[Kerry and David]

As some of you may have read on another thread we were settled on living in Bucklands Beach when we move in August but David has been told that his store will be in Albany so I think we may need to re think locations.
I have done a search but couldn't find much.
Can anyone recommend areas around Albany - our Criteria is as follows:

Happy to commute to Albany up to a 40 minute drive.
Good school for 11 year old, Tec College for 16 year old and Kindy for 3 year old.
Close to a beach - walking distance would be great but happy to drive.
We like more of a Village feel (We loved Howick, Buckland Beach) but need to be able to travel to the City as the 16 year old loves live music gigs.

Thanks for your help:)

Kerry x

[Caroline and Dave]

Albany is a very up and coming area with mostly new housing.It is very suited for families. having said that you could live anywhere on the North Shore and get to Albany well within 40 minutes. Browns Bay , Torbay, 10 minutes. Devonport may be a bit longer .in the rush hour as you have to get out first and there is only one rd but even that should be ok. Any of the East Coast bays would be suitable. Further afield you have the Hibiscus Coast,Orewa,Red Beech etc. Still doable in about 25 minutes in Rush hour.Albany also has the new Westfield centre and plenty of other shops. Schooling is very good but if you want the beach then East Coast Bays are your best bet.

Hope this helps

Dave and Caroline

[Nick88]

I agree, there is nothing wrong with Albany itself.

[mgbridges]

Albany itself as an area is fine, very up and coming at the moment. I quite like the 'feel' of Albany Village just down the road from the new Mega Centre. However I'd agree that your best place to start looking would be any of the East Coast Bays.

Personally I wouldn't go as far south as Devonport due to the one road in and out problem but I think Takapuna would be perfectly doable. Saying that there was a recently article in the local newspaper saying Takapuna was the most expensive North Shore area to rent in.

As a general rule of thumb houses on the East side of the motorway will be more expensive then the West and the closer you go to the beaches the higher the prices get. For example being on the East side of East Coast Road is very desirable.

There are several schools and kindys in the area so you should be OK on that front although I know Kindy waiting lists can be long. Familyofmonkeys might be able to help on that subject.

If you wanted to go more rural you could consider Coatesville, Dairy Flats, Silverdale.

Have a look at these threads:
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14473
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13111
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13213
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17199&highlight=Browns
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14578&highlight=Browns
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14221&highlight=Browns

There are quite a few threads on the North Shore Area so if you need more info do a bit more searching but the above should give you plenty of info. Any more specific questions feel free to ask.

HTH
Anneliese

[Tia Maria]

Just to agree with what all the others have said, you will have most of the North Shore available to you, with the East coast being more desirable, (and expensive), due to its proximity to the sea.

If I had a teenager I would look at Takapuna, its the one place with a bit of life on the Shore, but also has great transport links, so really easy for them to bus around.

You would have access to Takapuna Grammar and Rangitoto College, both very good schools - Takapuna has a rep for being more music & drama, Rangitoto for being more sporty, (there is also a selection of private ones on the Shore). Plenty of good Kindys, all with waiting lists no doubt! I don't know much about Tec colleges I'm afraid....

The East Coast Bays have a more villagey feel. With a teenager I would probably opt for Browns Bay as the others are quite small, blink and you've driven through them!

I'm not very familiar with Northcote Point or Birkenhead, but they may be worth a look....

So based on your criteria I'd add Browns Bay and Takapuna to your shortlist .

Cheers

Tia

[Familyofmonkeys]

We live in NE part of Albany and it ticks all the boxes for us at the moment. Daughter goes to a very good primary school round the corner (plenty of choice of schools), son starting kindy in Brown's Bay next week (daughter enjoyed going there too). Rangitoto College is very closeby and has good reputation too. It is 10 minutes walk to park & ride so very easy to commute into CBD and there are buses until very late at night so good for evenings out too. The new Westfield and Mega Centre have plenty of restaurants/cafes/shops and a big cinema too. Brown's Bay beach is less than 5 minutes drive away and is walkable by older kids/adults. Based on your criteria I would suggest looking at Brown's Bay as it is a bit more village like but still very close to larger amenities for teenagers, while Albany is a bit more like housing estate as pretty new developments that have not 'greened up' yet....will look better in a few years time.

[Silverwing86]

Hi Kerry,

We live on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/) (Gulf Harbour) and it takes us approximately 25 minutes to get to Albany, where we do our shopping (Pak-n-Save).

The peninsula is a great place to live (Whangaparaoa town centre (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/plaza_town_centre.html), Gulf Harbour (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/gulf_harbour.html), Army Bay (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/army_bay.html), Red Beach (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/red_beach.html), Manly Village (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/manly_village_.html), Arkles Bay (http://www.whangaparaoanz.com/html/arkles_bay_.html) and more) and has some excellent schools (Gulf Harbour School {wanted to post a link to the school here, but apparently they're updating their website so unfortunately it doesn't work anymore}, Wentworth Primary and Wentworth College (http://www.wentworthcollege.school.nz/), Whangaparaoa College (http://www.wgpcollege.school.nz/)) to offer. The peninsula also boasts 14 (!) different beaches and Shakespear Regional Park (http://www.arc.govt.nz/parks/our-parks/parks-in-the-region/shakespear/).

Whangaparaoa town centre has, among others, a shopping mall (The Plaza (http://www.the-plaza.co.nz/)), a library (http://www.rodneylibraries.govt.nz/contact.html) (select whangaparaoa from the map for location, not very specific, but the site does give you an idea of how the library system works here), bowling alley (http://tenpinwhangaparaoa.com/indextest.php) and a cinema (http://www.berkeleycinemas.co.nz/default.asp?SectionID=19).

We are also extremely spoiled for great dining on the Peninsula, what with Sparx Café (http://www.dineout.co.nz/restaurant.php?rest=4023&Restaurant=Sparx_Cafe) in Manly Village, Imbibe (http://www.dineout.co.nz/restaurant.php?rest=4016&restaurant_name=Imbibe%20Bar%20%26%20Restaurant) at The Plaza and Thai Windows Restaurant in Whangaparaoa (Dine Out (http://www.dineout.co.nz/index.php) is a great site by the way, we find it very useful when travelling around !), among many others.

Good luck with making the choice, not easy as there are so many great places to live !

Cheers,
Silver

PS Think I have checked all the links, but please let me know if there are any dead ones....