[Sheldon]

Dunedin best place to live in NZ - survey

Revealed - NZ's best city to live in (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10554372)
...
Dunedin, renowned for its medical school, university and students, is one of the best places to live in New Zealand.

A survey by the ASB Bank ranked Dunedin - the country's eighth-largest city - as the best city community ahead of Rodney District, north of Auckland, and Wellington.

On the bottom of the ranking was Waitakere City although it was a close run with adjacent Auckland.

...
The rankings from one to 12 were:
* Dunedin 650 points
* Rodney District 555 points
* Wellington 545 points
* Porirua 455 points
* Hutt City 440 points
* Tauranga 390 points
* Christchurch 375 points
* Hamilton 310 points
* North Shore 295 points
* Manukau 195 points
* Auckland 125 points
* Waitakere 120 points
...

[M-Squared]

hmmm interesting! I wonder what the cities were ranked by...

[Sheldon]

It is an eye opener - especially in the light of a lot of the postings recently regarding cost of living etc. Rentals and real estate are very cheap in Dunedin. For people in nursing/teaching jobs I would recommend having a look. Wellington isn't the only option.....

[Sheldon]

hmmm interesting! I wonder what the cities were ranked by...
The survey looked at several aspects which made people feel comfortable and happy living in the area.

They included:

* The sense of community in local neighbourhood;

* Feeling of trust;

* Availability of support;

* Frequency of feeling lonely or isolated;

* Contact with neighbours;

* Culturally rich and diverse arts scene;

* Sense of pride in the way their city looks and feels;

* Rating of graffiti, vandalism and litter as a problem;

[newarrival]

We have lived in Dunedin for four years and apart from the weather (and that is something, not everyone minds as much as we did, since we always had a warmer climate in mind when we came here) I can really say that Dunedin is a good place to live in!

It is definitely a lot cheaper to rent a house than say in Wellington (I was quite shocked when I read the thread about renting and saw how much rent people are paying), the kids loved school, so no problems there and the two who stayed to attend uni are very happy to be there.:yes

[Mrs Pony]

Where's Queenstown? Sure it's expensive, but what damn fine views! :nice1

[Tesall]

* Culturally rich and diverse arts scene;

Why was this included and nor sports facilities and activities. Dunedin would have done well in that regard anyway, but it always intrigues me how such subjective 'polls' get taken seriously.

[Kanga]

Surely the first five are sort of about the same thing?

[macs gold]

Shhh - lets keep it a secret...

[Sheldon]

Where's Queenstown? Sure it's expensive, but what damn fine views! :nice1
its on the mainland. That big chunk of land you can see over the water from Wellington!

[KelvinAng]

I haven't met a Dunedin local who doesn't like Dunedin. I've known several jobless Dunedinites who refuse to leave Dunedin despite being offered a job in Christchurch.

The thing I love most about Dunedin is her people and the lack of a real "rush hour" traffic. Morning traffic news is a joke! If not for the hills and the weather I would live there. Living amongst the young people makes me feel young too :D

[Philip10]

Dunedin best place to live in NZ - survey

[On the bottom of the ranking was Waitakere City although it was a close run with adjacent Auckland.

...

Invercargill would come last of course, there can't be a worse place to live? Answers on a postage stamp please. :laugh

[Wooly_Cow]

Are Invercargill and Queenstown cities? Towns surely!

[macs gold]

Invercargill is a city, Queenstown is a town.

[Mister Bump]

I've only ever visited Dunedin, but it seemed like a lovely city - we even had lovely weather on one of the visits!! ;)


Where's Queenstown? Sure it's expensive, but what damn fine views! :nice1

Queenstown is great fun, but live there? I can't imagine that would be as great as it might sound on paper - all those tourists - all that traffic - sounds horrific!

[Sheldon]

I'm amazed that most people don't even consider Dunedin as an option to move to. Do your research, and you may just be pleasantly surprised!

[macs gold]

I'm amazed that most people don't even consider Dunedin as an option to move to. Do your research, and you may just be pleasantly surprised! Its a numbers game and I think some people think they are moving to the most remote country in the world (and presumably they're moving for reasons related to its remoteness) but they decide to have 'a buck each way' by picking the country's largest city, Auckland.

There are some interesting stats available that show migrants overwhelmingly go to Auckland, but within NZ there is internal migration out of Auckland to all other regions. Auckland is becoming less populated with NZ borns, and if it wasn't for immigrants from overseas its population would be quite stagnant.

I'm not having a go at Auckland, its got its pluses, and is clearly the best option for some people. But I agree that immigrants are moving half way around the world to a new life, so they should IMO be as choosy about where they live in NZ as they are in choosing NZ as a country.

[dusk]

An intersting point about the internal migration there MG - I think possibly some of that 'being choosy' is going on for people once they've arrived in NZ and have time to have a proper visit to various places...

personally I'm perfectly happy living in Auckland for the foreseeable future, but each to their own and if Dubnedin suits some people then I'm delighted they like it :)