[Carnoustie Family]

My husband has been working in Auckland for the past month and just returned home to Scotland - we are expecting a 2-year job offer within the next few weeks. In preparation for our expected move he bought the book "Where to Live in Auckland". Obviously, if we had the money we would love to live in the 5 star rated suburbs but that's pushing it a little!! I'd love to know how accurate this book is? We are a family of 4 - 2 adults and a 16-year old girl, 12-year old boy. Any comments gratefully received.

Sarah

[gil]

Hi Sarah,
"5-star" just refers to the quality of facilities, shops, schools etc. There is obviously a connection between house prices and "good" school zones, but have a look where you fancy first and then decide if it's do-able.
Where was hubby living when he was here?
We are in the eastern side of the city (technically Manukau City) and love it here. Some link to browse:

Our 15 year old goes here (from tomorrow) http://www.macleans.school.nz/

Our son goes here http://www.bbi.school.nz/

Local village http://www.howickvillage.co.nz/

Property can be wildly expensive, especially beachfront, but there are some more reasonably priced houses too (thankfully!)

There are some very good schools nearby which mean you wouldn't have to live in the Macleans zone, this bumps prices up heftily!
High Schools (years 9-13)
http://www.howickcollege.school.nz/
http://www.pakuranga.school.nz/
Intermediate schools (years 7 and 8)
http://www.somervilleintermediate.school.nz/
http://www.farmcove.school.nz/
If you want any further info on this area, just ask!

Gil

[Carnoustie Family]

Hey Gil

Thanks very much - this is brill!

Will have a look at all your recommendations tomorrow. Hope your daughter gets on okay tomorrow at her new school :clap.

Sarah

[seagulls]

We moved to Auckland from the UK about two months ago and we thought the book was a great help.

I think it gives a great understanding of the basics.

Other things that we considered were proximity to work and probably more importantly where we could afford.

The North Shore's schools have a great reputation, however, the prices may put you off. We managed to find a reasonable priced house between the two expensive areas of Takapuna and Devenport in an area classed as Belmont/Bayswater.
Its a 5 minute bike ride to work (in Takapuna) and 10 minutes from the beach.

I think you need to look at where your husband is going to be based and look from there. The public transport isn't great and the roads can get busy during rush hour so I would suggest looking close by.

[willowshouse]

With the benefit of hindsight I'd say this book is fantastically accurate and manages to capture the feel of the different places very well.

[Lisa T]

We had a copy of the book and we were given the new copy when we applied for a mortgage - it's a fairly good representation on the areas although as someone has just said you may need to be within commutable distance for work. Being failry close to a motorway junction is a big plus and can make all the difference if you actually want to see your OH in the evenings.

[Tia Maria]

I found the descriptions to be a bit rosy.

For istance for Belmont shops near me it says:

"Belmont's busy shopping precinct includes several hairdressers, a bakery, a shoe repair etc etc ......

While all strictly true, I now know this is a busy crossroads for cars, but very few people. Its a kind of practical place where people stop to pick up something on the way to somewhere else.

So it didn't match up to the description and I found several bits in the book like this.

Whether this is because the book is overly optimistic or whether it is because a UK idea of a 'busy shopping precinct' is different to an NZ one, I don't know.

However, the book is essential reading.

Carnoustie Family wrote:

We are a family of 4 - 2 adults and a 16-year old girl, 12-year old boy.

Just a thought, but a friend of mine with teenage children moved to be nearer an area that had lots of buses (Takapuna), because their social life seemed to depend on it!

Cheers

Tia