[clodestar]

Thought we were pretty much settled on Kapiti as an area to look at for somewhere to settle. OH job in Wellington CBD but will rarely travelling in rush hour. Looking at trade me houses and land seem cheaper in South Wairarapa. What is this area like - in terms of schools, weather etc. What is internet provision like and is it commutable to Wellington. We're looking at spending maximum of $450K and wish list includes 3/4 bedrooms with a reasonable (large) garden, privacy but not too far from services. Internet will be important for talking to aging parents who are okay but not overly chuffed about us moving their grandchildren 12 thousand miles away. Sorry for all the questions but you've all been great and we're coming on our reccy and final decsion maker over Easter.

[Juniper]

Have you looked at sizzlingbadger's house in Featherston?

http://www.bayleys.co.nz/390532

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?p=122931 (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?p=122931#post122931)

You could pick her brain about the area, apparently she knows the market backwards and forwards ;)

[Trigirl]

theres a very big hill between south wairarapa and wellington. it may not look far but it can be a very slow drive. whether its commutable or not really depends on your definition of commutable! there's a train too - but only maybe 3 services in and 2 back with the last one pretty early (not long after 6pm) so whether thats doable depends entirely on your job.

you can get telstraclear in kapiti but not in the wairarapa - have a look on a few threads on internet speeds outside of the major cities as that may impact your decision. we have telstraclear now and its massively faster then telecom were.

[sizzlingbadger]

Thanks Juniper :D

As Trigirl has said there is a very twisty road between here (Featherston) and Upper Hutt. Doable though, OH has travelled in by motorbike frequently over the last month. Takes the same time as the train an hour out of peak hours, not sure what it would be in peak times though. Nothing like the long commute it would be from Kapiti though in peak times, it's a lot busier that way.

We use Telecom broadband and have no problems at all with it, seems as fast as it was in the UK for us. You can't be too far from the exchange though. So if you're looking for rural you may struggle but there are other options. Avalon (who used to post here) has a thread on how to get satallite broadband and other ways.

We've got three schools in Featherston, all good. My eldest (6) goes to the Catholic School, although it's not strict Catholic and is open to anyone. Featherston School is still changing and is a lot better than it was a year ago. South Featherston is a small country school about 5 minutes out of town.

For children it's great, we've got Playcentre for the little ones, a great kindy, music group, coffee groups for the mums more than the little ones :)

We've got a cinema opening and the town is definitely up and coming, in the last 6 months property prices have and are going up.

For the budget you've got you should get something very nice in Featherston, as Juniper has said ours still on the market and that's top end for Featherston.

If you look further a field, you've got Martinborough about 20 minutes down the road. Lovely town but like a ghost town during the week, it does have a school, kindy, not sure about Playcentre. Small supermarket and great wineries :nice1 It does add on to the commute though and you would have to ask yourself would you want to do it everyday. There's no station there either so if you wanted to go by train you'd have to drive or get the bus to Featherston.

Greytown is full of old buildings and is full of boutique shops. It's very busy at the weekend with all the Wellingtonians that come over and stay in their 2nd homes. You'd probably struggle to get something spacious for your budget as property prices are really high as it's so popular. Again it has a good school, playcentre, huge park, lots of shops and a train station about 5/10 minutes of town.

Ask away if you have any further questions :)

As Juniper has said I know the property market inside out and I know Featherston really well, been here 2 years in July.

[jackie m]

Hi
Don't know about Wairarapa as we live in Kapiti (paraparaumu) we got a 4 bed house 2 baths etc massive compared to our uk for well under your budget 5 months ago, we are 10 minute walk to the beach which was my one wish list item if I was moving all that way I wanted to be near the beach.
Hubby works in Lower hutt & it takes him an hour to get home about 40 minutes going so not a lot of difference in rush hour traffic. As the roads here are very different to Uk ones & everyone travels at the same speed most of the time so very little tail backs etc of course if there is an accident or something that changes things. But on the whole not a bad commute & beautiful views on the way along the coastline. It can't be that bad as our friends have just brought here & will be moving over here from Wellington & they both work in Wellington & Lower Hutt.
Yes we have broadband with telstra so grandparents can have many web chats with the chlidren which is lovely for them all.
There is a shopping centre,cinema & plenty of things to do here along with very good schools. My daughter started school in Feb when she turned 5 at the moment there are only 7 others in her class which is fantastic, speaking to my friend in the UK her son has 24 in his class so there is a big difference here.

[wanderingoregonian]

As others have said, the road is very windy. I think it is lovely in its own way, but wouldn't want to drive it frequently. The wairarapa area remains me a bit of eastern Oregon and parts of Montana (for those reading that have been to the western bits of USA). i've only been here during summer, but on my visits so far the Wairarapa area has been sunnier, dryier, a bit of a plains feel. Flat going towards striking mountains. The ocean is about an hour a way I hear.. I'v etried to attached a photo from my latest road trip through Kapiti.

I also drive up to the Kapiti coast for work on a regular basis. Its greener, flat leading to ocean, and has a beachy town feel in my mind so far. I've attached a photo from above that I think is from just south of the Kapiti coast

The two areas are very different. I often hear people who say they love one and have mixed/no feelings for the other. And its about 50:50 who loves which area.

[clodestar]

I showed OH the information everyone posted. We've decided while we're out on our visit ( only a week to go ) to visit the area. He loved Sizziling Badgers house.We're looking to buy and settle quite soon after we arrive. I have 3 children and i don't want them messed around too much. We're definately going to look around Fetherston having decided we want to live somewhere nice as opposed to convenient for work. Luckily OH shiftwork means he won't need to commute every day or during the rush hour. OH starts work September. So we're goining to investigate Upper Hutt, Kapiti and South Wairarapa. I think we'll be busy. Luckily we've both managed to take some unpaid leave so we'll be there a little longer than the four days Crown suggested.
How far is Fetherston from the coast ?
Places to walk dog in area ?
Whats the climate like ?
Sorry for the millions of questions but this forum is just great for research.

[Debbie P.]

I asked some questions about this a while ago, here's the thread:

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4087

[sizzlingbadger]

Just to update from the thread Debbie as posted :)

We finally made it to Castlepoint, probably a good 1 and 1/2 from here but definitely worth the trip. Featherston is not close to the coast and for us we're not too worried. To many other things to see and do. Just about to head away for Easter and have part of the holiday on the coast.

You'll probably find the traffic this side is a whole lot less than the Kapiti Coast side, one thing we found when we had a week away that side was the traffic and people, couldn't wait to come back for some peace and quiet :)

Just up behind here you've got the whole of the Rimutaka and Taurua ranges to explore. There are camp huts along the way and you can probably walk some of the tracks for miles and not see another person.

As for local dog walking, there's huge playing fields, bush reserve and One Tree Hill.

Climate as in the other thread.

Featherston must be on the rise though we've got our very own Cinema and Bar opening right in the centre of town :D Soon won't have reason to leave. It's hopefully going to show some recent releases but also have special film nights. Instead of the normal seats it's going to have couches and you can have a glass of wine whilst watching a film, sounds heaven to me :laugh

[Juniper]

When does the cinema open? :-D

[sizzlingbadger]

Hopefully in the next 2/3 weeks :D

[Juniper]

Awesome! We'll have to check it out on our reccie :-)

[Debbie P.]

Instead of the normal seats it's going to have couches and you can have a glass of wine whilst watching a film, sounds heaven to me :laugh

Sounds brilliant!

We are still very keen on Wairarapa... if we ever get there :wah

[auskiwi]

Love your place Sizzling Badger!!...now if they only needed teachers at your local school...:exit It's amazing how much cheaper real estate is around there compared to Auckland. Your place would be worth much more in our neighbourhood...

[sizzlingbadger]

:) Our local schools are always on the look out for new teachers, not a kindy trained teacher by any chance, we've just lost two :( Careless I know !

It is surprising how much cheaper it is here compared to Wellington as well, that's why we came over the hill because we knew we'd be sat on nice investment with the way Featherston was coming up and still is. We'd never be able to afford it if it were in Wellington or Auckland.

Debbie, I remember exactly how you feel just have to keep plugging away and you'll get here. We look back now and can't really remember all the stress we went through to get here. Definitely well worth it in the end :nice1

[auskiwi]

Primary trained-but would look at a kindy job to get out of Auckland!:laugh