Why do you live there?

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BlueShift

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#207325 19-Dec-2016 14:24

Its a popular pastime to tease people about the town they live in, Aucklanders have traffic and house prices, Wellingtonians are coffee snobs and work for the government, Christchurchers are still permanently vibrating from the aftershocks. I live in Hamilton but I don't have chlamydia...

I moved to Hamilton with my family in my teens and have been here since. I've had opportunities to consider moving elsewhere, my wife was an Aucklander, and I have family in many parts of the country. But I'm happy here, its central to a lot of places, within 90 minutes I can be at any one of a half dozen excellent beaches, downtown Auckland (depending on traffic), bush, rivers, lakes, or the snow if I drive a bit further.

Our city motto could easily be "Hamilton, a great place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit there" or "Hamilton, boring, but in a good way"

We're seismically low-risk, bad weather hits everyone else harder than us, we're well above sea level, we don't get snow or floods.

I have a nice house in a nice area, close to good schools and 10 minutes drive from work. There's a decent amount of jobs around in the IT market here, paying a decent amount.

Why are you where you are? Is it nice? Would you rather be somewhere else?

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#1692206 19-Dec-2016 14:35

As a child, my Dad was in the Army so we got posted all around the country every couple of years until finally stopping in Auckland... I think for the time being, I'm kinda stuck here due to being in IT and the opportunities aren't that great elsewhere in the country... So for many years I put up with long commutes and slow traffic as I went from one part of the region to another - at worst living in South Auckland and working on the North shore, but recently moved to the north shore so now its an 18 minute drive from home to work - both on the north shore, so I'm happier with Auckland than I have been in many years..

If I could work from anywhere, or not have to work at all, I've always wanted to live in or near Rotorua, but the reasons are far more spiritual than practical so its never happened so far.

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

Hammerer

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#1692209 19-Dec-2016 14:37

Lower Hutt has been a great place to bring up our family. We moved here to support older relatives.

We'd rather live in the South Island again for the landscape and lifestyle. But in the South Island we were much more isolated because we didn't get many visits from family members and friends in the North Island.

Re Hamilton, we found it a great place to visit in summer. There are so many options for things to do. Yes, they are mainly outside of Hamilton but it is a great base for exploring the North Island. Within an hour or so drive we had Raglan (W), South Auckland (N), Cormandel, Matamata, Tauranga (NE), Rotorua (E), Taupo (SE), King Country (S), etc.

Jaxson

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#1692251 19-Dec-2016 15:27

Palmerston North is pretty much a younger version of Hamilton. We are pretty flat, often windy and don't have an ocean. We are central to the lower north island, so transport hub wise it's pretty big, along with Massey. Traffic can be mental at peak times on popular routes, but for the most part it's extremely easy to get around, and they have a modern mall now, on a par with many equivalent malls in the Auckland suburbs.

You can afford to buy a house here, and if you are lucky the income will be sufficient to cover the mortgage. I lived in Auckland for a few years and was surprised that the incomes didn't match the cost of living. That's one thing I can't quite get my head around if you do live there.

As a side deviation from the point of this topic, I'm curious to see how communities that live off the land, such as farming and produce/fruit/wineries etc handle the coming environmental changes. Over time, areas that have long been suitable for these activities will being to not be so optimum, and other areas will start to see a more favourable climate. 100 year floods etc seem to be coming more regularly and extreme unforeseeable freezes are now an annual occurrence. There will be winners and losers for sure.

BlueShift

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#1692259 19-Dec-2016 15:46

I'm interested to see how many folks made a deliberate choice to move to where they are now, or if its a result of being where they grew up/where their partner is/where their job ended up being/where the wind blew them.

I know there's a few immigrants to NZ in the GZ community, was NZ their first choice? Were they moving to NZ, or away from where they were?

My inlaws moved to NZ 43 years ago, they were on their way to Australia, but stopped over in NZ to catch up with some relations. While they were here, they liked the place, and MIL heard about the friendly Aussie wildlife (spider & snakes and crocs oh my!) and they decided to settle in Auckland. 20-some years later, their daughter married me and moved to Hamilton, then they retired to Hamilton in the late 90s.

Lizard1977

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#1692267 19-Dec-2016 16:05

I ended up in Palmerston North after moving here (from Auckland) to study. I met my wife at University (also from out of town), and we both prefer here to either of our respective hometowns (though both are nice to visit - in my view, her's more than mine).

Lots of people give Palmerston North a hard time (much like Hamilton), but once you get past the parochialism each place has its pluses and minuses. For me, I like Palmy because it's big enough to have most of what you need, but small enough to not feel impersonal. Travel is easy, and I live in a nice suburb that is 18 minutes walk (or 5 mins drive) from my CBD job. We have nice parks for the kidlet to play in, houses are (mostly) affordable, but still getting some benefits of capital gains (house value went up 23% in the past 6 years). Despite what many people say, weather is pretty mild, and it's not always windy! There's a good amount of entertainment options, and close enough to other major centres to access those things we don't have.

I have family in Auckland, and half envy what we have down here, and the other half mock me for my choice. I figure that there will always be people who prefer the hustle and bustle of big city living, and those that prefer a more sedate and low key style. There's room for both approaches, and plenty of choices throughout the country that cater to both. Life's too short to bag someone else for their preferences...

If I had to be somewhere else, and all other things being equal, I'd quite like to live in Napier. I always enjoy visiting there, and it's got a nice, laid back pace. For now though, quite happy in Palmy...

Geektastic

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#1692274 19-Dec-2016 16:16

We made no conscious choice to emigrate from the UK. We were travelling for a 7 month sabbatical and NZ was the third major stop. We were supposed to be here 8 weeks or something (maybe 12 - I forget) and decided to extend our flights and see if we could get short term work just to top up the account.

We did that and got a work permit - and then I got offered a permanent job in the government so we thought we'd get Permanent Residency. Once we'd got that, we discovered we needed to stay 2 years for it to become indefinite so figured we should probably do that after all the expense and form filling etc involved in getting it in the first place. Then discovered we could stay another 5 years and get citizenship and since we'd bought houses and started businesses etc it seemed like a useful thing to do because you can't have too many options so did that and still here.

It's peaceful here in the Wairarapa, you can commute to Wellington if you need to and the services are not too bad. There's a nasty criminal underbelly I would like to see cleared out of the region but it's not something you'd notice if you just passed through. Hunting, shooting and fishing are good.

Downsides are poor roads, slow councils which are not the sharpest knives in the drawer in terms of planning, parochialism that drives me round the twist, mediocre restaurant options and the lack of air services without a 100km drive to Wellington.

Sidestep

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#1692303 19-Dec-2016 17:08

BlueShift:

Why are you where you are? Is it nice? Would you rather be somewhere else?

We made a deliberate 'lifestyle' choice to live where we are.

I grew up in NZ - but left at 21 for an OE. Then lived & worked in Australia for 5 years, bought a house, wife (GF back then) got a work visa, then residency.
Then we spent 3 years residing & working in the US, but splitting the year between there and Aussie.

Then spent over a decade living in Canada, as a resident then a (dual) citizen. Splitting most years between there, US and Europe.
Bought house(s), kids were born there, developed many close friendships. Had a successful business.

But when our kids (twins) started school I began to think nostalgically of growing up in rural New Zealand.
We did a couple of trips back, then made a decision to move - and review our new life after a 3 year 'trial period'.. We've been here over 6 years now.
Certainly not a wise financial move, we've taken a big hit to our income.. but money doesn't necessarily buy happiness.

My kids got to experience attending a 28 child, 2 room primary school - as the only non-Maori kids there.
They've picked up Te Reo, feel comfortable at a Marae. They swim like fish, surf, ride horses on the beach, grow a garden, are good shots, can clean and cook an animal..

Right now we wouldn't be anywhere else.

But the girls've turned 12, so its either homeschooling or bus 60 km each way to the nearest high school in a year's time. And they're starting to hanker for 'civilisation' - as they call it.
We've had a family conference, and are considering moving again. My wife's finding the thought of that hard - she loves it here.
So a city - somewhere. We've ruled out Australia and the UK, so maybe the US.. or more likely Canada. We've got a year to mull it over.

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Behodar

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#1692311 19-Dec-2016 17:16

I grew up here in Whakatane. Every time I'm in a bigger city I see things like paying for parking, long commutes etc and think "I'm glad that I don't live here". Whakatane is about the right size for me; it's small enough to be able to get anywhere in ten minutes, and big enough that most major retail chains etc are available (no JB Hi-Fi though!).

I'm happy here :)

Rikkitic

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#1692331 19-Dec-2016 17:57

I discovered NZ by accident on my way to Oz, fell in love with the place, returned every year, met and married a Kiwi, became a resident, then citizen. Over the years I have seen every part of the country except Fiordland. I live on a farm in rural Hastings and prefer this part of the country to any other, mainly because of the climate. I think NZ is one of the most liveable places left on the planet, but it does have flaws, mostly self-inflicted, and I am not blind to those. I think you can love a place and still be critical of it because you love it. This is a wonderful country. With better stewardship it could be a perfect one.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

jarledb

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#1692392 19-Dec-2016 20:18

I am from Norway and my Kiwi wife moved to Norway and stayed there for 4 years before we moved to New Zealand. We traveled a bit in New Zealand before we moved here, so got to see various places.

My work allows me to work for most anywhere with an internet connection, so was a matter of finding a place with good weather and good places to go out to eat.

Ended up in Napier.

Wife has spent a lot of her life in Wellington, but agreed to try Napier and is loving it now. Its not a huge town, but thanks to tourism its a place with lots of good places to eat and lots of cultural events.

Must say I enjoy being away from the cold winters and snow in Norway, and really enjoy the great climate in Napier.

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MileHighKiwi

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#1692464 19-Dec-2016 21:31

It's great reading people's stories and seeing how many great places we have in NZ. Napier is nice, and I really like New Plymouth. I've lived in Rotorua and enjoyed it but WEllington is home.

We live in Upper Hutt now. We have a nice home on a big section and paid bugger all compared with the current market or an equivalent property in WLG. We're 15 min walk to the train station, supermarkets, pools, library and a swimming hole which we use daily in summer. There's nice parks and outdoor areas close by and on the weekend it's just 20-25 min into WLG by car.

Public transport into the city is good so we feel like a suburb of Wellington, which is where we go for a night out rather than UH. Two cinemas have opened recently and there's a couple of decent restaurants but I prefer WLG for a meal.

I think it's a very good place to raise a family and over the 8 years we've been here we've seen demographics change but there's definitely a shady element here.

tbh we don't really see that side too much because we aren't like that, but it is there. You seen some sights in Pak N Save for sure, haha.

raytaylor

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#1692479 19-Dec-2016 22:06

I grew up in Upper Hutt.

My parents were the first to build in Kingsley Heights.

This was back when "The terraces" were called Craigs Flat and was just a bunch of paddocks on the side of the hill.

I occasionally drive through upper hutt and its weird because I dont really consider it home anymore. Its a place I feel like I am visiting, but for some reason I know where everything is and how to get around without using a map.

We moved to Wairoa after my father passed away and a couple of years later settled in Napier. I have lived here since and love Hawkes Bay.

Wellington is too big, Wairoa is too small. Hawkes Bay is just right.

edit: I do seem to remember there was an exodus of people moving from upper hutt to tauraunga about the time we moved away.

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Geektastic

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#1692482 19-Dec-2016 22:23

jarledb:

I am from Norway and my Kiwi wife moved to Norway and stayed there for 4 years before we moved to New Zealand. We traveled a bit in New Zealand before we moved here, so got to see various places.

My work allows me to work for most anywhere with an internet connection, so was a matter of finding a place with good weather and good places to go out to eat.

Ended up in Napier.

Wife has spent a lot of her life in Wellington, but agreed to try Napier and is loving it now. Its not a huge town, but thanks to tourism its a place with lots of good places to eat and lots of cultural events.

Must say I enjoy being away from the cold winters and snow in Norway, and really enjoy the great climate in Napier.

Skiing is rubbish in Napier though...! ;-)

Kiwifruta

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#1692532 19-Dec-2016 23:46

Born in Christchurch, grew up mostly in Hamilton and still live here but also grew up in Auckland (South Auckland and the North Shore) and Christchurch again.

Have also lived in Western Australia, London (England) and Bolivia in South America.

Just accepted a role in Tauranga starting in the new year, was missing the beach and tired of the damp and humid weather of Hamilton which is giving my kids and me respiratory issues.

Tauranga is close to my family in Hamilton so the kids will still have a lot of involvement with their cousins, aunties, uncles and only grandparent in NZ.

If I could live anywhere in NZ and didn't have kids then I'd live in the Nelson region because of the 3 national parks and sunshine. Raglan, Whakatane/Ohope and Napier are good spots too.

When I retire I'd like to split my time between a sunny semi-rural place in NZ and somewhere in Latin America, probably Uruguay. Although because my wife is Bolivian, that will go down like a lead balloon.

jarledb

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#1692538 20-Dec-2016 00:08

Geektastic:

Skiing is rubbish in Napier though...! ;-)

Just another great thing about Napier ;) hehe

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