[kimifan]

When I initially started to plan my move I admit I got quite carried away with the idea of living somewhere fairly remote with stunning scenery, but as the time gets closer (I'm coming over in November) I am starting to consider more and more whether I would be better living somewhere less remote that maybe isn't as beautiful but with easy access to places that are - e.g. hamilton (there's been quite a lot on this forum recently that made me warm to the place)

Other places I was considering previously were Tauranga and Coromandel, amongst others.

Do you think you can get tired of a view when there isn't much else around?

Would I still appreciate the beauty every day if I'm there all the time?

Maybe I should be concentrating more on where would be a practical place to live and compromise on the scenery.

Ultimately, I know there's no substitute for coming over to see for myself, but unfortunately I won't be able to do this and will have to accept a job without ever having seen any of these places - just going to follow my gut, and at the moment, I'm feeling more practical than usual...

Aargh! Its all so complicated!!

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read these random musings :)

[Timbo]

Personally Jo, no, I dont tire of the stunning scenery around us up here on the mandel.
However, you do have to consider the bigger picture when deciding on location. For instance we have to drive to Thames, our nearest major town, if we need to visit a hospital. This entails a 1 hr 15 minute drive over and through soem fairly major hills etc. Not everyones idea of fun.
If you dont have youngsters in the family, then everyday life is probably much more stright forward. But if you have kids of just about any age, then living out in the back blocks is always going to present some problems, wether just getting to and from school or sporting activities, or as mentioned before, hospitals/doctors etc etc.
Even in the so called big citys here, you are never far from stunning beaches and scenery, so you can have the best of both worlds to a degree I guess.
Good luck whichever way you choose to go with it.

[victoria]

Hi Jo,If I may offer my thoughts.We came from a very rural area in the UK but have ended up in a sprawling town on the Kapiti Coast. Now I don't do suburbia but it's turned out to be a blessing.I get the best of both worlds,minutes walk to the sea,spectacular hills in the distance with all the conveniences of town living.I went through the migrant blues for awhile (surprised me as I thought I was made of strong stuff) but nevertheless it got to me.Actually a post by Marcia was relevant. Anyway,I'm glad to be where we are as opposed to rural(which we inteded) as it's helped me adjust to a new land. In saying that, we will be heading to a more rural environment for our permanent home but taking time to do so.I know,despite the extraordinary beauty of this place, I would have felt very isolated.I suppose taking little steps after the big step has worked for us. I hope this philosophy helps you.

[Questor]

We're also on the Kapiti Coast (Waikanae Beach) and we have a great view all ways, of the island one way, and the Tararuas the other way, and no, we don't get tired of it.
Best of all, if we want a slice of city life, Wellington's just down the road!

[Familyofmonkeys]

Other things to consider are jobs....even if you find job in more remote area, you may need to consider opportunities available if you were to change your job later on. Even in Auckland, I don't think you are ever more than about 20 minutes from a nice beach.

[Andy-Dee]

Before we did our recce we were looking at Ohoka near Christchurch and felt sure at 30 - 35 mins from town centre would be fine. But when we went to view properties on our recce and having spoken to some other forumites already there - we decided we needed to think again. Just 30 mins from a city centre is fairly remote.
My thinking is that initially we need to be in the best place possible to make friends and have places to go and build a familiarity with our new home. This will give US the best possible chance of succeeding with our new life.

After a while if things turn out well, and we have a solid support structure - we can re assess and relocate.

Just my thoughts - and are particular to my family as a have a young child.

Hope it helps

[Pip]

Before we did our recce we were looking at Ohoka near Christchurch and felt sure at 30 - 35 mins from town centre would be fine. But when we went to view properties on our recce and having spoken to some other forumites already there - we decided we needed to think again. Just 30 mins from a city centre is fairly remote.
My thinking is that initially we need to be in the best place possible to make friends and have places to go and build a familiarity with our new home. This will give US the best possible chance of succeeding with our new life.
Hope it helps

Hi Andy Dee,

Just wanted to post a slightly different perspective on that point. We now live in Ohoka, and actually have found it easier to make friends than some people we know who are in more built up areas. Our street gets together for neighbours dinner at a local restaurant twice a yr (we went last month and ended up at a neighbours house until 1am and we were the first to leave!) and apparently improptu barbies are common in summer. One neighbour helped us pick our olives and told us what to do/look for, as well as getting them pressed for us, along with his to keep the costs down, as our crop was quite small. Imho, because there are less people our here, people depend one each other more and we've certainly been made very welcome with numerous offers of help.

As we both work in c.church, we get plenty of city life, but enjoy our space and house at the weekends/evenings.

I absolutely agree, you must live where you feel comfortable and is right for you and your family, and as you say, your situation is very specific to you - but just wanted to say for the benefit of others reading this, that you can be a bit further out without being too remote. we can be in Merivale/Fendalton in 15-20 mins, and in central c.church in 25 mins - 35 mins depending on time of day.

Please don't take this as a criticism of your decision - I would never dream of doing that - I just wanted to post my 'Ohoka experience'!

Good luck with your move :)

[Moorf]

Well, as many have said on here before, beautiful views don't pay the bills, and they will only make you happy if you're looking at them with happy eyes.

Personally, a beautiful view, with which we're surrounded here with the Southern Alps as a backdrop, lifts my spirits every single day. No, they don't pay the bills but it makes paying them easier!

However, despite my love of what's around, there's so much more to settling in to a new country before you can even have the time to appreciate the setting. We opted to stay in the town for a year before we moved to our ideal scenic spot and, for us, that let us focus on our new life and how things are done here. It also gave us time to explore and learn about the pro's and con's of different areas - despite how gorgeous they looked (things like losing the sun, north facing gardens, traffic loads/noise, weather considerations (windy hilltops, damp valleys), access to town, etc etc. )

As for making friends, cities can often be harder to find friends in than smaller communities where you more likely to be thrown together. ;)

Just my 2-penneth worth ;)

[real_sunfire]

Even here in Auckland you can very beautiful views. I commute by bus which takes me right past Murrays Bay. As the bus drives past I can look out to see and at this time of year that Sun has just come up, and I can say to myself "yes - thats why we're in NZ". *:)

Also I can look out of our bedroom window at our beautiful garden - I know we couldn't have afforded that back in the UK.

Rgds.,
Nick.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Even here in Auckland you can very beautiful views. I commute by bus which takes me right past Murrays Bay. As the bus drives past I can look out to see and at this time of year that Sun has just come up, and I can say to myself "yes - thats why we're in NZ". *:)

Also I can look out of our bedroom window at our beautiful garden - I know we couldn't have afforded that back in the UK.

Rgds.,
Nick.

Absolutely. We are renting a house with beautiful views across the harbour to the city/sky tower etc. A view like that would cost an arm and a leg in UK!

[dharder]

Personally, a beautiful view, with which we're surrounded here with the Southern Alps as a backdrop, lifts my spirits every single day. No, they don't pay the bills but it makes paying them easier!


I'll second (third? fourth?) that. I lived in Honolulu, in Waikiki (ages ago now), on the 33rd floor, overlooking the mountains on one side, and the beach and Ocean on the other side.

I worked lots, and was really busy, so didn't have a lot of time to do sightseeing or hanging around beaches a lot. But the sunset over the Pacific, and the green of the mountain range where always worth a look, just to exhale and 'rest' your eyes and mind for a bit.

I would not move to place/country just because of the view, but it can certainly help with your everday life. And I'm not a 'nature' or outdoorsy type person at all.

Daniela

[Andy-Dee]

Hi Pip
Great to here a different view point - I'll PM you for more details so I don't hijack the thread.

[DMcG]

It's one of those illusive "quality of life" factors. I've spent a lot of time living in hotels and flying around the UK - which all sounds very glamorous, but it's actually very tiring.

Now I cross the harbour bridge every day, park the car and walk along the beach to the office. Occassionally, when the weather and light is right, I get to take photos like -

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/101474/108507/pano_edit3556_S.jpg

On Saturday, we just decided we'd had enough and needed a break from the city. Thirty minutes later we were walking along the beach at Kerikeri watching the surfers.

As the others have said, it doesn't pay the bills, but it does lift the spirits, give inspiration and make the downpoints in life that little bit more bearable.

Dougie

[kimifan]

Thank you to everyone who replied - it really gave me food for thought. Although I am still in love with the idea of living somewhere remote and beautiful, I have to be practical. I will be coming over on my own and I think, no matter how beautiful it is, I wouldn't appreciate it if I'm lonely.

So I think I will make the move to somewhere more urban and maybe consider moving once I'm settled.

Dougie, that photo is beautiful. It just reminds me of part of my reason for doing all this. I live in the Lake District in England at the moment and sometimes the view as you drive round a corner just takes my breath away. Unfortunately, I don't have the photography skills to be able to bring the view with me! :)

[Stu]

Hamilton is not too big on the old Views front I am afraid, but Tauranga, now, that can be very nice, and you really are right on the seaside there. Good city, plenty of facilities etc. However, Hamilton is one of NZs largest cities so has best hospitals etc I suppose.
As Timbo says, His spot at Whitianga on the Coromandel peninsula is a beautiful spot, but it is indeed a fair way from the nearest town/small city of any size... Thames.
Hey, if you want somewhere nice to live, Thames itself would be a pretty good locale. Especially if you want a small block of land (a few acres), you can find such plots within 15-20 mins of Thames itself fairly easily, and over that side of the coromandel, you are looking at broad river valley, so it is very flat... easy to drive over, whereas on the east coast of the coro, you are looking at pretty windy roads to everywhere. And chances are you will only be a few minutes from the water as well.
If you want to live in the general area of the waikato, hey matamata is pretty darn nice! :-) I had to say that, that is my home town! ;-)

Rotorua is a pretty nice place too.... finding spots that look over the Lakes is not too difficult, or even better, Taupo has gob-smacking scenery if you like alpine lakes etc, beautiful spot, and all the facilities you will really want, Taupo is a pretty major town here.

Auckland.... hmmmm, well, not my cup of tea I am afraid!

Hope this is a little help,
Cheers,
Stu.

[Timbo]

:laugh Wish i could afford to live in matamata...

[katandbob]

It's one of those illusive "quality of life" factors. I've spent a lot of time living in hotels and flying around the UK - which all sounds very glamorous, but it's actually very tiring.

Now I cross the harbour bridge every day, park the car and walk along the beach to the office. Occassionally, when the weather and light is right, I get to take photos like -

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/101474/108507/pano_edit3556_S.jpg

On Saturday, we just decided we'd had enough and needed a break from the city. Thirty minutes later we were walking along the beach at Kerikeri watching the surfers.

As the others have said, it doesn't pay the bills, but it does lift the spirits, give inspiration and make the downpoints in life that little bit more bearable.

Dougie

Nice one Dougie, I have a camera phone, so I can take pictures when I see something that lifts my spirits, as I did when I took the pictures of the sunrise on the way to my induction for my new Job.

Wednesday night was another soul lifting moment, just walking down our road.
(Pic on blog soon)

I don't have much time for sight seeing with work etc, but just the views to and from work which change with each passing day are enough to make you smile.

Kat

[james the mechanic]

I think it’s quite true, ‘beautiful views don’t pay the bills, however in my experience in NZ you’re rarely more than a few minutes away from the most amazing view.
I just found an old thread by someone complaining that NZ was in their opinion, ‘The same crap, different country’.
I would personally prefer the same crap with a beautiful view any day.
James

[DMcG]

Thanks Kat :)

That looks like another good one on your blog!
I find it too easy to get into a routine and just get on with the daily grind.
Sometimes you just have to force yourself to stop, look about and appreciate the things around you. I always feel inspired (even if it's only for a short time) after watching a beautiful sunrise. It's one of the benefits of being an early bird :D

Dougie

[Stu]

Don't hand me that Timbo, I don't know, you pom invaders, causing land prices to skyrocket because of all your rich sterling and euro-cash funds, so now dinkum kiwis like me can't afford to buy another beach house or somefing like that... it is all your fault. Wish I could afford to live in whitianga!
:-)
Stu.

[jonSE]

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=772&stc=1&d=1186135035

This is a crap photo of about a third of the view from our living room (I refuse to call it a loungeroom) when we lived on Waiheke. Do I miss it - yes. Did it cost us ? financially - no. Time to travel to work - maybe but a journey you enjoy is seldom long enough. A journey that is a drudge is one to be avoided.

The question you need to answer is can I put up with the inconvenience of being a bit further from work (time and money) for the benefit of living somewhere with a great view

In Auckland or Welli I guess the really amazing views are owned by multi millionaires but there are still lots of affordable options. Outisde Auckland or Welli I guess views are a lot more affordable.

There ain't anything like coming home on a stormy night and watching the waves roll in onto the beach from your own living room.

[Timbo]

Don't hand me that Timbo, I don't know, you pom invaders, causing land prices to skyrocket because of all your rich sterling and euro-cash funds, so now dinkum kiwis like me can't afford to buy another beach house or somefing like that... it is all your fault. Wish I could afford to live in whitianga!
:-)
Stu.

So the one beach house is not enough eh Stu? ;)

[Stu]

Hell no, never!
:-)
Cheers, Stu.

[nippa&pippa]

Like Moorf and Pip, we live in canterbury areas too. I agree with them that living out in the country, away from city mean more communities. I live in Burnside, city for first 8 months and now live in Springston for last 2 months. I have found much easier to make friends in Springston/Lincoln than in Burnside. Communities is more friendly and tightknit if you go out of city.
My house is in rural locations and with young children, it is not too bad at moment with daily travelling to take children to kindy, playgroup, dr, dentist etc in next town (Lincoln). I know I will be "taxi driver" when children is older to their clubs, friends etc as no public bus services around here......that price to pay for living in rural locations. In the end of day, my children got huge fields to play on & got animals with fantastic views of southern alp and bank pennisula, which my son said to me recently "I love it here mummy...I don't want to go back to England any more" and gave me a huge kiss :D

[gil]

Agree with everyone that the views make everything better, even the down moments.
We are not "city" folk, but needed to be in AKL for work. Even here, we have views like this outside our windows....

[nzexplorers]

Hello :)

After doing an "Ohoka" search on the forum I came across your post. I am new to the forum but have been living in Christchurch for 2 years. Ohoka is an area I'm really interested in. What do you know about the school? Also are there plenty of extra curriculum activities for the kids - rugby, tennis, dance etc?

Hope to hear from you (I hope I have posted this right as it's my first one?!):confused:

NZ Explorer

Hi Andy Dee,

Just wanted to post a slightly different perspective on that point. We now live in Ohoka, and actually have found it easier to make friends than some people we know who are in more built up areas. Our street gets together for neighbours dinner at a local restaurant twice a yr (we went last month and ended up at a neighbours house until 1am and we were the first to leave!) and apparently improptu barbies are common in summer. One neighbour helped us pick our olives and told us what to do/look for, as well as getting them pressed for us, along with his to keep the costs down, as our crop was quite small. Imho, because there are less people our here, people depend one each other more and we've certainly been made very welcome with numerous offers of help.

As we both work in c.church, we get plenty of city life, but enjoy our space and house at the weekends/evenings.

I absolutely agree, you must live where you feel comfortable and is right for you and your family, and as you say, your situation is very specific to you - but just wanted to say for the benefit of others reading this, that you can be a bit further out without being too remote. we can be in Merivale/Fendalton in 15-20 mins, and in central c.church in 25 mins - 35 mins depending on time of day.

Please don't take this as a criticism of your decision - I would never dream of doing that - I just wanted to post my 'Ohoka experience'!

Good luck with your move :)

[Timbo]

That is a lovely view Gil, I envy you. I dont think I could handle that rough looking sea though.

[JJG]

We live on the hill in Christchurch and have a great view of the city and ocean. the plus side is we are only 15 mins from the CBD:clap