[ChrisK]

Just read the post on Waikato winters below and was very curious what the winters were like in Wellington. I know the winters will be alot warmer then where we are living in Canada. I expect their will be alot of rain too but I was just wondering how cold it usually gets during the winter? Do you get frost in the mornings? How long does it last? We just had our first frost of the year this morning it was -2 during the night :(

Also, I have heard that the Public transit system in Wellington is excellent. The thing I was wondering is how much do they cost? Buses? trains/tram? taxi cab? etc.. and for buses / trains can you get monthly passes or something like that or do you just have to pay everytime you use it? I am very curious about this as when we do move over to NZ I don't plan on getting a vehicle. Here in Canada we drive on the right side of the road and I figure it would take me a bit of time to get use to driving on the left. We also only plan on going down for a year or 2 to work so we figure we can get by just fine without a vehicle and buses/planes/rental cars should get us by fine for seeing all of beautiful NZ. But if we fall in love with NZ and decide to stay I guess I will have to buy a car.....if you see someone driving on the right hand side its just probably me :)

[coastcat]

You'll find plenty of info on Wellington's public transit at point.click.ride (http://www.wrc.govt.nz/rt/pickroute.cfm), which is the general transport info site for the region. The bus system is Stagecoach Wellington (http://www.stagecoach.co.nz/wellington), and the trains are run by Tranz Metro (http://www.tranzmetro.co.nz/).

I don't quite understand the bus fare situation, as the individual trip fare is based on sections and I can't find any explanation of the sections! There are monthly and daily passes available.

The train fare system is a lot easier to comprehend! The following are some sample adult fares.

Wellington-Johnsonville line: $3.00 one way standard, $1.50 one-way off-peak, $24 ten-trip pass, $54 monthly pass (these fares are for travel between any two stations on the Johnsonville line)

Wellington-Tawa station: $3.50 standard, $2.50 off-peak, $28 ten-trip, $84 monthly
Wellington-Paekakariki station: $7.00 standard, $5.00 off-peak, $56 ten-trip, $168 monthly
Wellington-Upper Hutt station: $6.00 standard, $4.50 off-peak, $48 ten-trip, $144 monthly
Wellington-Featherston station: $10.00 standard (no off-peak fare), $80 ten-trip, $240 monthly.

Perhaps when you get to Wellington you can figure out the bus system and explain it to me.

:laugh

[miep]

Hi,

Winters are quite mild here by european standards. It almost never goes below zero. It does however make a big difference where you live. Because of all the hills Wellington is made up of a lot of different micro climates. When we were looking for a house we were told not to look at certain suburbs because they would be too cold and damp. We didn't really believe this at first but it's really true! We live in eastbourne which is generally a couple of degrees warmer than welly city. We had to scrape the car window once this winter while friends of ours in Upper Hutt had to do it lots. They had -5 one morning when we were on +1. Because they are tucked away in a valley they get warmer summer evenings though, that's one thing I really miss here, balmy summer evenings. I think we had 1 bbq last summer where we didn't have to put on a fleece as soon as the sun went down.

:cool

I've never heard anyone say public transport in Welly is good, who told you that????
As far as I know it's reasonable, they even have night buses on the weekends. If you plan to live in town you might get by without a car because pretty much everything is walkable. As soon as you get into the burbs (cheaper rents!) it is harder to get by on just public transport. Driving on the other side of the road is'nt really that hard you know, the roudabouts are a bit tricky to start with but once you've figured those out you're fine.

[coastcat]

Because of all the hills Wellington is made up of a lot of different micro climates. When we were looking for a house we were told not to look at certain suburbs because they would be too cold and damp. We didn't really believe this at first but it's really true!

Which suburbs are too cold and damp?

[miep]

I don't pretend to know them all, but we were advised against Ngaio, Karori, Upper Hutt and everything low down in a valley (damp damp damp!) or on the shady side of a hill. Always check out where the sun rises and sets relative to the house, some houses around here get no sun at all during winter. You can often tell a lot by the plants that are growing around the house. Lots of tree ferns usually mean damp and shady. A thriving lemon tree however usually means lots of sun etc.

Then ofcourse there is WIND Places like Newlands or Horokiwi can have a fantastic view over the harbour but suffer badly from wind pretty much all the time. And believe me wind can drive you up the wall! Anything on a ridge is usually windy, the windmill in brooklyn is there for a reason!

We live on a ridge which is called windy point so we can't plead ignorance and it is really not as bad as we anticipated. :angel


It all comes down to figuring out what you personally find important and doing a bit of research.

[Jodie]

Hi Miep,

Where abouts in Welly are you? We're in Johnsonville but will be looking around all of Welly when we look to buy somewhere. We like Johnsonville but really want a view of the water. I know this will probably mean a bit of wind too tho....

I've also heard that Newlands is really windy, but we have friends who live there and their place isn't too windy (by wellington standards, anyway!). I suppose it really depends where you are in the valley/hill as you said.

Jodie
:cool

[coastcat]

So we'll have to choose between affordable harbour views or warmth! Hmm, tough call. Pity we can't afford Oriental Bay so this wouldn't be a problem. :cool

[miep]

Hi Jodie,

We're in Eastbourne. Our 3 main selection criteria were sun, view and shelter and I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad!
Because we are high up on a ridge we have sun from about nine in the morning until sunset, all year round.

Another thing we ran into when we were looking around is noise. The parts of wadestown and Khandallah with a view also suffer badly from motorway noise. Real estate agents usually play soothing music during open homes, when we asked one to turn off the music it became very clear why it was on in the first place! The degree of noise varies with the wind direction so when looking you may have to go back at different times (for sun) and wind directions.

Luckily I really liked going to all the open homes, I have to admit I sometimes still go if it is a really special house! :oops:

[coastcat]

miep - do you commute from Eastbourne to downtown Welly? Looking at the map, that looks like it could be a terrible drive during rush hour. Is it? How long does it take to drive to downtown? Is it practical to commute using the Days Bay ferry? The Eastbourne area looks lovely and peaceful, but I'm not sure about the convenience.

Thanks for the warning about Khandallah and Wadestown, too! I've lived on a major thoroughfare, and wouldn't want to deal with that noise again.

[Jodie]

Good tip about the music thing - I'll be REALLY suspicious if anyone's got music on in their house any more!! ;)

We visited Eastbourne a few weeks ago - it was really nice - had a real holiday feel to it. But like coastcat said, whats the commute like to Welly? Is the ferry a viable option? What about in the storms??? :eek

Jodie

[miep]

The ferry certainly is a viable option. It takes 18 mins from days bay into town, plus it serves real espresso (Jura machine for those who care). On the way back you can even have a beer. Most people know each other and all in all its a very relaxing way of getting home. When there's a bad storm they put on mini buses and then it may take anything from 30 to 50 minutes to get into town.
The last year the road has been closed quite a few times due to extreme weather and you can't get into town at all, but really, honestly how bad is it not being able to get to work???? ;)
Especially bearing in mind that the this is the first time in 3 years (since we have been here) that the road has been closed at times that you needed it. Employers have been very understanding about it and as far as I know it hasn't cost anyone any leave.

Outside the rush hour it takes about 20 mins to get to town by car, I do it all the time and think nothing of it but then I'm used to permanent everlasting traffic jams back in Amsterdam and think this is a breeze! :nice1

[Jodie]

Hmmmm, maybe I should put Eastbourne and other places over that side of the harbour on my list of places to look at when we start looking for somewhere to buy.... I'd love to live in Sunshine Bay - what a great name!!
So where does the ferry drop you off in the city?
Jodie

[coastcat]

The website for the ferry is http://www.eastbywest.co.nz. It docks in Wellington at Queens Wharf, and monthly passes are currently $190.

It's certainly something to consider!

[Yogi]

What are real estate prices like in Wellington? Lots of stuff on Realenz seems to be POA, tender or otherwise have no price attached to it...

Thanks,

Yogi.

[coastcat]

Try the Harcourts site (http://www.harcourts.co.nz). Their listings are more likely to have Buyer Budget Over and/or rateable value figures included.