[nickydwuk]

We will be settling in the Chch area next Aug/Sept. I have already posted a thread about areas around Chch. But I was wondering if anyone has any first hand experience of Kaiapoi or any information they could share? Property seems reasonably priced and it is near the coast. It is also the size town we would like to live in. Some insider information would be a great help. :yes

[stephenandjulie]

Hi, we went to Kaiapoi just two days ago to visit some friends and it seems a lovely place. Very clean, compact, and pleasant. There are other forum mebers that live in Kaiapoi who can probably offer more information.
Which hospital will you be working at as you may want to consider the time it will take to commute to work? If you will be working at Burrwood Hospital, it won't be too bad but it will take a bit longer to get to and from work if you are working at the Womens Hospital or Princess Margaret.
By the way, my partner is a nurse and he works at Princess Margaret.
Good luck with everything
Julie

[benandclare]

I work in Kaiapoi for around 20 hours a week delivering milk and have found all our customers very freindly, even the lady who ran me over :D :D

The town is clean but like other areas does suffer from a certain amount of tagging.

There are 2 fairly large supermarkets, New World and Countdown, 3 garages for petrol and numerous small business, expect you'd find most things you'd need.

There is a thriving rugby club and there is a good golf course too.

The ambulance which ferried me to hosp took 30 mins but there was ahold up in town , the driver reckoned that 20 mins is the normal, no blues and twos !!

Will take some piccies and post here when back at work :nice1

Ben

[Tinman]

Hi,
We live in Kaiapoi. In fact we are the friends that Julie and Steve came to visit at the weekend! :cheers

We moved to Kaiapoi at the beginning of August after many months (or so it seemed) of looking all around the Chch area.

We initially rented in Beckenham which is at the foot of the Port Hills, and although the area was lovely and our son had settled well into Cashmere High School, we just couldn't find anything we really liked to buy. The prices were also pretty steep in that area.

As Ben said - and I have met Ben and Clare as well when they came into Little Britain, the UK food shop I work in, in Riccarton! - the town is really nice and everyone seems very friendly. There are rougher parts which seem to be mentioned in the local paper on a regular basis in the 'crime' section!!, but all in all we are really happy here. We used to live in a small village just outside Taunton in Somerset and the town reminds us of a small UK town.

There are plenty of shops for all your local shopping, groceries, chemists etc. There's even a cinema :p
Northlands Mall at Papanui is probably the closest large shopping mall to us and that takes us about 20/25 minutes to get to depending on time of day and traffic.
The town of Rangiora is only about 9km away as well and that has some nice shopping.

We are literally only about 5 minutes drive from the beach and it is a really nice sandy beach with dunes - reminds Mike of Cornwall where he was born!
The river is just up the road for boating, fishing, kayaking, etc., and there are several other beaches all within an easy drive.

The only downside I can think of is the distance to Chch if that is where you will be working. Mike works on Blenheim Road and leaves for work at about 6.40am so it only takes him about 20/25 minutes to get to work. On the other hand, if I need to get to Riccarton to open the shop for 9am, I leave at about 8.10am and it can sometimes take me 40 minutes at that time of the morning and Riccarton isn't as far as Blenheim Rd.
Just something to bear in mind :D

Anyway, do keep in touch if you decide to come to Kaiapoi as we'd love to meet you :nice1

[Moorf]

Ohh, is that you in Little Britain?! OH used to go in a lot - he worked almost opposite above the art gallery!! They've moved office now... must pop in and get more bread sauce! :nice1

[nickydwuk]

There are rougher parts which seem to be mentioned in the local paper on a regular basis in the 'crime' section!!, but all in all we are really happy here. We used to live in a small village just outside Taunton in Somerset and the town reminds us of a small UK town.

OH is a little concerned about the 'crime' you mentioned. One of the reasons for leaving is to move to an area that does not have such high crime as here. What sort of crime is reported in the local papers?


The only downside I can think of is the distance to Chch if that is where you will be working. Mike works on Blenheim Road and leaves for work at about 6.40am so it only takes him about 20/25 minutes to get to work. On the other hand, if I need to get to Riccarton to open the shop for 9am, I leave at about 8.10am and it can sometimes take me 40 minutes at that time of the morning and Riccarton isn't as far as Blenheim Rd.
Just something to bear in mind :D



Other forumites on here and another forum I visit have given conflicting travel times. I understand there are 2 possible routes into Chch from the north of the city. As a nurse I will be travelling outside the most busiest times. We understood traffic to be less in NZ than UK. I suppose with a large city like Chch you will get hold ups. Do you think the commute would be easier from the south or west?

Will take some piccies and post here when back at work

That would be great Ben, thanks :nice1

[mossum]

I'm not in the kaiapoi fan club .....

don't know why exactly but it just did'nt feel right for us .... as far as crime goes it seems to be pretty much the same as rangiora ... occasional tagging , letter box pinching , drink driving & the odd bit of plant pinching , sometimes shoplifting !!!

DH loves the crime page & sometimes laughs out loud ... non of it would have made the Leyland Guardian :laugh

vic

[Moorf]

Kaiapoi's not for us, but I think it has many plus points that make it a great place to live for expats and for families looking for a small town feel but that don't want the expense or bustle of Chch.

It certainly grows on you, the more you explore off the main through-road.

The only downside, I believe, is the commute which, depending on where in Chch you are travelling to, can be a bit of a pain but what is one person's nightmare is another person's easy-commute.

I can't comment on the commute from the South, but the commute from the West, for us on the Old West Coast Road, is a breeze. In fact, OH travels in 55km to work (we're 11km further West than Darfield) yet it takes him almost exactly the same time to get there as it did when we lived in Brighton (Chch suburb). In fact, since his office moved to nearer the airport from Riccarton his commute has been cut from 50 to 40 minutes.

[wilson182]

Other forumites on here and another forum I visit have given conflicting travel times. I understand there are 2 possible routes into Chch from the north of the city. As a nurse I will be travelling outside the most busiest times. We understood traffic to be less in NZ than UK. I suppose with a large city like Chch you will get hold ups. Do you think the commute would be easier from the south or west?





I'm afraid I'm not in the Kaiapoi fan club either, and its not something I can put specifically. I know there are some happy forumites who live there.

I agree with Tinman commute estimates. I used to travel from Rangiora to Wigram and it would take approx 40 mins in rush hour. Outside rush hour is different, which hospital are you commuting too? I will say Riccarton is probably the worst to get too in rush hour as it is right through the centre of the city (hope that makes sense).

[nickydwuk]

As far as I am aware I will be working at Christchurch Hospital on Riccarton Avenue. As this is in the centre of Chch will that make the travelling harder - ie. more traffic?

[benandclare]

As far as I am aware I will be working at Christchurch Hospital on Riccarton Avenue. As this is in the centre of Chch will that make the travelling harder - ie. more traffic?

When Clare does an earlier i.e. starting work at 6.45am she leaves our place in Queenspark at around 6.05 and there is no traffic to talk off.

I was sorting though some papers yesterday and came across a bus timetable and noticed that it's factored in the increase of traffic and frequncy of stopping etc etc that at peak rush hour, and it's nothing like the UK,the bus reckons to take around 10 mins longer than at 6 am
Here's the link http://www.metroinfo.org.nz/timetable_70.html

[nickydwuk]

So from where you live in Queenspark, Ben, it takes about 30 minutes so from Kaiapoi & Rangiora would be about 40 minutes?

[benandclare]

Yeah I reckon you're not far off with those timings, a lot will depend on time of day and if you catch the traffic light sequence right :nice1