ps - Anyone in Wellington??

[Chilli]

Just wondered!

[Coq au Vin]

[Omerta]

[Dan M]

Me too <would add smiley-wavy-thing if I knew how>

[Bull1t]

More of us here than I thought

[Zaphod]

Kapiti Coast but work in Welly.

[Chilli]

Hi all,

Well, I 've got a trip booked for February next year to have a look around etc, and to meet a few recruitment consultants. I really just wondered what you thought of the place, with regards to living there, dealing with crime, bars restautrants, working environment, that sort of thing. Looking at a house which is 10 mins away from the CBD, so am looking forward to the "commute"!

Cheers.

ps - Would I be right in thnking there are good biking (motor!) roads around??!

[Bull1t]

Chilli said:

Hi all,

Well, I 've got a trip booked for February next year to have a look around etc, and to meet a few recruitment consultants. I really just wondered what you thought of the place, with regards to living there, dealing with crime, bars restautrants, working environment, that sort of thing. Looking at a house which is 10 mins away from the CBD, so am looking forward to the "commute"!

Cheers.

ps - Would I be right in thnking there are good biking (motor!) roads around??!

Depends what your looking for really.

Higher average temperatures than South Island cities, less than Auckland but also less rain. Is windy but less than people would lead you to believe.

Crime is pretty low even by NZ City standards. I probably wouldnt walk through certain areas (eg Newtown, upper hutt, porirua) in the middle of the night but in general its pretty good.

Its a very social city, even in the middle of the week there seems to be plenty of people around every night. Most of it is condensed into a pretty small area too so its easy to get around compared to places like auckland.

Biggest issue for me is all the roads and sections are crammed in. Tiny sections with old damp houses are pretty typical. Forget about getting a decent size section anywhere near the CBD(though they are available if your prepared to live 20ks away).

The city is not car friendly, it dont have anything like the traffic issues that Auckland does but with most streets being narrow and the majority of houses not having osp let alone a garage theres a huge number of streets where you struggle to fit two cars going opposite directions. Public transport is good by NZ standards and alot of people who live north of the city take the train into town every day.

Due to the geography of the city theres not actually that many houses within 10 mins of it. Im not sure of the stats but a fairly large proporton of people that live here would be out to the north in places like lower hutt, upper hutt, newlands, johnsonville, tawa, porirua etc. As theres only really free land to the north if you want to live somewhere with predominatently new houses you have to keep getting further and further out.

House prices are cheaper than Auckland or Queenstown but higher than everywhere else. With government being here so are most of the head offices of the government departments which results in a large proportion of people being public servants (like I am). Correspondingly average wages are higher here than anywhere else in the country. Though this is mostly due to few people on low incomes rather than people on higher incomes earning more than they could in Auckland.

For me I dont really like Wellington but the South Island is too cold, Auckland is too big and everywhere else is too small for me to get a job so Im stuck here.

Theres plenty of good motorbiking roads around. Its abit far away from the Coro loop (In the Coromandel near Auckland) and Nelson/Marlborough people ague they have the best roads but Wellington would rival them.

Edited by Bull1t on Wednesday 21st May 11:28

[Chilli]

Paul,

Many thanks for that. I'm really looking for a more peaceful life! Getting up at 05:00, jumping on the train with 800million others, and rriving at my desk an hour and a bit later is boring me now. Everywhere here is crowded, including the roads. I can't afford a nice house within walking (or a short drive) of the office, so stuck out in the suberbs! I am no longer looking to spend 12 hours in the office, and am sick of having to stand on the train on the way home, and eventually getting home at around 19:00.

Thanks again.

[Coq au Vin]

Bull1t's assesment looks pretty fair to me. It's a small city, both in physical area and population, but it's pretty vibrant and seems to be getting better all the time. I read somewhere a while ago that Wellington has more bars/restaurants per head of population that New York, which might be bks but in any case we are pretty well served given the size of the place. Crime isn't too bad - acts of random street violence are rare.

Weather can be terrible (yes, we get plenty of wind) but it doesn't rain much and the good days tend to be very, very nice.

Personally, I love it here. Despite its drawbacks, there's nowhere else in NZ I would want to live in.

[Bull1t]

Coq au Vin said:

the good days tend to be very, very nice.

Thats the one thing I miss about the south island.

Although the average temperatures are cooler they get the odd day in summer thats 30+ degrees. Wellington never seems to get those really hot days, which some people prefer but I like days where its too hot to do much other than lie around.

[Kid@heart]

Wellington by day Paremata by night.

[StretchGSK]

Hi Chilli

Not sure where you are based now but I moved from South Africa to NZ and have been living in Wellington for almost 18 months.

The short version is I love it here, it really is much better than anyone lead me to believe.

Bullit has pretty much nailed the description by the way.

Give us a shout when you get here.

[Chilli]

StretchGSK said:

Hi Chilli

Not sure where you are based now but I moved from South Africa to NZ and have been living in Wellington for almost 18 months.

The short version is I love it here, it really is much better than anyone lead me to believe.

Bullit has pretty much nailed the description by the way.

Give us a shout when you get here.

Hello Adrian,

Thanks mate, will do. Glad you're enjoying life....after all, that's what it's all about!

Cheers.

[Kid@heart]

StretchGSK said:

Hi Chilli

Not sure where you are based now but I moved from South Africa to NZ and have been living in Wellington for almost 18 months.

The short version is I love it here, it really is much better than anyone lead me to believe.

Bullit has pretty much nailed the description by the way.

Give us a shout when you get here.

Same here I, moved here about 2 years ago and I'm loving it and racing at Manfield is cheap

[StretchGSK]

I had better got the GTR on the track then if that is the case.
Looking at ways of lowering my seat so I can fit in with a helmet easily first.