Misconceptions about Wellington

[Polly Doodle]

Hi All,

We have had our EOI accepted and I am looking for jobs (civil engineer) and there seem to be quite a few in Wellington at the moment.

When we visited NZ last winter, we really enjoyed Wellington, in particular the downtown area (botanics, museums, restaurants etc). The thing that we though that Wellington lacked was decent beaches and other places to escape to in close proximity. In addition, it also seemed to be very cut-off from other parts of NZ i.e. a long drive to get anywhere else (apart from Palmerston North!)

We have 3 children 2,4 and 6 and one of the main factors to move to NZ is to have more of an outdoors life, but without having a commute >30 mins to work. I know that the public transport in Wellington is good, so the commute may not be much of an issue. But are there good beaches near the city and country parks etc where we can go camping, walking etc in close proximity (<1hr) to the city to escape to at the weekend? Any thoughs on Wellington as a plec to bring up kids would also be much appreciated.

Thanks

PD

[Georgebulldog]

Sorry I Only ever do quick posts due to my 2.8 & 5yr old around so I'll be brief
What do you mean by decent beaches? Having come from the UK where we would have had to spend a couple of hours driving to the nearest & very crowded beach I find the ones in Wellington to be great, you have Oriental Bay in the city then driving out Scorching Bay is nice & lots dotted along the way the other end or us we have Titahi Bay which can be nice then further afield up the Kapiti coast Paraparaumu Beach & Raumati Beach which is about 45 min drive but has long stretches of beach, head this way for Queen Elizabeth park & more bush walks, I know a friend went camping for the weekend in Paekakariki. Oh & there's Pukerua Bay on the way for another beach
We are not into the walking part yet so can't comment on that so much but for children in Wellington there are so many things to do & think it's a great place to bring children up.

Good idea may be to go onto Google maps & scroll around the Wellington area to see how close things are, I haven't mentioned anywhere in the Hutt valley or Wairapa where I'm sure there's even more but not had the chance to see yet, it looks lovely there too, there is loads around & I can't wait to explore more there's just too much to see & not enough weekends in the year to see it all.

Hope this help a little, please feel free to PM me if you need anything more

[Mgee]

I don't have kids so can't comment on that part, but most people I know think Wellington is great for kids. There are plenty of walking possibilities around the Wellington region, both the DOC parks and walks and shorter walks around the city. I believe quite a few of them are suitable for older kids as well, and some shorter walks are ok for smaller kids as well. Here are the DOC ones: http://www.doc.govt.nz/by-region/wel...nd-recreation/. I don't know that much about camping, but I imagine there are camping sites within an hour's drive from Welly. I think the closest ones are in Kapiti coast and in Upper Hutt, but I'm not sure.

There are a couple of beaches around the Wellington Harbour (the bay, not the actual working harbour). Kapiti coast is about 45 min drive away and has lots of beaches. The Queen Elizabeth park in Kapiti is a great place for a day outing and has picnic tables, tram rides (!) and walking paths. To the other direction, Wairarapa is only about an hour's drive away and has lots to do and see.

Welly is in a way "isolated" because it is at the lower tip of the island, but then the same kind of geographical isolation is quite common in NZ. The mountain ranges mean that two places fairly close on a map can actually be several hours' drive away from each other. Relative distances are longer here than in the UK or in Central Europe, so what you might think of an hour's drive may actually be a two or three hour drive here. I come from a sparsely populated country, but have been a bit surprised at how much longer any driving times here are (and we're talking about similar single carriageways in both countries). The average speed on a state highway here is often around 70 kms/hour (about 44 mph) if there's any traffic at all, whereas in Finland the average speed is around 80 kms/hour even in winter conditions because the country is a lot flatter . Also do remember that this is a very sparsely populated country: between the towns and cities, there might be absolutely nothing for miles, and in general there are fewer attractions due to the smaller population. In the UK you're more likely to have a lot more attractions within an hour's drive than here, so here it's better just to select what you want to do/see and then just do the longer drive.

We've found out that the AA calculator is fairly accurate, providing that you drive more or less within the speed limits and occasionally stop for toilet breaks etc. This may give you an idea what is doable within certain driving times in NZ. Hope this helps!

[girlwithanewf]

Just a quick post as the important points have already been mentioned. As far as decent beaches go, there are lots of places to swim and walk on the beach close to the centre. Scorching Bay has a lovely sandy beach, good for swimming and sandcastle building and there are lots of little bays along the coast which are good for snorkelling, rockpool exploring, finding shells and starfish. Nearer the city is Lyall Bay which is great for surfing. Then in the city itself there is Oriental Bay beach. Not to mention all the great long beaches on the Kapiti coast where the water is a little warmer than in Wellington. Lots of organised activities to choose from for children - dancing, swimming, music, art, pottery, drama, languages, zoo days, sailing, surf lifesaving etc.
Would recommend it as a place to bring up children, definitely possible to live an outdoor life here!

[Polly Doodle]

Thanks for all your input. Sounds fantastic!

[Polly Doodle]

I guess the next issue about Wellington is schooling, in particular high schools (looking a few years ahead!). There seem to be a number of good single sex schools in Wellington City, but we would rather have a mixed school. Does anyone have any direct experience of co-ed high schools in Wellington?? There seems to be Tawa, Newlands, Onslow, Wellington High.

[Georgebulldog]

Only from reading on here that all seem to be very good, sorry not any help but if you do a search you may find a previous thread, can't use the search on here myself but others can :-) so maybe someone could help in finding the posts

[JaniceW]

We have 2 kids aged 3,5 (girl) and almost 16 (boy), so we needed to accommodate both ends of the age spectrum. We settled on Kapiti Coast and although I didn't want to commute initially, I now find it a small price to pay for life in Kapiti. The train commute is really easy and there are 3 peak morning and 3 peak afternoon express trains from Paraparaumu to Wellington and vice versa. I catch the 07h18 train which arrives in the CBD at 08h08. I start at 08h30. I catch the 17h00 or 17h20 train back. It's great to have time to relax and unwind after the day and the trains are not overcrowded and are quiet enough to read a book. I would strongly recommend that you look at Raumati or Paraparaumu as options. My kids love it and the primary and secondary schools (all co-ed) are great. My son was in an all boys school all his life, but is finding the adjustment to co-ed fine. Also, the beaches are FAB and remember that the weather on the Kapiti Coast is always a few degrees warmer than in Wellington and much less wind, being sheltered by Kapiti Island. Bear in mind that Kapiti is one of the fastest growing areas in NZ and so there are great new homes to buy and to rent. Known as Nature's Coast, you really can't go wrong if you are looking for an outdoors lifestyle, but yet within easy distance to everything. Paraparaumu also has all the main shops ie: Farmers, Warehouse etc or you can go into Porirua which has loads of shopping centres. If Kapiti is too far for you, I would suggest looking at Tawa, Plimmerton, Porirua. You can PM me if you want any other info. Good luck!

[Wooly_Cow]

I should add that swimming in Wellington requires either a degree of phyiscal toughness (or being a kid...they don't seem to mind) or a wet suit.

However in Kapiti the water in summer is easily warm enough to enjoy.

[JaniceW]

I should add that swimming in Wellington requires either a degree of phyiscal toughness (or being a kid...they don't seem to mind) or a wet suit.

However in Kapiti the water in summer is easily warm enough to enjoy.

Agree totally. Been to the beach here often since mid November and the sea is warm enough for adults to enjoy. Almost as warm as the Eastern Cape in SA where we come from. If you're from the UK, you will find it even warmer than we do I suspect. The weather is 25 degrees here today so we were of course on the beach and swimming