[lockstock]

Although we've been stuck on movimg to the Hamilton/Cambridge area, a couple of interesting opportunities have come up in the Taumarunui area and, on paper it looks quite nice. In the Rough Guide book it says the town is not thriving and the population is falling. Does anyone live there?

[welwynrose]

the OH likes the look of that area as well but we know very little about the area

[Smiler]

Sorry don't live there, have only driven through it several times.

Saw this though and had to laugh

http://www.middle-of-everywhere.co.nz/ I thought it was more like the middle of nowhere!

From memory, it's a fairly bare high street with the normal NZ little town shops, a supermarket (I think) and a couple of cafes etc. Lots of farming around and 40 mins to the ski fields on Ruapehu.

[Kim39]

The place was a thriving town quite a few years back and a major rail hub from Wanganui going north, but over the years has really dropped into a back water. I have delivered into the area on a regular basis, but is on the low social economic scale. Has plenty of cheap housing albeit mainly wooden houses. On the outskirts there is plenty of opportunity to buy up cheap land and build. Taupo is around an hours drive away, and Stratford(new plymouth) about 2.5hrs down SH43, more commonly known as the forgotten highway.


Kim

[Smiler]

Taupo is around an hours drive away, and Stratford(new plymouth) about 2.5hrs down SH43, more commonly known as the forgotten highway.


Kim

I remember seeing that sign Kim and thinking it would be all overgrown and rockstrewn. :uhoh

OH wanted to drive home that way, the 'long way round'. I said no - firmly.:D

[StevieD]

Had the dubious "pleasure" of staying there for a few days this week. Not a lot to shout about I'm afraid - typical small farming town in the middle of nowhere. Not a lot to do in the town itself, and the house prices are lower than Hamilton / Cambridge.

[Sam B]

My friend, who is a speech and language therapist lives and works there. She says it is quite comparable to Tokoroa, where I work, quite poor, few opportunities, one nice cafe, few decent shops, but very cheap to buy a house and handy for the ski slopes. She hated it at first, but it's grown on her and now she is buying a house there. Her husband works at the high school.

[Kim39]

OH wanted to drive home that way, the 'long way round'. I said no - firmly.:D


Apparently its like driving into Deliverence on quite a lot of stretches by all accounts. Horses tethered to fence posts, no petrol station at all on the route, and sheer drops in alot of parts. Heard 44 tonners run the route regularly though from Stratford and NP, but i'll admit i'd rather take the long way round. Its bad enough driving the normal routes in them there trucks.


Kim

[Smiler]

Apparently its like driving into Deliverence on quite a lot of stretches by all accounts. Horses tethered to fence posts, no petrol station at all on the route, and sheer drops in alot of parts. Heard 44 tonners run the route regularly though from Stratford and NP, but i'll admit i'd rather take the long way round. Its bad enough driving the normal routes in them there trucks.


Kim

That's how I imagined it along with boulders crashing down, large snakes slithering from trees Indiana Jones style, tumbleweed, well tumbling. It seemed deserted enough before and after Taumarunui. :uhoh

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Possibly not the ideal place to be picking up hitch-hikers either.

Just in case anyone was tempted.

[lockstock]

Hark - is that a banjo and a guitar i can hear a-plucking in them thar hills?

I hope I don't lose all sense of proportion here!! Didn't Sir Billy of Connolly drive along there during his world tour of NZ?

Please say it's a nice place - I feel strangely drawn to it - Taumarunui - not the forgotten highway that is:roll

[Smiler]

Yeehaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It is a long way from anywhere but there are worse places to live in NZ (IMHO).

It sooo depends on what you want from moving out here. :yes

[IanW99]

Hark - is that a banjo and a guitar i can hear a-plucking in them thar hills?

I hope I don't lose all sense of proportion here!! Didn't Sir Billy of Connolly drive along there during his world tour of NZ?

Please say it's a nice place - I feel strangely drawn to it - Taumarunui - not the forgotten highway that is:roll

Yep, he did ride along the forgotton highway. We didn't find the road that bad really, would be better if there was some tarmac :yes

The tunnel at the end was probably the best bit really IMHO.

Ian

[Den]

Taumarunui will be the nearest town to the village we will be emigrating - My OH was born there, and I have visited several times. The town is a might laid back but as others have mentioned was once a very thriving town. Things have a habit of going full circle as we know. Hence if property prices are cheap and all that!
I agree it depends what kind of lifestyle you want and accessibility to the nearest "city" etc. You are indeed not far from the ski slopes - Taupo just over an hour, Hamilton 2hrs. I think it is in the middle of "Somewhere", but I am slightly bias

[lockstock]

Thanks Den but sadly, for the moment, I have to pass on Taumarunui because I have landed a job in Hamilton. It's too far to commute! I just love the sound of the place (still can't pronounce it properly) and there's a definite 'vibe' for me. Maybe after a year or two when we've settled. I haven't given up on it. I'm not a 'city' person at all so even in Hamilton we'll be looking to live out of town.