huntly is much closer to Hamiton. It's got a huge power station which does not present the town on it's best side !

Sorry, between Hamilton and Pukekohe there's quite a lot of MAMNA - Miles and Miles of Not a Lot. There's a town called Ngarwharia (sp) which is where we stop for coffee en-route to Auckland on the duty visit to the Outlaws.

jmh

Yeah, I'd say Pukekohe or Pokeno too. I don't know what the journey to Hamilton would be like in peak traffic, but the motorway to the airport can be slow in normal commuting times. You could consider whether there would be any advantage for you to be within easy access of the train line - eg to get into the CBD. No link to the airport yet, not sure what the latest is on that.

I have heard of people commuting to Auckland from Hamilton.

Bo-Jangles

Somehow I always underestimate the time it takes and end up stressed because I have set myself unrealistic timeframe to get to Hamilton. I even have to remind myself it is 100km from Drury to Hamilton according to the roadsign on the South bound route.

Nigh on impossible to do even the southernmost reaches of Aucks to Hamilton in less than an hour; even if 'flying' downwind and there's no traffic on the road (like that ever happens) and there's several slow bits to negotiate through Huntly and Ngaruawotsi, usually some logging trucks, sheep transporters and milk tankers and then you hit the Hamilton merry-go-rounds and school traffic and ... whatever else along the way.

bourbon-biscuit

I reckon on two hours to get from Hams to Auckland. I don't think there's anything between the two that warrants an hour+ commute- seriously, it's all pretty nasty, imo.

In your shoes, if I didn't have kids and I couldn't work it so we both had jobs in the same city, I'd be either: a) opting for one of you to be the commuter and the other takes the lion's share of domestic stuff, or b) choose Thames- not the best place but means you are based at the foot of the Coromandel and at weekends etc you are well placed for a nice lifestyle. It's approx 1hr30 for each of you.

ETA: just reread and cos you said Auckland airport that would take 15 mins off a straight run (and much more off a snarled up one) and take a lot of the guess work out of the commute.

bourbon-biscuit

PS bear in mind I'm known for my s-l-o-w driving.

madao

OK, her potential office to my potential office on Google Maps is showing 1:27 and 114km. 45 mins for each of us I could live with but i don't fancy potentially doubling on a regular basis it if traffics that bad.

No commuter trains run either I see. I figured there wouldn't be many places to consider living between the two although I will have a look at what we can get in Pukekohe or Pokeno.

Next question then is what suburb in Auckland is good to get easy access to the airport and CBD, assuming she got a new job somewhere there.

jmh

I have to say I say disagree with that - there are some nice places around Pukekohe. Lots of new building going on in the area too. It's a town I would definitely put on my seriously consider list. I meet clients at Puke who come up from Hamilton all the time. As the OP says, they could afford a much bigger house there too. Really worth considering. There are some nice beaches on the west coast too.

There are lots of areas commutable to the airport. My mum lives in Papakura and does it in 20 mins on a good day but can be 40 mins on a bad day - it's usually worse coming home than getting there (and boy does she moan about it!).

jmh

The other thing I would say is, if you are not planning on having kids soon, and your partner has a bit of time off and has gaps in her CV, it could well reflect negatively on future employment prospects in the current climate.

Nothing wrong in taking some well earned time off, but it could stall her career in future. I see it all the time in my line of work.

Robbie2010

I'd look around Pukekohe/Pokeno. It's about 40 k's/40mins from the airport and about 75k's north of Hamilton or just under an hours drive. T

Hazelnut

Wow, can you really drive 75kms (46 miles!) on NZ roads in under an hour in rush hour? We currently live 32 miles from my place of work with 4 miles of very rural roads, 23 miles of good motorway and then five miles of bad motorway and city streets.

I had set an absolute limit of 50km when looking at houses as I'd assumed it would take longer to drive into a city or town on NZ roads as everyone says how bad they are.

jmh

Depends a lot on the city or town you choose. Auckland is particularly bad, but he is not travelling right into Auckland - even the bit he hits on the motorway is not that bad most of the time. Would be a different story if he was driving into the CBD. I suspect most of the complaints about roads that you've heard are from people living in Auckland.

Hazelnut

Thanks, it just shows the value of this forum

In the UK, but similar circumstances, we had my husband working in one city and me working in another with both of us commuting in opposite directions. We did it for 9years then husband took a pay cut to take a job at a company just down the road from where I work. Even with the pay cut we have more money as the double commute costs were crippling us.

minky

Pokeno is really just a small village there are some new sections being built on at the moment and then a new milk processing plant is going to be built
Puke has a traditional High Street and also new shopping areas have opened up since we have been in NZ also quite a lot of new housing so the motorway into Auckland from that area can get quite busy in the mornings due to new housing at Karaka Lakes and Takanini

jmh

I had a word with my mum who travels from Papakura and gets off the motorway at the same exit as the airport. She takes 23 mins to get to work on a good day, 40 on a busy day. She's quite a conservative driver, doesn't change lanes that much and sticks to the speed limit.

She reckons you would allow 45-60 mins to travel between the airport and Pukekohe. There will be the odd journey which will be over that. Big problems arise if there is an accident, and she finds it worth taking the back routes when that happens - probably once or twice a year. Otherwise, most of the journey is motorway.