[janmommy]

Any one live there?
What is the area like?

[Carol]

I dont live there - but I know it well as one of my good friends lives there...


Upside:
Lovely beach - v easily accessible to all of town.
Great cafes.
Cool cool shops.
Good access to train
Excellent "polytech" tertiary ed type place - Weltec.
http://www.cit.ac.nz/
Ok schools. (Petone Central has a full immersion unit for Maori incorporated in it).
Got its own quirky cinema http://www.lighthousepetone.co.nz/
Good access to the Hutt - tonnes of good shopping there.
Has one of the best indian restaurants in Wellington (and I'm an expert!)
http://maharajas.co.nz/
Is positioned over an artesian well and has its own tap in the main street for anyone to access water! Cool!
Has its own brewery!
(All of the above add up to a LOT of "character - including a bit of history - its where the "Aurora" first landed)
http://www.wotzon.com/profilepage.html?comp_id=1002787




Downside:
Expensive (for what you get) housing
Can be a little ...um..."boisterous" at night - a friends daughter mugged on main street at 2am. Although to be fair -it was dealt with quickly - but still not nice.


Could I live there?
Yes - probably could actually!
But prefer where I am for the High School my boys go to atm.

That said - there are some good High Schools in the Hutt too - and one or two private "all girls" schools if that's what you are into...

[janmommy]

thanks Carol.
(my daughter is 23 so school's don't matter)

[northernfive]

Downside:
Expensive (for what you get) housing


Totally agree with all Carol has said - especially the price of housing in Petone, the houses there are totally overpriced and very little garden for your money. We ruled it out for that reason alone (also - v.busy traffic around Petone as lot of people cutting through to Highway). Pkus side - close to Wellington and nice sea views.
However, we def wouldn't live there. Have also heard of a few problems there - boy racers and theft.
Although that's just my opinion,
We live just up the road in Kelson, which is much much nicer imo (but I don't think your 23yr old will agree as nothing much going on up here in the hills!....but close enough to Lower Hutt and houses much cheaper!)

[tigerlily]

It's very very flat there! Notice this very much since most of Wellington is sloping one way or the other, often steeply.

[janmommy]

thanks everyone
we will only be in petone for about 6 months.
we are looking at island bay to live eventually.