South Auckland??

[Davvie]

Hi,

After spending the last few months researching other areas and discounting Auckland it appears that Hubby has a company in South Auckland - Manurewa area interested in him.

To be honest we do not know much about this area and what we have heard has not been too nice (sorry if you live there and think otherwise) and was hoping that those of you in the know could give us a frank lowdown on this area and also those surrounding areas that may be more preferable to live in .

We would quite like a semi-rural area and somewhere with good schools as we have 4 kids - Hubby does not mind a 30min(ish) commute. So far we have been looking at the Franklin district and specifically Pukekohe, what is this like, are the schools good?? Is there anywhere that we should definitely avoid??


Thanks in advance for all your help and advice it is much appreciated

Jenny

[batgirl1001]

I would think Wattle Downs would be a good suburb. Have a look. It is a nice suburb by the water with a good primary school. You can also look at Takanini or Papakura. They are new residential suburbs with lots of new development lately and plenty of middle-income families living there.

[YouMeAndThree]

We've recently (last week) started looking at Pukekohe/Waiuku. Seems quite a pleasant place. OH works at Wiri and many of his co-workers live in Pukekohe. Feedback has been that the schools are all pretty good, but only one of them has a senior school-aged child so can't really comment on that age group's education. It's not as close to the beaches as we are at the moment, but close enough.

We are currently in Half Moon Bay, which I like, but can't really afford the area and have a bit of land/garden, so have been looking further afield. Drove through Alfriston which looked rural enough and close enough to the Botany Town/Sylvia Park shopping centres - but have done nothing more than a drive through of that area so far (anybody have any comments on Alfriston?)

[mgbridges]

Marie_P lives in Wattle Cove so you could try dropping her a PM. However, she has recently had surgery so I don't know how regularly she is checking the Forum at the moment.

Good luck with your move.

Anneliese

[Davvie]

Thanks for your recommendations of areas - I think I will have to spend a good few hours sitting on the computer looking through them all.

Jenny

[JandM]

Just in case you haven't come across it, NZ Google StreetView is very comprehensive - you can 'look round' places very well.

[impossiblejane]

Hi Jenny,

Thank you for posting your question. I just logged on to ask the same question. However, I wouldn't mind hearing people's recommendations for neighborhoods to live in that are accessible to public transportation. I am going to be working in Otara. The employment agency that I am working with told me that they don't recommend that I live there. I am not going to have a car for the first month or so and would like to be able to get around on the bus or train.

Thanks!

[jeffanar]

Well I can definitely second the employment agencies recommendations against Otara

I work in Glenbrook (near Waiuku) and lived in Pukekohe for a while a few years ago. I live in Mt Wellington and drive to work every day which takes about 45 minutes, going against the traffic so it's usually not too bad. I wanted to live close to the city and Mt Wellington was as far south as I wanted to go because it starts getting rather dodgy further south than that. Mt Wellington itself isn't the nicest area, I was originally looking in Ellerslie which is nicer but also more expensive!

If you are working in Manurewa and wanting to live somewher semi rural then Pukekohe would definitely be a good bet, it's a nice little place, housing is pretty cheap, it's not too far off the motorway. No idea about the schools in the area though sorry. Waiuku is another option but it is smaller and further away than Pukekohe.

As for Otara, I don't know what public transport is like, the closest train station is Papatoetoe which is quite far from Otara, so buses would be your best bet. Depending on the bus routes you could look at areas like Greenlane, Ellerslie, One tree hill. Have a look at www.max.co.nz for info about public transport

[Flutterby]

i was going to say the one place i've been warned not to live is Otara, we are close to manurewa and although its not the nicest area its not too bad, we feel safe and have a nice house and public transport is not an issue, but in our travels about the area the places i liked the look of, were weymouth/clendon and pakuranga they look a bit nicer and quieter than the places closer to manakau city centre.

[thebrowns]

I work in South Auckland and live in Beachlands, gives me about a 25min commute to work, and can definitely recommend this area.