[mdh]

Yet another question about where to live, I'm afraid. We're coming out in September for two years, and are interested in living near Dunedin, Christchurch or Timaru.

Does anyone have any knowledge of MacAndrew's Bay (Dunedin); Governor's Bay (Christchurch), or anything at all about Timaru. Ideally we'd like to rent a house with a sea view, and certainly within walking distance of a beach.

We have three young children (2, 4 and 7) and like outdoorsy things. These areas appeal as they are close to the beach, and for the first two within (cycling) commuting distance of cities, and hopefully we'll be able to find a not-too-expensive house to rent. Does anyone know of any other similar areas? My husband and I are both keen runners, so another criteria is for the area to have lots of places to run nearby.

I hope someone can help. We feel we know so little, but find it difficult to find out anything other than tourist information (apart from the great Living in Dunedin guide).

Thank you.

[Moorf]

These are my personal opinions:

Timaru - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, went there once, never again. I wrote a post about it here ages ago - http://www.emigratenz.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=641&highlight=timaru

Governors Bay - love it, and the surrounding villages such as Diamond Harbour, Charteris Bay etc. Quite remote but a 20+ mins drive (and WHAT a drive) over the hills into Chch - very commutable by car and if the road is closed due to snow/bad weather you can go along to Lyttleton and go through the tunnel. Can't comment on nearest schools but quite a marathon up and downhill bike ride if that's the way you want to commute. Check out Sumner if you want a good beach and a cycle to work distance -- there are alot of Sumner residents who cycle in to work from there and at weekends the place buzzes with cyclist (mountain and road bikers) who do the Sumner to Lyttleton ride and back - usually ending up in one of the Sumner cafes :nice1 Gov's Bay and surrounding areas also popular with runners. Very outdoorsy types there.

Dunedin - sorry, I have no experience of this area.

Hope that helps a little.

Moorf

[spodie]

Well, it certainly helped me. My wife and I are moving to Chch this October and are open to suggestions for where to stay.
We are used to longer commutes, so G's Bay sounds nice.

[Moorf]

I should add that properties in Gov's Bay and surrounding areas come on the market very seldomly - it's a small population anyway. There does seem alot of land available out there so perhaps you could rent there and then build your own!

A good website for Gov's Bay and other locations in that area is:

http://www.min-seascapeproperty.co.nz/

[Miffy]

I can help with Dunners and McAndrew Bay area.

Duendin is a very small city with cumuniting times from one end to the other in the morning around 5 min drive (10 if you catch the traffic lights wrong :laugh ) which I do every day, going to bike as soon as the weather warms up ;)

McAndrew Bay, Broad bay and Portbellow which are all on the sourthern perneaslia are lovely but very small with only one diary in each and not much else on the facilities so you'll have to travel in for everything. Including schools - all schools are in the city centre of dunners. The school run in a car is pretty non existance kids either take the bus or walk / bike. You may want to consider being closer in so your kids are nearer to their mates they'll make at school. Same as Port Chalmers and Saywers bay on the other side. IHMO the sourthern side is nicer as it gets all day sun. Port Chamlers and McAndrew Bay are about 20 - 30 min drive into the edge of town then add 10-15 depending where in town you want to.
Car park spaces are as rare and are expensive and the traffic wardens have taken their job to a whole new level

We are renting in the city centre then if we want to buy may look to go out to McAndrew Bay or Broadbay. Or possibly even Brighton which is a bit further south on 'route 1' near / past Mosgeil. As we were new to the city we wanted to be close to the ameinites and social activities. There are no pubs / resturants out in McAndrew Bay, only in Portabellow just, and defo no cash machines (there is a bit of a campayine now for an ATM in Port Chamlers)

If you want close to the beach St Kilda and St Clare (both family type suburbs of Dunners) are right in front of the beach, which has (reputedly) some of the best surf conditions in NZ. Unfortunatley you'll need a wetsuite for most of the year. Steer clear of anything near (walking distance) the Uni as although it will be a lively scene you will be neighbours with all the students ...

For biking (off road / mountain) signal hill is great and loads of people road bike around the hills all over the place. As with anywhere in NZ outdoorsie stuff is all right here on your doorstep and I've found I am now in the majority as everyone seems to do some sort of sports activity.

[Miffy]

Oh and Dunners IS VERY HILLY. Its has the steepest road in the world and a few that are close to it.
When biking around some of the roads seem to go up and I mean vertically up. Great views but tired legs to walk to the top.

[Tara Sage]

Moorf I was waiting to see your opinion on Timaru :laugh

[Moorf]

:laugh Yeah, don't think I'll be applying for a Tourist Info job there :laugh

We really must get down to Dunedin - I have a feeling we'd like it there. :yes

[Tara Sage]

Would love to visit down south we had it all planned for when the in laws visited but they decided that it would be much nicer to stay here :( after all they only came all this way to see us not NZ :no