[overscan]

Well, based on not much more than a map we've considered Papakura as somewhere we could live.

My mother in law lives in Auckland, much of the rest of the wife's family live in Te Puke.

We've considered Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland, and Papakura is the right side of Auckland to travel down to Te Puke. Also has a train line to CBD (not sure how practical that is though) and seems reasonable property prices for Auckland area.

I'm a IT/network manager and she's a nursery (kindergarten) teacher and for jobs it seems we really need to be in Auckland or Wellington, and Wellington is much too far from Auckland and Te Puke for future babysitting assistance ;)

[hball]

Papakura is an interesting town in that it may be considered perhaps not everyones first choice, nor second! Quite a lot of lower socio-type housing with a small shopping area of more independent shops rather than better known retail names. (There is a Farmers and Warehouse admittedly!)

BUT...

The surrounding areas are extremely desirable; Clevedon has good residential housing and there is an exciting new marina complex on the cards, while on the other side of the motorway against which Papakura is situated is Karaka - very upmarket, very horsey with some lovely big homes. Million dollar stuff no less! In addition there are newly opened sub-divisions here, but expect to pay over $750,000.00 to get into them (house and land combined).

Travelling is a piece of cake as you mention, with the motorway so close both north and south are open to you. And again there is the train which a lot of people use judging by the crowded car park every morning!

Any help?

[overscan]

Thats pretty helpful. Currently we live in a definite "lower socioeconomic group" area in London (Woolwich) so it wouldn't be a huge shock necessarily.

[chocolate cake]

Papakura is an interesting town in that it may be considered perhaps not everyones first choice, nor second! Quite a lot of lower socio-type housing with a small shopping area of more independent shops rather than better known retail names. (There is a Farmers and Warehouse admittedly!)

BUT...

The surrounding areas are extremely desirable; Clevedon has good residential housing and there is an exciting new marina complex on the cards, while on the other side of the motorway against which Papakura is situated is Karaka - very upmarket, very horsey with some lovely big homes. Million dollar stuff no less! In addition there are newly opened sub-divisions here, but expect to pay over $750,000.00 to get into them (house and land combined).

Travelling is a piece of cake as you mention, with the motorway so close both north and south are open to you. And again there is the train which a lot of people use judging by the crowded car park every morning!

Any help?

I'm not too sure travelling from Papakura into Auckland is a piece of cake. I've no direct experience yet, but I've been in NZ a couple of weeks, and I've been researching areas as I'll be working in Mount Wellington, Auckland. Certainly the Papakura has easy access to the motorway, but the motorway heading into Auckland appears to be extremely busy, bumper to bumper and worse than what I was used to on my normal UK commute - Sheffield.

If you're working standard hours, it really depends how long you want to spend commuting. I'm beginning to look at areas nearer, in my case out to the east, equally busy but less distance to cover.

[randomone]

Thats pretty helpful. Currently we live in a definite "lower socioeconomic group" area in London (Woolwich) so it wouldn't be a huge shock necessarily.

oh my gosh it is a step up from Woowich (I lived there until December last year)!

[overscan]

You did? Small world :)

Its not a great place but I walk to work (20 minutes) and the rent is very cheap which has allowed us to save a lot of money to bring to New Zealand.

[randomone]

Yes, I had a lovely flat there but the area got to me in the end and I moved to Surrey in December (bit of a difference!). Brilliant that you could walk to work. Good luck with finding a place you are happy with in NZ - I'm sure you will be successful.

[Alison&Stephen]

Sorry for late reply. Not been on here for a while. Like you we looked at a map for somewhere to park our bones ........

Re Papakura - we've been here 3 months now. Live in an area near Papakura Camp. Big culture shock for us as we moved from a very rural, remote place on the West Coast of Scotland! Where we are is very built up, small gardens - depends on what you will put up with in the short term.

Saying that, Papakura is not a bad town. You can get most of everything you need. Takes me 10 minutes to walk into town. Three supermarkets (four if you include the one not too far away at Takanini). Cheapest and one with most choice I would say is Countdown. Plenty of doctors/dentists/vets to choose from. Quite a built up area, and more developments ahead, but as someone has already said Clevedon is lovely, as is Drury and even down to Pukekohe (our preferred area eventually). Also look to the West - Glenbrook, Waiuku if you can do the little extra travel. My hubby travels every day to the outskirts of Auckland and he says the traffic on the motorway is a nightmare. We travelled into Auckland on Saturday and it took us less than 1/2 hour whereas on a weekday it takes him over an hour. Unless you are mega rich, forget Karaka. Stunning but flat, it costs a fortune.

Hope this helps.

[overscan]

Thats interesting. I think we're going to see who gets a job first and where, and then work out where to live from that. We can stay with the family for a while until we get used to it.

I don't think Papakura is as built up as this

(view from my kitchen window)

[Paul Blears]

Stay away from South Auckland....lots of crime from our Pacific Islander chums! Tauranga is a truly a great place to live..only 2 1/2 hours from Auckland for when you have to go there, 45 minutes from Rotorua and all the lakes!!!
Paul.

[Sam B]

Cripes Paul, I know you want to sell your house, but writing off the whole of South Auckland seems a bit extreme, and I'd be surprised if any Pacific Islanders were 'chums' with you bandying around those sorts of racial stereotypes.

[ellenmelon]

Stay away from South Auckland....lots of crime from our Pacific Islander chums! Tauranga is a truly a great place to live..only 2 1/2 hours from Auckland for when you have to go there, 45 minutes from Rotorua and all the lakes!!!
Paul.

Paul, I realise your intentions are probably very good, and you obviously love tauranga but you needn't continuously post the fact. comes across a bit spam-y IMO.

[urban78]

Stay away from South Auckland....lots of crime from our Pacific Islander chums! Tauranga is a truly a great place to live..only 2 1/2 hours from Auckland for when you have to go there, 45 minutes from Rotorua and all the lakes!!!
Paul.

My OH (grew up in South Auckland) just had a good laugh at that statement about crime from your Pacific Islander "chums" :rolleyes: My OH is a Pacific Islander by the way, and NOT a criminal, neither are their family or friends.

I appreciate you might be having a hard time but how do you know that your "PI chums" are actually Pacific Islanders? As not all brown people in NZ are Pacific Islanders :exit

Rant over.

Jen

[ellenmelon]

Cripes Paul, I know you want to sell your house, but writing off the whole of South Auckland seems a bit extreme, and I'd be surprised if any Pacific Islanders were 'chums' with you bandying around those sorts of racial stereotypes.

my comment to him was more to encompass his threads throughout the site...but i totally agree with your comment also sam.

[Cat Woman]

I don't log into this site very often and the reason why is because the majority of posts are always to do with staying clear of South Auckland often from folk who stereotype the area. I've lived in Wattle Cove since arriving from the UK and wouldn't live anywhere else in the short term (My dream would be a lifestyle block longer term but it will probably remain just a dream). Papakura is fine for living although like a lot of areas there are small pockets that you may wish to stay clear of. My OH works in the CBD and the trains are pretty good and if you work standard hours are better than sitting in motorway traffic.

[bumpffslam]

There is a busy general aviation airfield at Ardmore just east of Papakura. Only small aeroplanes (Cessnas, Pipers etc) fly from there but it is the busiest airfield for small aeroplanes in NZ. The departure off runway 21 and arrival on 03 goes over Papakura, but the "circuit" (aircraft going up - around and down) misses Papakura. Mostly starts at 0900 and ends at dusk, but some night flying. Most busy at weekends.

I was in Papakura last week and saw they are renovating the town centre paving.