[leslie]

a couple people on forum are islanders and am wondering what your thoughts are on the matter and how it most affects you in your daily life? do you live there by choice or ??? do you work from home?

it sounds such a romantic idyll

[Radders]

I have a friend who lives on the island; has done for over a year now, and she just loves it. She has a great rental, and a good job. If she needs anything it's only a 40 minute boat ride to Auckland, and she regularly pops over for nights out with friends. The ferry is alot cheaper when you live there. You can still get all your essentials in case of emergencies, and the car ferry is easy if you want to do huge shopping trips. It's extremely laid back as you can imagine, and like in some small villages, nothing is 24/7, but then alot of NZ isn't!
Many people commute, what's a 30-40 minute boat ride in the morning?
Time to have a cup of coffee, read the paper, take in some sea air.
Of course it's not always picturesque, but I can't think of a better commute in the world.

[leslie]

do you see many teenagers on ferry going to/ from school?

[freeflyer]

Hi Leslie ,
we lived there for about 9months.
You do see quite a few teenagers on the ferry. I think thats because for some reason , you can escape the school zoning and pick any high school in Auckland.
Its seems that most people who could afford to , sent their kids to mainland schools.
Friends with children at the island high school didnt recommend it.


Feel free to pm me if you want anymore info.

Anna

[leslie]

that is rather interesting (re. schools selection). never heard that before. somehow cannot imagine a tiny school being able to offer much.

[freeflyer]

I dont think that the island high school is that small.

The ferry would make a long day for children travelling to school , and difficult if they made friends that lived in Auckland.

Leslie , have you been to Devonport? Its much more expensive, but still has a costal feel (ferries to CBD, to avoid traffic) and it has some great houses and good schools.
If I had the choice (and the $) I would choose Devonport over Waiheke.

[leslie]

we have 3 prob's with d (which was once my fave). cost (in all likelihood no money left for bach), traffic & proximity - too far to many things we need which are south, and its conservation policy.

the next house we do is going to be a keeper and our impression of d. is that their restrictions are so tight we wouldn't have any options. no creativity/ lovely space etc. its not easy to design a beautiful modern house that fits sympathetically into a historic area but it can be done - and can be of benefit to overly 'cute' or 'staid' areas. maybe we could convince the locals but the risk is very very high and not sure its worth it??? what do you hear on this subject - anything modern been built there that people liked??? experience here is neighbours panic (but then so many times the architect is a moron and design hidious...). hub designed most applauded glam beachouse in uk despite the odds and it would be nice to do (cheaper) version for ourselves.

the bach is meant to be retirement home so its not something we just want to abandon to have a more glam pad in auck. point taken on teen/ friends issue. its one of the reasons we didn't take w seriously from the beginning, but then thought it was worth considering house on w and apt in city??? best of both worlds?

gets complicated, doesn't it?

[jonSE]

Living on Waiheke ?

Where do you start.

Can't help on Schooling - No Kids therefore no experience. But there are a lot of kids who commute, although it seems to be to a few (two or three) schools , so I guess this is a positive choice to commute for a better school ? Can't tell you the names of the Schools as the kids are on hols for the next two weeks so ferries are emptyish.

Commuting takes a similar time to that of many of my colleagues who travel into the CBD by Car everyday. The only drawback is that you are constrained by ferry times - rather like commuting by train in the UK. If you miss the ferry or train by a couple of minutes you are going to be 45 minutes or an hour late arriving.

Generally there are return ferries from Auckland until 23:45 at night except on Sundays when it is 21:30 - stressful when you are trying to park at 21:25 with a 6 minute walk to the ferry.

Property here is cheaper than in Auckland generally speaking -comparing similar locations. sections on the island are generally not subdivided yet. this is unlikely to happen on the island as virtually sewerage is via septic tanks which dictates a certain area of surrounding ground for the overflow network.

water supply is rain on the roof into your tank/s qualit of water depends upon how clean your gutters and tank are. Don't drink it but it makes your hair soft.

Lifestyle on the island - Relaxed, Arty. I would hazard a guess that an Architect with a bias toward qualiy green residential property would stand a reasonable chance of success here. Although that said Auckland Regional Council does seem to be a bit conservative in it's views primarily due to the poor quality of it's staff - a bit like in the UK eh?
And there are apparently 14 Architects on the Island.

Day to day there is no real hardships living here - no need to go the mainland for food even for special occasions etc and prices seem on a par with the mainland. Clothes shopping is limited but possible, likewise furniture and other occasional purchase type stuff.

Costs
Ferry - one off return is $25
20 returns (40 singles actually) on one ticket is $325
Monthly unlimited is $245 which includes bus travel on the island and on the mainland on Stagecoach buses for farther than you'ld want to travel by bus.
Vehicle ferry is $160 open return with 2 passengers. Although another operator has started up recently. Competition may bring fares down a bit but I can't see it getting below about $130.

The average temperature here is 2 degC warmer than Akl.

can't think of anything else.

Will we stay here in 4 months time at the end of our 6 months rental ? Ask me in another 3 months.

Jon

[jonSE]

Forgot to say,

Car Parking close to the ferry is likely to cost $230 /month in an unreserved space in a multistorey carpark. Some islanders have cars on the mainland that are relatively worthless that they park on the street for free more remotely.

Jon

[leslie]

egad. the transport expense aspect of island life a little worrying. thats a big hit from NZ income. unlike a mortgage (ie. buying in deven and paying up for convenience to realise cap gains later on) its an investment with little return. we'd be spending near $1000/ month on ferry transport. how do people manage?

interested to know if you'll stay. lovely place, but you've probably killed our interest. dont think we would do it. maybe (shared?) bach or something less intensive??? will see...

where are considering moving to?

[jonSE]

Leslie

hope I didn't shatter a dream? but forewarned is forearmed.

i realise rereading my posts that I should have said that parking in Akl costs $230 pcm close to the ferry. Parking at the ferry is free although itis on the road. and the later you are the further you have to walk - max 5 minutes.

i would have to say that if your 1k pcm is just ferries - two adults going to work and two kids going to school then there is a very good argument for spending that money on a mortgage instead.

we are doing our comparisons on Colleagues I work with. most commute for a similar length of time (by car) and there petrol costs will be similar to my ferry costs.

We keep a car on the mainland - call it a comfort zone thing - Cannot justify it financially - a hire car and taxis when we need one would be cheaper but less convenient. Try getting a taxi at 08:00 on an sunday morning.

We haven't made our minds up wether to sty here or not. Ups and downs - we got rid of the slugs only to discover mice in the Kitchen cupboards and Rhonda thinks she saw a Rat. Not mentioning the moths, Spiders(there OK they eat the flies) Ants there cool they eat everything but not rats, Stick Insects - why do they like our kitchen walls (which are decorated in some very seventies Red Grey and Black wallpaper) I'ld have thought it would make them feel sick - although it's quite amusing they can't quite figure out what colour to try and fail to be.

I would quite happily slash and burn a 10m wide "sanitation" strip around the house through the native bush and concrete it over however I would probably be staked out on the beach below the tide line by the natives. I appreciate the unspoilt views of the native bush and the sea but I would quite like to keep them out of the house.

Jon
Waiheke
So far behind it's ahead

[leslie]

wasn't really a dream. more possibility. but when people discuss it in real terms you begin to realise it pretty much needs to be a dream to make it worthwhile. unfortunately we are not a family of perpetually happy people who are 'happy anywhere'. even in new zealand. dont want to end up as grumpy as some of my elderly putney neighbours...

still like waiheke and never know, it could figure somehow. if it weren't for the kiddies i'd be up for a trial run.