CurlyBloke

I have been in NZ for a couple of weeks and the company I work for kindly provided me with an apartment in the centre of town. Unfortunately this is just for a few weeks and I will be looking to rent a house soon. I have sounded out a few people about where to live and sometimes get conflicting stories. Everyone says Khandallah and Ngaio are great, but I quite like the idea of being near the sea. To add to the complexity I have 2 children, one of whom will be ready to start primary school in the new year so we need to be near a good school. Again, Cashmere Avenue School in Khandallah is meant to be very good, but I want to see if there are other areas worth considering that are near the beach!

Any tips on suburbs to see / definitely avoid appreciated.

Tim

newkiwi

Cant help you on the school front as we dont have kids......
Nice suburbs near the coast include Island Bay/ Seatoun/ Roseneath/ Oriental Bay, maybe Kilbirnie, but some of these suburbs can be very expensive. Eastbourne is another option, if you work in the CBD you can take the ferry across the harbour to work each day. Or consider Mount Victoria. Depends what your budget is.

Khandallah and Ngaio are also good. Nothing in Wellington City is that far from the sea.......

good luck

patsy88

upper hutt is great and try totara park,lots of people from uk on here so have a look ,and a good little school

babybella

I have always found Ngaio dark and damp, public transport for both are not good.
Seatoun, Island bay very nice. Central Hutt and Eastbourne both lovely, close to the beach and zone for good schools. Upper Hutt, maybe for some, personally would never consider it in a million years!
Best idea is go and look at the schools yourself, and the area's, take your kids to the local parks, this will give you the best idea of where you want to live. It is always individual so the only way to know for sure is try out what suits you and your family.
Good luck
KAZ

ledge

I liked the look of Whitby and Parametta when I took a quick look around. Has anyone any thoughts on those areas - how easy is it to get into CBD etc

Thanks,
Laurence

Transatlantic Duo

Hi Kaz,

I will be working in the Hutt area in a month and have considered buying a house in Upper or Lower Hutt and the surrounding areas, what's the problem with Upper Hutt?

Lloyd

babybella

I always think that Upper Hutt is too far out of the city. A lot of it is 'Boganville' (cheap houses and a bit rough), however Silverstream, Heretunga, and around there can be quite nice. It also has too very good secondary school's St Patricks college and Hutt International boys school (we used the latter for our son. I just prefer Lower Hutt central, has more too it going on. As I said it is each too his own and the only way to really see what is right for you it to visit the places.
Lower Hutt has very good state schooling from primary _ Eastern Hutt, Then Hutt Intermediate then Hutt valley High.
Good luck
KAZ

disco duck

Pleased to read your thread - I am coming out to Wellington in January; I currently live in Darlington and work in Northallerton!!
I'd be interested in anything you have to say on the city. I chose Wellington for it's arts/theatre/cafe scene, but was initially reluctant because of the infamous winds :scared:

Hope it's all working out well for you all.

Regards

Hazel

Boopy

I've heard some horror stories about windy welly. How windy is Wellington, is there any areas that are least windy.

Boopy

lardyl

Darlo and points north/east are pretty good training for wind chill (we lived in Boro, Sedgefield, Durham and Newcastle, BTW).
Just like "windy gap" - the path down between the Cathederal and the castle in Durham was pretty windy as I recall.....

disco duck

Well thanks for that! At least I'm laughing
Hazel

patsy88

have you looked at totara park, upper hutt, good school ,and near every thing,have a look

babybella

Patsy,
Hi but I don't think you can really claim that Totara Park is near to anything. Upper Hutt is 40 min drive from central Wellington and near to nothing much else. cheap houses though if that is what you want, if you want beach, theatre, resturants, and a life then forget it.
KAZ

patsy88

hi kaz well have you been lately, there is a lot going on here,and not all houses are cheap.and not everyone lives on a hill with the wind blowing,and u have to walk to the beach lol

babybella

Well no I haven't been lately (has it moved?). Each to his own but for me Upper Hutt is just too far from the city and unless it has changed dramatically never had much going for it.
But I did have a friend that lived in Trentham and she liked it there, glad you are happy there it just wouldn't be for me.
Cheers
KAZ