[Koen]

Looking for a nice , friendly ( :yes ) village max half an hour from Wellington.

Pro's and con's please.

[Smiler]

Keon
Can you narrow it down a bit? Half an hour from the CBD or Airport?

What do you need good transport, schools etc?

Island Bay has a nice community as does Miramar but they are more suburbs as opposed to villages. Both have good transport to CBD, shops and community stuff.

The jury is still out for me on Kilbirnie. It seesm to consists of shops and dirty ones at that.

Karori is similar. Tawa is nice a bit further out, with apparently good schools and housing, Churton Park and Johnsonville I think are similar but hilly.

Thats my opinion though ;)

[sizzlingbadger]

Mmmm ... don't think you'll get a village as such 1/2 hour from Wellington. More like a suburb or satellite town.

It depends what you're really looking for, rural views, small community. Or more life and lots of houses around, it also depends on the budget of course :D

Pinehaven and Silverstream in Upper Hutt are both really nice areas. We really liked Pinehaven as it had a small commmunity feel and if you needed shops Silverstream merges into it and has a small supermarket. Both have well regarded schools and Pinehaven has a Playcentre. Upper Hutt is a large town with everything you could possibly need. I think it takes about 1/2 hour by train from Silverstream which isn't a bad commute. Driving may take you a lot longer in rush hour as there is only the one highway in.

Not sure where else I can suggest as we didn't look long enough in Wellington, the budget we had didn't give us the property we needed with kids along with the garden. That's how we ended up in Featherston, an hours commute from Wellington by train but more of a villagey feel with great community atmosphere and lots of houses with big sections.

[Koen]

Somthing not in center of town , suburbs is ok , will change distance to an hour;
A place on the beach would be ideal :) :clap :cheers

[StevieD]

Beach - like it! :laugh

[sizzlingbadger]

If you're after a beach you could look up on the Kapiti Coast. Paraparaumu, Raumati. Although anywhere in Wellington you're usually 20 mins from the beach maximum. Not the case with the Wairarapa although we do have some stunning beaches most of them you can't swim in and we're 40 mins minimum.

Not sure of the train links but have a look at www.tranzmetro.co.nz this will come up with train timetables for the whole of Wellington/Wairarapa region.
If you want to travel by car I wouldn't consider living up on the Kapiti, the traffic bottle necks at Plimmerton and they're still deciding on whether to build a new bypass through. We also found it a lot busier than this side, loads of cars and quite a few queues but what one person dislikes the other person likes :D

[Smiler]

Keon

Sizz is right, the traffic can be pretty horrid if you are coming in from Raumati beach or Paraparamu, especially in peak hours. A friend of ours leaves the house at 6.15 and it takes him 45 mins at that time from paraparam to the CBD where he has the holy grail of a parking place.

Once Mackays crossing is complete in July, it should cut down a bit as the cars have to wait for the trains to cross the road. Allegedly!

There is a big chunk of slow road through and after Plimmerton before you get anywhere. Rental prices are a bit cheaper that way but not if you want to live beach side. I think you could do better in the other areas Sizz mentions.

[Koen]

Paraparaumu THATS IS IT !!!!!!! Here i want to spend the rest of my days , simply love it !