[Neil,Emma & kids]

Whats it really like?
I've had conflicting reports about it :mad:

Any information would be great :nice1

[Oregonkiwi]

What have you heard that worries you? What do your conflicting reports disagree about? (Just trying to narrow down the question a bit :) )
Avril

[Neil,Emma & kids]

Well,a friend has just moved from Auckland to the SI,he was saying that the crime is high,its not safe at night to walk home & alot more expensive than anywhere else.
But another friend who has recentley been over said it was a lovely place,nice & clean etc.

If we were to move to Auckland,what areas would best be avoided :uhoh
& what areas are the best ? We have 2 kids who will be 2 & 4 so we want the best for them :nice1

thanks

[Oregonkiwi]

Part of it depends on whether you want to live in a city or somewhere more rural. Crime does tend to be higher in cities, but I never felt unsafe when I lived in Auckland. I'd agree with the friend who said it's a lovely place!

I'm talking in sweeping generalizations here, but generally South Auckland (Mangere, Otara) has a "bad" reputation - or it did when I was there. "Best" areas depend on what you're looking for.

[foolsgold99]

Ok first thing to remember is that everyone else in NZ hates Auckland and Aucklanders. They view the city as a cancer on their country that drains money and resource, an often heard phrase is "Auckalnd is the only place you can be in this country without feeling like being in NZ". The phrase "Jafa" is used, not always in jest.
Auckland is alone in NZ in having a very high asian population.

Aucklanders love their city, they'll tell you that it's the economic powerhouse that drives the economy and the country would be stuffed without it. They'll make disparaging comment about anywhere south of the bombay hills that will inevetibly involve sheep. They are proud of their beautiful city, which is the capital of NZ in everything but name. They'll tell you virtually everything of value in the country is based in Auckland. The goverment is in wellington, and not much else.

The truth ?? As always with these things, I'd guess it's somewhere in the middle.

As for the rest, It's all relative, compared to a small village in the cotswolds, Auckland is big, noisey and scarey with high crime. Compared to London, it's none of the above.

It's certainly more expensive than anywhere else in NZ, but wages in auckland are also higer than anywhere in NZ. I would describe it as the only real city in NZ, everything else is large towns.

I love living in Auckland, it offers easy access to the pleasures rural NZ, the weather is fine, lots to see and do, beautiful beaches.

All depends how much you want to spend on a house, for a nice family home, in a decent area budget around $400K . You could knock $100k off that in most other places. South and west Auckalnd are the cliched "bad" areas. In NZ when someone is describing a bad area, what they quite often mean is an area with more brown faces. But don't let that put you off these areas entirley, there are some nice parts, with good homes for good prices. In most cases though the schools ain't great. Check out the decile rating of the local school before you buy.

North, East and Central Auckland are the "nicer" areas. I live in Pakuranga East Auckland, which I think is great for families

I need to live in a large city for my job, if you don't then the choice is based on do you want to live in a city ?

[Singel]

"South and west Auckalnd are the cliched "bad" areas" by foolsgold99

I disagree with the above generalisation of the 2 areas.

South Auckland have some good areas with good schools eg. Dannesmora (Botany Town), The Gardens (where the gifted-children school is located), Conifer Grove and Wattle Cove (where we live).

There are also good areas in West Auckland such as Titirangi and Henderson.

[foolsgold99]

Isn't that what I just said, when I described them as being "cliched bad areas" ?

The whole point being that there are a lot of good areas in these regions

[kiwidebs]

My relatives who live in Chch call my family in Auckland 'Dorklanders'!! :laugh We moved to Auckland from Blenheim when I was 10 and Mum and Dad thought it offered more opportunities for kids so we stayed. It's def the only big city in NZ and there's def a North/South divide (at the Bombay Hills, South of Auckland). It really depends what you are after.
I really like Wellington, small city and easy to get around but lots of nice cosmopolitan touches - cafes, restaurants, museums..... However, when we move from London we'll be moving to Auckland cos thats where my family is and we're basically moving to give the children a better life, close to family (here we're five hours drive from Hubby's family!).

Like the others have said there are good and bad areas everywhere. Most of my family live in West Auckland and I grew up there, it's not a bad place and you certainly get more property for your money there. The biggest problem with West Auckland is the North-western motorway which is a huge traffic jam into the city! The North Shore is very nice but you pay a premium for housing and ditto East and Central Auckland. South Auckland has some nice suburbs but also has some very low socio-economic areas. You really need to look around the place to start getting a feel for it. We like the look of Howick/Pakuranga/Bucklands Beach - nice suburbs, near to nice beaches, good shopping, excellent schools (and close to my new job at Middlemore Hospital!!:yes ). Will let you know when we finally get there.

Hope this is of some help. Feel free to ask any more specific questions(just remember my info is 9 years out of date!).

Debs

[Stephen Jones]

Thanks for the info.

Steve

[Singel]

The biggest problem with West Auckland is the North-western motorway which is a huge traffic jam into the city!
You will also caught up with the same massive traffic jam into the city even if you live in North, South and East of Auckland.

[jonSE]

Live on Waiheke

35 mins to the CBD, no traffic jams, laid back lifestyle. Only problem is trying not to order a steinlager instead of coffee at 07:20 on the ferry each morning.

Auckland is the big city (read only big place in NZ) as such it brings with it big city problems but they are by and large lesser problems than big city problems elsewhere in the world.

if you moved to AKL from New York or LA or from london or Manchester or Paris or ...... (run out of big cities I know well) AKL is a large town.

Jon living on a big Island

[lindajax]

hi all,
My twopenneth for what its worth.
We have been living in Auckland for the last 11 months - Howick to be exact in the eastern suburbs. We have 4 beaches within 3 minutes in the car and can walk to them all if we felt the need - nearest about 10 mins away in Howick ( but not the best I have to say!).
Some parts of Auckland are less than gorgeous and there is crime BUT that is the same of ANYWHERE.
Auckland is not as loud and crime ridden as some would have you believe - I have never felt threatened or unsafe - I go out walking in the evenings for about 5 kilometers and have done so alone without any problems or fears.
Auckland has the advantages of being a happening place with heaps of free entertainment and things going on - you don't get quite as much of this rurally.
Rural NZ is Breathtakingly beautiful and the small villages have a good village life that is inclusive ( I know this because I have several friends who live in the sticks out of Auckland). Housing is much cheaper out there too.

what you've got to look at is what kind of life do you want, where is the work gonna be, and how will the rest of the family fit into the life you think is best. We intially wanted rural life and came to Auckland Purely because it was where our respective jobs were... NOW we love it here and will stay until Lucy is older and more able to cope ith a rural setting... it has been easier not being so isaolated to begin with - we made friends and got a life going pretty quickly. I'm not so sure that would have happened if we had gone rural but who's to know!

anywhooz that was my take on things - jst have a good think and if you need more info PM me or email as I don't do the forum that much now.

Linda x

[David with a dream]

Hi N,E and Kids,
We spent best part of 3 months on the North Shore. It is a really lovely place. Whangaparoara is well nice. The beach, play park, sports centre and chip shop at Stanmore Bay (Brightside Road) all fantastic. Our kids loved the 'flying fox' in the park. My son Jay really loved watchin the boats being put on the water just about every afternoon at 4. All in all I'd say for a family with young kids (ours 8 and 3) the shore for my money any way is tops in Auckland.
Drive north for about 20 mins and you get to Walkworth, all of those little wee towns up the coast are beautiful each with fantastic beaches.
By the way if you are into horse riding drop me a line as we found the most amazing place only 45 mins away. Wow just the thought of it on this cold november night warms me.
All the best ................David

[JoanneB]

Hi Neil

I understand the need for that safety for your kids, i have 3 daughters aged 4, 2 and 3 months and its a high priority for us too. We started off in Rotorua and to be honest, i found that heaps more scary than living in Auckland; the people were scarier and there's always the danger that the ground might suddenly open up down there lol! We also tried Glen Eden, which although nice to be close to the forest, sorry, "bush" lol, i found quite isolating as not very many people i came across actually spoke english!

We're now in Pakuranga, near Howick in East Auckland, and i can honestly say it's the nicest place i've ever lived. People are on the whole very friendly, there is so much to do for the kids - for example the playing fields opposite us have beautiful free ( FREE!) swimming pools, lovely parks, a cool marble maze thing that the kids love playing on ( i know marbles sounds a bit naff but it's soooo cool!!) Basically activities that involve being out and active rather than cooped up inside.

What i love about Auckland is that you can be at the beach, the forest or the shops within 20 minutes and i personally couldn't live anywhere else.

Good luck with the decision, jo xx

[Neil,Emma & kids]

thanks jo

i was chatting to a guy today & he has a friend in howick.his friend is sending me the local paper with th properties to let.he does have a house to let,but it is taken on a long term rent :(

howick is meantto be really nice,with good schools aswell so it sounds great


we will be in auckland early april,and i am counting the days now :yes

two holidays on the way to relax,then all the stress of houses,schools,work,car etc etc :confused:

the wife is really nervous,i will be a bit closer to the time

see ya soon

[JoanneB]

Hi Neil

Howick is lovely, it has a very village-y feel and a lovely community, and like you say, great schools and lovely beaches nearby. I don't know if you'll end up there but if you do, feel free to drop me a line and i'd be quite happy to introduce your wife to some local playgroups and such if she wanted - i remember that feeling only too well of knowing nobody. Just a thought :)

In the meantime, if there is any information you'd like on the area, i'd be happy to send it over.

Take care, love jo x

[MB]

Neil, Emma and Kids,
Our take, on the whole, is that Auckland gets a bit of a bad rap.
We have met a number of helpful and supportive people who have been kind and given us lots of little price breaks, etc.
It is true that in our six months so far we have not made a lot of friends, but in a sense we have "only just arrived".
There are lots of attractive and green neighborhoods in greater Auckland. Lovely.

We're moving out because we want to try something radically different and cheaper, so we are moving to Te Kuiti although at least one of us will commute here once or twice a week for work reasons. We are making the move this soon because, for us right now, we feel as though we had to be decisive while our (modest, but useful) resources are still pretty much intact. We are not in the financial bracket that would allow us to spend much more on Auckland rent, and we are now buying in Te Kuiti because we also did not want an Auckland mortgage.

But we give Auckland a thumbs up. The public transport is, in school-report terms(!), of about B/B+ standard overall. The job opportunities in Auckland seem good, and the range of shops for everyday stuff is okay too.

And as I've said before, Auckland people just tend to be busy and focused and sometimes in something of a hurry. But that's true of any mid-to-big city, isn't it? Auckland's version is no more uncaring or shabby than any other. Slightly better, even, maybe.

Yes, Auckland's fine. :yes

[GeorgeM]

I would describe it as the only real city in NZ, everything else is large towns.Welly and Chch both have populations of approx 400,000.

If this isn't enough to constitute a city than the UK would have very few places worthy of that name either.

[Marie P]

Jo .....thanks ....we spent a fun afternoon searching dollar stores for marbles and then off to the park .... :clap

Marie x

[Amerikiwi]

For those of you who`ve spent any length of time living in cities outside of New Zealand with a population of over 1 million people, you`ll find Auckland to be a GREAT place to live. Everything is relative, and having lived in several REALLY large American cities, I find Auckland to be a breath of fresh air. More murders and violent crime in smaller cities/towns around New Zealand than here, per capita, and traffic is no worse than any other large city, actually better than many of the same size.
It`s a 10-20 minute drive to a view of Auckland Harbour from most of Auckland areas, we have the same beautiful foliage and big white clouds/fantastic blue skies as the rest of New Zealand, but with better shopping and more amenities than anywhere else in New Zealand. As far as large cities rate, Auckland`s up there with the best of them!

[Cardy]

Hi when i was there i stayed on queen st and there were a few incidents and a lot of beggars but they were more annoying than threatening . Overall i felt safer in Auckland than i did in London and the people were certainly friendlier , i was only there about 3 weeks but felt i,d been there a lot longer with the friends i made. I visited a place called browns bay for an interview which is not too far from city centre by bus or car and really liked it there . Just the traffic getting back to town centre was a pain. Cheers Paul :nice1

[backtonz]

Aucklanders might want to show some pride

http://www.citymayors.com/features/quality_survey.html

Mercer’s study is based on detailed assessments and evaluations of 39 key quality of living determinants, grouped in the following categories:

* Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc.)
* Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc.)
* Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc.)
* Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc.)
* Schools and education (standard and availability of schools, etc.)
* Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc.)
* Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc.)
* Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc.)
* Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc.)
* Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)