Andygall85

Hi guys

so I am currently living in Christchurch and have been offered a new job in wellington. We have been here for 9 months in Christchurch and have struggled to settle. My wife 3 children and I are contemplating taking the job in wellington as it is working for the council as a plumbing inspector.

Questions

what is wellington like ?
Is it better then Christchurch ? Quite frankly I think Christchurch is a dump and the people / locals are up their own arse.
if wellington is a good place to live do you have areas that you would avoid living ? Areas were you would live which is affordable and a good commute to the city?
also does any one work for the council or no anything about the council regarding career moves and working conditions?

is wellington good for kids ? 11/9/2



I hope you legends can help with some good much needed advice.

You guys take care thanks

escapedtonz

Lived in Wellington for 2.5 years after migration from the UK. I liked it and was fairly settled there but the Mrs not so and it didn't meet our expectations of what life would be like in NZ so we moved further North. Live in Tauranga now.
We wanted much better weather, better beaches and somewhere a little less built up, less people and traffic. Wellington served its purpose to give us that benchmark of life in NZ as we hadn't a clue what it would be like, but it opened our eyes of what we really wanted so we moved elsewhere to find it, which I'm happy to say we did.
Always enjoy visiting back in Wellington though for leisure and business purposes. It's a great city with lots to do and see. Unable to say if it would be any better than Christchurch, or more to the point your experience of Christchurch.
If you can get around the weather issues, Wellington is a good place to live for both adults and kids. Unfortunately the weather got to us. Me especially as I'm a biker and sometimes it was bordering on seriously dangerous and it just being a normal day in windy Wellington.
Only ever visited Christchurch a few times as we have a few friends there but we do like it. Have been down the path with a view to moving there a couple of times with different job options but the right opportunity hasn't come about......yet! We are quite settled now, but if the right package and job came about for Christchurch / Canterbury I think we'd take it and move.
So, areas to avoid in Wellington, and bear in mind this is my personal opinion. I'm not a lover of built up inner city suburbs, townhouses and everyone double parking in the streets etc, so many of these have the attributes I don't like.............
Directly South of the city is all built up and rough as in my opinion so the likes of Newtown, Vogeltown, Berhampore, Brooklyn, Kilbernie, Melrose etc. All really busy, old townhouses and cars double parked in every street. I would also avoid Porirua, Cannons Creek, Titahi Bay. Some parts of Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt - Naeae, Petone, Stokes Valley, Wainuiomata, Timberlea, Brown Owl, Maoribank.
If you live South of Wellington then Miramar, around the Bays and Seatoun are fine. If looking West then Karori is really nice - all these served by buses only. Nothing wrong with the Northern suburbs Wadestown, Ngaio, Khandallah, Johnsonville, Tawa then some nice places in the Porirua area - Whitby, Papakowhai, Paremata and Aotea are pretty popular. Further North Plimmerton/Camborne nice. All served by train and bus. If you want a bit more settled weather but want to stay within striking distance of Wellington then look at the Kapiti Coast - Paekakariki, Raumati Beach, Paraparaumu, Waikanae and that way. Not affected by wind and usually a few degrees warmer than Welly. There's a new highway being built at the moment called Transmission Gully so more of this coast will become commutable in the next couple years all the way up to Otaki/Levin although I think the trains stop at Waikanae at the moment but this may change ?
We started off in Woburn on first arrival - a built up older suburb within walking distance of Lower Hutt CBD and the train for commute in to Wellington CBD but some really nice and huge properties, tree lined streets etc. Quite liked it there at the time but we wanted more space and more open air parks for the kids etc. We then went to Churton Park in a huge new build on a huge new estate which was fine but soulless and expensive although the place is a bit better nowadays as there's a little shopping centre and other facilities. We then moved to Tawa for a bigger garden and a valley/mountain view to die for but that was always gonna be temporary until we finalized the move to Tauranga.

Hope it works out for you.

Andygall85

Thankyou for the in-depth reply .

From a personally selfish point of view I am more thinking of the potential career path this may lead me to . Work in Christchurch in my sector is drying up at present and not looking good . I will reserch the areas and see how I feel . Thankyou

escapedtonz

Yeah I understand.
It would be similar if we went Christchurch way. It would be based on money. We have a long term plan, but to realize it we have to move elsewhere that is cheaper to release the investment in the house we built in Tauranga and we'd only move if the job package offered was attractive enough and they paid a relocation.
Christchurch property is much cheaper than where we are and cost of living less. We could get way more for our money, have enough land that we could subdivide and sell off the subdivision and hopefully be mortgage free after a couple years setting ourselves up for our mid 50's leaving us with money in the bank and options for investment in a family bach by the sea and other things we want for the future. We have several years to get that dream though but essential that we make steps to achieve it now.

Andygall85

I'm just guessing that working for the council is potentially a good stsrting point for my career progression otherwise I would reconsider the location .

Andygall85

I see your from Wigan. My wife's family are from Wigan/ skem. We're from Southport so not to far away

MrsFychan

Depends on how far you want to travel to work.
We are up on the Kapiti Coast and as escape says a few degrees warmer and less felt earth quakes in my experience.
I would also factor in, now, that your 11 will be going to college in a couple of years.
What life style do you want, city life or hiking beach type?

Andygall85

Thanks for the reply . We just want to live in a nice area with a good community feel . As I've stated I have to be selfish at the minute regarding my career , first time in my life , as I am in a good position in Christchurch the job offered in wellington council is the next step forward for myself . We have been here 9 months and mybwife and I can't settle so we're looking to see if wellington is the answer.

any areas you would choose to live

escapedtonz

Yup. Born and bred.
Lived within 30 mins walking distance from the Wigan town centre for 32 years before I moved to Horwich and then Hutton, Preston before migrating to NZ. Did a lot of work in and around Skem in my youth when I worked on the tools. Gave me nighmares featuring monster roundabouts
We've also spent a lot of time in Southport. We lived there for the 2 weeks before we migrated in a fully furnished flat near the centre and live with the in-laws whenever we visit. They live in Churchtown............well more Marshside in my opinion but I think snobbery takes over

escapedtonz

Since we've now experienced rural life, if we had to go back to Wellington, we'd live either Ohariu, Makara, Pauatahanui, Plimmerton or Blue Mountains/Whitemans Valley. These are all really nice rural areas. I'd consider the Kapiti Coast a little too far out of the way for me, but that will change with the new road within a couple years.
If rural wasn't on my radar and we did the suburbia or older suburbia thing again I'd say Karori, Tawa, Whitby, Aotea, Plimmerton, Paremata, Silverstream, Pinehaven, Trentham, Riverstone Terraces, Eastbourne. We recently spent Easter with friends in Silverstream and it is a pretty nice place to live with everything you need around you and if it isn't found in Silverstream village you can find it in Upper Hutt. Personally not a lover of many places South or East of the city other than maybe Seatoun which is really nice with a couple decent volcanic sand beaches nearby.

MrsFychan

where I would want to live may well be not be the same as where you would. I would suggest initially just pick an area on short term rental the visit area's at various times of the days. also speak to parents at school gates for the younger kids and check out the result tables for the colleges.
We initially moved to an area that we thought would be good, smallish Bay that turned out, after 18months, to be the worse place possible for us, but then there are people that for some reason like it there. The place we are in at the moment is ok but having been here 7years, NZ is not somewhere I want to live my later years in. If we had the money and the kids were at different ages I would of left