[leejenns]

Hi, looking for some advice!
Will be flying out with my family ( wife and 2 sons, 5 year old and 10 month old), I will be transferring office from UK to NZ office in East Tamaki, any ideas on best locations to initially settle, my new boss has advised me to look at Howick and our friends that live in Parnell have suggested Meadowbank any other places we could look at, would like to be close to the beach, dont mind commuting up to 60 mins eachway, good primary school catchment area for our 5 year old, any advice would be most welcome.

[gil]

Hi Leejenns,
Have a look at this http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12174 for info about Howick. East Tamaki is about 15-20 mins drive from here.
PM me if you would like to chat through more.

Hope your move goes smoothly,

Gil

[jubjub]

You have got mahy options, Gil has covered Howick for you with that link, but what do you want in a house/area?

You can have older style houses in established areas, such as Pakuranga, Half Moon Bay, Bucklands Beach, Howick, Farm Cove all with good schools for the 5 yr old. Or you can have newer style housing in Meadowlands, Botany, Dannemora with new schools that are gaining an excellent reputation.

You would be about 20 mins from work at worst, and 5 mins at best with any of the above areas.

As Gil said, anything specific you want to know, shout!

[leejenns]

Thanks for the advice, looking for a 4 bedroom rental property in good area to start with, my wife would like a newer build property if possible as said close to beach, shops and good schools.
We are a little over 4 weeks to go before we fly out, so we are constantly looking at the trade me site to see what comes up in the East Tamaki area,
We have concentrated our search so far on Howick/St Helier but just wanted some ideas on alternatives should we not be able to find anything in these locations.

:cheers

[gil]

St Helier is very expensive, even compared to Howick. We had some friends here yesterday who have abandoned their search to buy in St Helier. They were hoping for a 3 bed, older property that they could renovate and extend and had $700,000 in mind. After seeing a few such properties at $1.3-4 MILLION, they have decided to look in Howick where they are currently renting :eek:

There are some lovely new builds around here, not cheap though.

Have you looked at
http://www.rwhowick.co.nz/
http://www.bayleys.co.nz/
http://www.allrealestate.co.nz
The areas to look at in Howick are: Bucklands Beach, Eastern Beach, Half Moon Bay, Mellons Bay, Cockle Bay and Howick.

Good luck!

Gil

[hball]

I agree with the Howick option! East Tamaki is a light industrial and commercial zone - I work there too - with Dannemora to one side comprising of lots and lots of new housing and three storey apartment blocks at the southern end (now re-named Flatbush) but with perhaps a shortage of trees and vegetation???

Howick is a lovely well-established village with the sea in smelling distance! And very popular with immigrants. We specifically chose to buy one of our rental properties in that area for that reason - great minds obviously think alike as our next-door neighbours are 2 x UK and 1 x South Africa! If nothing else, it is a good starting point as if you are looking to buy for big dollars you can easily check out the big properties across the estuary in Whitford!

[leejenns]

thanks for the information, i will be working for DHL exel supply chain in East Tamaki, do you know where that is?

We have booked our first 2 weeks stay in the howick motor lodge again has anyone got any information on this!

booked our flights today, departing blighty on the 31st July, NZ ere we come!!!!!:raebanana

[gil]

t
We have booked our first 2 weeks stay in the howick motor lodge again has anyone got any information on this!



We stayed here too. Dave and Mandy (owners) are lovely and really really helpful. Hubby now plays football (soccer here) with Dave. Don't expect luxury, but it is clean and comfortable. Lovely dog, Cassie!
It's on the main Pakuranga Road and easy access to buses, car routes. Call or email Mandy and Dave with any questions e.g. car hire/shuttle from airport etc, they are great.

PM me and we'll catch up when you arrive. (if you want to, that is!)

Gil

[jubjub]

[quote=leejenns;138975]thanks for the information, i will be working for DHL exel supply chain in East Tamaki, do you know where that is?

quote]

I believe its on Harris Road, so very easy to find, its a very busy road prob take you around 20-25 mins from the lodge in peak traffic.

[leejenns]

We stayed here too. Dave and Mandy (owners) are lovely and really really helpful. Hubby now plays football (soccer here) with Dave. Don't expect luxury, but it is clean and comfortable. Lovely dog, Cassie!
It's on the main Pakuranga Road and easy access to buses, car routes. Call or email Mandy and Dave with any questions e.g. car hire/shuttle from airport etc, they are great.

PM me and we'll catch up when you arrive. (if you want to, that is!)

Gil

Gil, would love to catch up when we arrive, we have a few friends in NZ, they mainly live in the Parnell area, but would love to make new friends.

Jenn

[gil]

Gil, would love to catch up when we arrive, we have a few friends in NZ, they mainly live in the Parnell area, but would love to make new friends.

Jenn

Yay! Me too! PM us when you can and we'll meet up,

Gil
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