Vanessa
16th June 2006, 02:11 AM
We're moving to Napier in a couple of months, can anyone tell me what it's like? Which suburbs/areas are the nicest? The most popular schools? Thanks! :)
bpk
16th June 2006, 03:59 AM
We're moving to Napier in a couple of months, can anyone tell me what it's like? Which suburbs/areas are the nicest? The most popular schools? Thanks! :)
Hi Venessa
I may go to Napier in the comming month. Although I have never been there, however, I have collected a lot of information about it. Could you tell what are you going to do there? from where are you comming?
Hi Venessa
I may go to Napier in the comming month. Although I have never been there, however, I have collected a lot of information about it. Could you tell what are you going to do there? from where are you comming?
Vanessa
16th June 2006, 05:31 AM
We're living in Somerset in the UK at the moment. OH works in the water industry, his office is in Napier. I'd really appreciate some help getting more info, eg, websites, etc!
David with a dream
16th June 2006, 08:38 AM
Hi Vanessa, we are thinking of Napier as an option. Have a look at www.napierlife.com and Napier City on line. Good luck..David
Smiler
16th June 2006, 11:33 AM
Hi Vanessa
We really love Napier and HB and hope to move there once we have finished 'doing' Welly.
Search for posts by bob the engineer, he has some very helpful threads on Napier. I think tigerlily is in havelock too. :confused:
It always looks a few degrees warmer on the weather map too. :nice1The main beach at Napier is unsafe for swimming becuae of the rips I think, but there are lovely beaches around including ocean beach.
The main town is good with buzzing shops except that I think they close on Saturday afternoons. There are also the bigger warehouse type shops too.
You can do a search for property prices on www.trademe.co.nz (http://www.trademe.co.nz) or www.open2view.co.nz (http://www.open2view.co.nz)
HTH
We really love Napier and HB and hope to move there once we have finished 'doing' Welly.
Search for posts by bob the engineer, he has some very helpful threads on Napier. I think tigerlily is in havelock too. :confused:
It always looks a few degrees warmer on the weather map too. :nice1The main beach at Napier is unsafe for swimming becuae of the rips I think, but there are lovely beaches around including ocean beach.
The main town is good with buzzing shops except that I think they close on Saturday afternoons. There are also the bigger warehouse type shops too.
You can do a search for property prices on www.trademe.co.nz (http://www.trademe.co.nz) or www.open2view.co.nz (http://www.open2view.co.nz)
HTH
gavnali
18th June 2006, 09:54 PM
been living in Napier for 6 months. Lovely place, town has a `cafe culture` and has most of the shops you will need. Popular areas are Taradale/Greenmeadows. Taradale primary/intermediate/high schools have a good reputation.
Jenny & Mark
19th June 2006, 12:13 AM
Napier is a fasinating place. One of my fav spots in NZ (although the list is quite long). The history of Napier existing on the former tombolo (an island connected to the land by a sand spit) to it being rebuilt (art deco style) on newly created land from the earthquake is just intriging. And all the wineries. :)
Mark.
Mark.
Vanessa
19th June 2006, 10:08 AM
Hi, thanks all for your replies - but now I have a new question! What is the situation with earthquake activity? Doesn't it worry anyone that a massive earthquake happened there only 70 odd years ago? Does anyone know the chances of it happening again? Mildly freaking out here!
Smiler
19th June 2006, 12:50 PM
Hi Vanessa
http://www.geonet.co.nz/ is a great site for scaring the pants off or reassuring you, whichever state of mind you are in. :D
I may not be the best person to answer this because I believe if it happens, it happens.
But that doesn't stop us being prepared with an emergency plan and earthquake kit etc. That's with the wellington faultline running past our deck.:uhoh
My OH doesn't want to stay in wellington permanently because of that, but as our second choice to put down roots is Napier, he is out of luck!
Seriously we've had several rumbles since we arrived 8 months ago, I think the highest was 4.7 and that sounded worse than it felt.
http://www.geonet.co.nz/ is a great site for scaring the pants off or reassuring you, whichever state of mind you are in. :D
I may not be the best person to answer this because I believe if it happens, it happens.
But that doesn't stop us being prepared with an emergency plan and earthquake kit etc. That's with the wellington faultline running past our deck.:uhoh
My OH doesn't want to stay in wellington permanently because of that, but as our second choice to put down roots is Napier, he is out of luck!
Seriously we've had several rumbles since we arrived 8 months ago, I think the highest was 4.7 and that sounded worse than it felt.
Vanessa
20th June 2006, 09:57 AM
Thanks Smiler, that's a great website! I still wonder how people live with the threat of earthquakes though - so alien to someone from the UK!
bob_the_engineer
3rd July 2006, 03:11 AM
Hi Vanessa
I live in HB, in a village just outside Napier, I did live in Napier (Greenmeadows) but I liked the city centre of Napier (and Hastings) so much that I moved out.
I can get to Napier city centre quicker from this village than I could from Green Meadows (about 7 mins from here). I can get to Hastings city centre in around the same amount of time too.
As far as the earthquakes go, once you get over the comments about ground liquidation on the equivalent of the surveyors report, then the rest is plain sailing!
Seriously I’ve felt the ground shake 3 times now, actually that’s simply not true. I’ve been in three earthquakes in NZ. I slept through two of them!
The biggest one was in welly on a weekend visit (lovely, lovely place cold but wonderful, nice bars restaurants stunning, I mean absolutely stunning coast, don’t run over the penguins!). just an aside on welly, go see the cool guy in the planetarium, when he says “stop me at any time to ask questions” really DON’T.
He’s one of those wonderful bumbling academics that you occasionally come across, if you interrupt him, he will lose the thread and stumble around for a while. Your time is better spent just listening to him, he’s a fascinating guy, he’ll show you subaru and spin the sky around the southern cross for you.
Anyway back to earthquakes and Napier, lets face it if you live in NZ at some point the ground is going to shake. To be honest the one time that I was awake when this happened I thought it was great, very entertaining! My kiwi neighbour thought it was awful and said it was strong and lasted for a long time. I guess I’m too stupid to know better eh.
On a more serious note, there was a huge quake in HB that basically flattened the place and sadly killed many, I’ve heard some horrifying and harrowing stories. You know the expression lessons learned!
Let me put it like this Napier was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake, the buildings are low, the roofs are light and the streets are wide. If I had to be in an earthquake anywhere I’d want to be in one here.
Don’t get the impression that the possibility of an earthquake in Napier was unique to Napier have a look at the fault lines, the thing to bear in mind with Napier is “seen that!” I’d be more worried about living in an NZ region that doesn’t have hindsight
Hope that’s reassuring Bob
I live in HB, in a village just outside Napier, I did live in Napier (Greenmeadows) but I liked the city centre of Napier (and Hastings) so much that I moved out.
I can get to Napier city centre quicker from this village than I could from Green Meadows (about 7 mins from here). I can get to Hastings city centre in around the same amount of time too.
As far as the earthquakes go, once you get over the comments about ground liquidation on the equivalent of the surveyors report, then the rest is plain sailing!
Seriously I’ve felt the ground shake 3 times now, actually that’s simply not true. I’ve been in three earthquakes in NZ. I slept through two of them!
The biggest one was in welly on a weekend visit (lovely, lovely place cold but wonderful, nice bars restaurants stunning, I mean absolutely stunning coast, don’t run over the penguins!). just an aside on welly, go see the cool guy in the planetarium, when he says “stop me at any time to ask questions” really DON’T.
He’s one of those wonderful bumbling academics that you occasionally come across, if you interrupt him, he will lose the thread and stumble around for a while. Your time is better spent just listening to him, he’s a fascinating guy, he’ll show you subaru and spin the sky around the southern cross for you.
Anyway back to earthquakes and Napier, lets face it if you live in NZ at some point the ground is going to shake. To be honest the one time that I was awake when this happened I thought it was great, very entertaining! My kiwi neighbour thought it was awful and said it was strong and lasted for a long time. I guess I’m too stupid to know better eh.
On a more serious note, there was a huge quake in HB that basically flattened the place and sadly killed many, I’ve heard some horrifying and harrowing stories. You know the expression lessons learned!
Let me put it like this Napier was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake, the buildings are low, the roofs are light and the streets are wide. If I had to be in an earthquake anywhere I’d want to be in one here.
Don’t get the impression that the possibility of an earthquake in Napier was unique to Napier have a look at the fault lines, the thing to bear in mind with Napier is “seen that!” I’d be more worried about living in an NZ region that doesn’t have hindsight
Hope that’s reassuring Bob
StevieD
3rd July 2006, 07:13 AM
It is a bit scary when you think of it - I heard a rumble last year in uk and it was a strange feeling. Nothing like the ones in kiwiland though. Almost like thunder but different somehow.
Was rattled across a poolside in one of the Greek Islands, that was interesting.
Was rattled across a poolside in one of the Greek Islands, that was interesting.
bpk
4th July 2006, 04:45 AM
This is a map of active tectonic plates:
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.gif
It is clear New Zealand is located at the boundary between the pacific and Australian plate. This is the reason why NZ exposed to quakes more than any place else.
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/plates.gif
It is clear New Zealand is located at the boundary between the pacific and Australian plate. This is the reason why NZ exposed to quakes more than any place else.
Gumbygreeneye
4th July 2006, 06:45 PM
This is my first post. A big thankyou to everybody over the last few months who's advice and experiences have proved invaluable!
I'm going to be a GP in Napier in about 3-4 weeks.. just waiting for the visa!
Can't :cheers wait now!
I'm going to be a GP in Napier in about 3-4 weeks.. just waiting for the visa!
Can't :cheers wait now!
Smiler
4th July 2006, 06:49 PM
Welcome to the forum Gumby :cheers
I'm sure you'll love Napier and good luck with the new job. :nice1
I'm sure you'll love Napier and good luck with the new job. :nice1
Gumbygreeneye
5th July 2006, 12:44 AM
Cheers mate! My wife and I took 6 months to actually do this after years of planning (passing exams and increasing savings). My only real advice at this stage of the game to anyone planning to go, is to get your police certificates at the beginning.
The reason we advise this is that the police website say the certificate takes 40 days to process from the time you send it in. The receipt you get when payment is made says it takes 40 days from when the receipt was sent (which was two weeks after)!! Then after waiting 40 days I called and they said they had LOST the application. Can you believe they took the payment but lost the forms and didn't tell us! Any they finally arrived a few days ago after resending them setting us back two weeks. The immigration officer was great in that she took the rest of our paperwork which had been complete to speed up the process.
We sent them in on Friday and the lovely lady at the office said we should have the visas in 2 weeks!
My experience of organising the emigration is that it wasn't so much difficult, as time consuming. This website certainly helped a huge amount.
The reason we advise this is that the police website say the certificate takes 40 days to process from the time you send it in. The receipt you get when payment is made says it takes 40 days from when the receipt was sent (which was two weeks after)!! Then after waiting 40 days I called and they said they had LOST the application. Can you believe they took the payment but lost the forms and didn't tell us! Any they finally arrived a few days ago after resending them setting us back two weeks. The immigration officer was great in that she took the rest of our paperwork which had been complete to speed up the process.
We sent them in on Friday and the lovely lady at the office said we should have the visas in 2 weeks!
My experience of organising the emigration is that it wasn't so much difficult, as time consuming. This website certainly helped a huge amount.
Lupin
5th July 2006, 12:53 AM
I agree...time consuming, sometimes frustrating but not difficult.
Welcome to the forum...we're moving to Hawkes Bay in January :)
Welcome to the forum...we're moving to Hawkes Bay in January :)
Nicola
10th July 2006, 06:06 AM
The earthquake thing worried me a lot when we first moved to Hawkes Bay. Also the leaflets from the government warning me that we were not only in an earthquake risk area, but we were at risk from tsunami and ash fall from eruptions at Ruapehu. :uhoh
But in the 10 months we have been here we have had a ton of earthquakes, only three of which I have felt. Mostly slept through the rest. The majority of deaths in the Napier/Hastings big earthquake were caused by fire after the event. I think that the memory is still strong in the community and lessons were learned that should prevent so many lives being lost if another large earthquake struck.
Personally I figured that if a big one has hit here in living memory then this is possibly the safest place to be. As the next one is going to hit somewhere else! Is Wellington not due for a good shake up soon? Or am I just kidding myself, so I can sleep without worrying?
But in the 10 months we have been here we have had a ton of earthquakes, only three of which I have felt. Mostly slept through the rest. The majority of deaths in the Napier/Hastings big earthquake were caused by fire after the event. I think that the memory is still strong in the community and lessons were learned that should prevent so many lives being lost if another large earthquake struck.
Personally I figured that if a big one has hit here in living memory then this is possibly the safest place to be. As the next one is going to hit somewhere else! Is Wellington not due for a good shake up soon? Or am I just kidding myself, so I can sleep without worrying?
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