Moving to New Plymouth

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FoNX

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#150167 13-Jul-2014 19:28

Been a long time browser on this site and thought I'd get some opinions and discussions started on New Plymouth.
It looks like I may be moving there for work very shortly along with my wife and newborn son. What are people's recommendations for places to live? Are there places to avoid?
Have been browsing on trademe and real estate sites, looking at renting at this stage to get a feel for the place. So far Bell Block looks really ideal location and setting wise but a number of houses are within 2 to 5 km of the airport and appear to be directly under the flight path. Does anyone live in Bell Block? Is it noisy?
Also if this job falls through what industries are there in terms of jobs? Is employment hard to find? Are there local businesses that are to be avoided?
Lastly what is the culture and entertainment like? Plenty to see and do? Good parks, beaches or rivers to go for a walk with the kid and a dog?

Thanks for any input, sorry if I have stepped on any toes and feel free to ask me for more information.

PeterReader

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#1088213 13-Jul-2014 19:28

Hmmmm. Here we go.

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Technofreak

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#1088226 13-Jul-2014 19:50

It's a bit hard to give qualified answers to some of your questions as you don't say where you're moving from so it's hard to give a fair comparison.

Re the airport, take a look are Google Earth. I'm not sure what you consider directly under the flight path to mean, however there's almost no housing directly off either end of the main runway. Yes, you will hear aircraft taking off if you live in Bell Block but there's not that much activity I'd consider it a problem.

So far as jobs go, Taranaki is a place that is usually a bit more resilient than most other parts of the country and therefore normally has a good job market.

Culture and entertainment is very subjective so I'd say hard to give an answer to that question. See my first sentence. There are usually some very good outdoor concerts at the Bowl of Brooklands each year, this is easily the best outdoor venue in New Zealand.

So far as parks, rivers and beaches go you'd be hard pressed to find a better place than Taranaki/New Plymouth.

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shermanp

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#1088228 13-Jul-2014 19:52

Hi

I've lived in Bell Block most of my life, so I may be a little biased...

Bell Block is a very nice place to live, and is probably one of the fastest growing suburbs in NP. And yes it is right under the flight path of approaching and departing flights. Whether this will bother you or not only you can truly know. All regular flights are turbo-props, and there is generally no flying at night. Occasionally some of the local pilots will do some practicing for airshows on the weekend.

Unless there are major delays, you can drive into the town centre from BB in about 10 minutes. Coming home from work at ~5pm can take up to 20-25min's if you are unlucky with traffic.

New Plymouth has the Coastal Walkway. This currently goes from Port Taranaki, all the way out to Bell Block. This is a shared walkway where you can walk/run, cycle, skateboard etc.

In the centre of town is Pukekura Park. This is a park with (some) gardens, tracks, a couple of lakes, trees, and lots of tracks for walking. It is also the home of the Pukekura cricket ground. During the summer months, we have the TSB Festival of lights, where portions of the park are lit up at night. There is also entertainment on most nights as well.
If you walk up through the park, you will arrive at the Bowl of Brooklands, a natural outdoor ampitheatre, where concerts are put on. Next door is the Brooklands Zoo.

Primary industries in Taranaki would be Dairy, Oil & Gas, although I don't no the specifics of the New Plymouth job market.

I'm afraid I can't really recommend where, and where not to live in New Plymouth itself, as I do not know.

Hope this helps a little.

FoNX

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#1088252 13-Jul-2014 21:14

Hi guys
Thanks so much for the quick and informative replies!
I agree it can be hard to answer vague questions with little or no detail I will update further when I have a bit more time.
Thanks again

b0untypure1

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#1088253 13-Jul-2014 21:16

bell block is ok.... but there is 1 road heading into town and during peak time or weekends you will have a tough time getting into New Plymouth CBD....
kinda the same i spose if you live in town, hard to get to the valley shopping centre. cant wait for them to make a second bridge :D

eracode

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#1088283 14-Jul-2014 00:45

PeterReader: Hmmmm. Here we go.

I really can't see what this adds in the context of a thread like this. You could say HHWG about many threads - why pick on this one? The OP was not expressing a controversial opinion - seems to be a straightforward and fair question to me.

Assuming the insertion of PeterReader comments requires human intervention (i.e. is not automated as might be implied by the mechanic) I would have thought that someone should have better things to do. Like I should maybe

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#1088285 14-Jul-2014 01:01

Assume all you like. PeterReader is most certainly automated. The trigger for that response is the mention of a particular word.

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eracode

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#1088286 14-Jul-2014 01:10

Ok - thanks but it although makes sense with FS and WTB, still don't see the point with that particular comment.

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freitasm

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#1088361 14-Jul-2014 09:51

eracode:
PeterReader: Hmmmm. Here we go.

I really can't see what this adds in the context of a thread like this. You could say HHWG about many threads - why pick on this one? The OP was not expressing a controversial opinion - seems to be a straightforward and fair question to me.

Assuming the insertion of PeterReader comments requires human intervention (i.e. is not automated as might be implied by the mechanic) I would have thought that someone should have better things to do. Like I should maybe

As above. PeterReader *IS* a robot. It is triggered by certain keywords, certain forums, and some people. As in any pseudo-AI code it will have false positives. No one stays here 24/7 ready to post as PeterReader.

hangon

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#1088495 14-Jul-2014 12:52

It looks like I may be moving there for work very shortly along with my wife and newborn son. What are people's recommendations for places to live? Are there places to avoid?
Have been browsing on trademe and real estate sites, looking at renting at this stage to get a feel for the place. So far Bell Block looks really ideal location and setting wise but a number of houses are within 2 to 5 km of the airport and appear to be directly under the flight path. Does anyone live in Bell Block? Is it noisy?
Also if this job falls through what industries are there in terms of jobs? Is employment hard to find? Are there local businesses that are to be avoided?
Lastly what is the culture and entertainment like? Plenty to see and do? Good parks, beaches or rivers to go for a walk with the kid and a dog?
Thanks for any input, sorry if I have stepped on any toes and feel free to ask me for more information.

the best place to live would be near where you work - nothing beats walk to work.
having said that, NPL is relatively compact and you could walk to beach from half the city.
still, no point living at the other side of town. there are decent suburbs in various parts.
marfell had a bad name for gangs but things are looking better these days so I heard. parts of motura/paritutu you might want to avoid - horror stories about chemical plants making agent orange but impact today is not quite so clear
you company would provide some temporary accommodation? or a relocation pack?

bellblock is relatively new, won't be like living anywhere near a big city airport. only so few flights a day mostly Bombardier Q300s
still I'd rather live near work. traffic can be a bit tedious at peak times around a short sections in and out of town.

employment are good for energy industries and supporting roles. agriculture probably.

plenty to go and see I suppose. walkway is great, you could ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon. but a few years back a new KFC opened downtown there was a hour long queue. you get the picture.

ilovemusic

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#1088563 14-Jul-2014 13:52

best culture can be found at vinyl countdown record shop !

:)

FoNX

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#1088827 14-Jul-2014 19:12

I don't have much of a problem with a bit of travel to and from work, being comfortable where I live is more important to us. Semi rural would be ideal we think, might be a bit hard to find a rental in that vein though. I have lived in Blenheim Christchurch and Auckland my wife in Wanganui and Blenheim so this will be a bit of a change for us, but I'm not seeing anything that gives me serious doubts about the move. Bell block definitely seems a strong candidate at the moment the next part would be the logistics of shifting from Blenheim to up there...