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I've led a reasonably nomadic existence within NZ, having permanently lived in Wellington, Hutt Valley, Kapiti, Palmerston North, rural Rangitikei, Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch, Rangiora and Kaiapoi and temporarily resided in or visited a whole lot more. Here's my 2 cents.
Of the two you considered in your original post, I've never lived in either, but I've visited both more than once and I'd pick Hawke's Bay every time.
When it comes to crime and gangs, they are present in every region/city, but based on the most recent stat's I could find on a per capita basis Auckland was worst by a huge margin with Christchurch in second place which may be a strike against it.
On a climate/culture level here's my thoughts:
Wellington has traditionally been a very vibrant city when it comes to bars, cafes, galleries etc and the slogan is "you can't beat it on a good day", but is very much in a bit of a slump. The Hutt Valley is effectively a suburb of Wellington and has much the same weather. Kapiti is also effectively a suburb these days, but still has a somewhat different feel and generally nicer weather. I've lived in all 3 and prefer Kapiti by a decent margin.
Hamilton and Palmerston North are in my opinion both fairly boring "cow support" towns, Hamilton is just bigger. Both have average weather, not terrible or amazing. Not terrible places to raise a family but nothing really to recommend or condemn them overall, with the caveat that in the years since I left Hamilton my perception is that crime has gotten worse (based on news and word of mouth from the many friends/family still there, possibly supported by it being 3rd per capita in the above data.)
Christchurch is a nice place to live and very much undergoing huge growth, I've long said if I was to move from Kapiti it would be high on my list. I didn't personally like Rangiora or Kaiapoi, but YMMV. Can be surprisingly hot in summer and not as cold as you might think in winter. Definitely worth a look.
Auckland is big.. and that's about the nicest thing I can say about it.
Hawke's Bay (Napier / Hastings / Havelock North) i've always found it very nice to visit and would consider. Lots of wineries if that's your thing. Some areas have a long history of flooding and they got absolutely smacked by a Cyclone not too long ago, so something to be wary of if purchasing.
Queenstown is nice to visit as a tourist (if you are flush with cash anyways), but has lots of well documented problems with housing prices, infrastructure, etc so I would personally avoid living there.
Nelson: Small, one of the sunniest places in NZ, nice to visit and the people I know that live there like it, but terrible traffic and also lots of flooding issues lately.
Tauranga: Another very sunny place and nice to visit, but I gather via friends/family it has some ongoing issues with infrastructure and growth pains.
I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.
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