Where do you live in Auckland?

[hosebergine]

Somebody started a really useful thread about the careers people have and I wondered if people would be up for doing the same with where they live in Auckland.

I'm sat here thumbing through my "Where to live in Auckland" book and have come up with a list of areas based on the cost of housing and the primary school decile but now what?! I have a list of 33 areas and whilst we won't settle on an area before we arrive, a list of about 15 would be less scary!

I need some advice from those already there I think. So, if you're ok with people asking questions about your area, where do you live or have you lived in Auckland?

As an aside, if you had the ability to choose, which decile would be the lowest you'd go? Are they even worth bothering about? Is there another way of checking out schooling? My eldest will be five in March 2010 and we're planning to arrive in Auckland in about July 09.

[JandM]

From your last para, it looks as if you're using deciles to judge quality of schooling. Deciles are not a measure of how good the school is, but of the social background measured by income of the neighbourhood, and therefore of how much government funding is made available, with the intention of correcting disadvantage. There can be excellent teaching in schools with low decile rankings, and vice versa.

However, a low decile ranking for the school may show that the district has some areas you would rather not live in, given the choice.

I would suggest that what you're doing, asking on here for personal experiences, is a good way to check that out, as well as answering your question, 'Is there another way of checking out schooling?' And of course, you can get a visual impression of districts by using Google StreetView.

What about giving your 33 for starters, and seeing how many of those people would suck their teeth at?

[Oregonkiwi]

This was very helpful when we were choosing a school for our son (who turns 5 tomorrow! )
http://www.ero.govt.nz/ero/publishin...tent/Home+Page

I personally don't pay much attention to deciles, that just tells you roughly how rich/poor the parents in the area are, doesn't tell you much about the quality of the school.

To narrow things down a bit, perhaps you could list your 33 areas and we could comment on those?

[edit: J&M beat me to it ]

[hosebergine]

See, I knew I was floundering! Sharing my list sounds good to me. In no particular order:
Blockhouse Bay
Grey Lynn
Mt Albert
Mt Eden
Mt Roskill
One Tree Hill
Parnell / Newmarket
Helensville
Henderson
Kumeu / Huapai
Swanson
Titirangi
West Harbour
Albany
Belmont / Bayswater
Forrest Hill
Glenfield
Hibiscus Coast
Lower East Coast Bays
Northcote
Upper East Coast Bays
Beachlands / Maraetai
Botony Downs
Bucklands Beach
Howick
Pakuranga
Whitford
Manukau / Clover Park
Manurewa

These are as per the book so some include several areas eg Lower East Coast Bays = Castor Bay, Campbells Bay, Mairangi Bay, Murrays Bay and Rothesay Bay. So the list is probably more like 120!!!!! Why did I even start this?!

[gil]

All of those sound fine as broad areas, tbh, but once you drill down in each area, there are places in some you may not want to live in, e.g. in Manurewa,there are some very ropey areas and equally some lovely ones, like Wattle Cove. I'm a great one for intuition, because it works for me (may not apply to everyone!). Thus, we had narrowed down to 2 main areas (Howick/BB and Browns Bay) to explore when we arrived. I arranged visits to schools (primary, intermediate AND colleges) in both areas. We stayed at the Howick Motor Lodge and afer spending time in this area, we cancelled our visits to the other places as we felt very much at home here straight away.
Of course, you could say "Ah, but you were not fully informed". It felt right for us. What I'm trying to say is until you are here, it's a something of an academic exercise as it's the feel of the place that matters and all the research in the world can't give you that.

I think Millemoo started a thread along the lines of what you're asking which may be of interest. Found it http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12174

Good luck and fee free to ask lots of questions!

Gil

[Helsandfamily]

We moved to the Browns Bay / Rothesay Bay area and really like it. The beaches (all of them on this side) are extremely beautiful and the area is very child friendly with lots of reserves, play area's. There is a small shopping centre which is large enough for most things. My children (aged 8 and 5) have started in Brown's Bay school and I feel that it is a really good school, and they settled quite quickly.


There are good bus links from anywhere in the North Shore to central Auckland so a reasonable comute.


If there was any downside to this area, for me it would be that the gardens are quite small. I am sure that there are exceptions to this but those houses tend to be very pricey

hth If you want any more info about the area feel free to Pm me

[hosebergine]

Thanks for your reply Gil. Your approach sounds great to me. And you're right, it is a pretty silly exercise but it will keep me from checking that NZIS website for progress on the ITA and at least makes me feel like I'm doing something New Zealandish.

What I don't want to do is spend three weeks driving round Auckland getting stressed! We want to be within 20mins of the beach, an hour from CBD (preferably by public transport), have places for the kids to play and have a bit of space between houses to ease us back into city living. A good primary school and kindy are pretty important too, plus leisure facilities nearby so we can swim, climb and, when the kids are a bit bigger, sail. As we're not selling our house in the UK, we can't afford Parnell or Devonport. We're also a bit reluctant to rent in an area where there is no chance of us being able to buy. So, Gil, how far to the beach from your house?!

[IanW99]

...
I think Millemoo started a thread along the lines of what you're asking which may be of interest. Found it http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12174
...

Still not got the hang of posting thread titles then , had to check that this was the Auckand Suburb guide which it was.

Ian

[YouMeAndThree]

So, Gil, how far to the beach from your house?!

I'm sure Gil will be able to quote you in how many steps (not many)

Wherever you decide, be prepare to change. We said "never going to Auckland", okay job is in Auckland, right "we are not going to the East, it's West Auckland for us", hmm that changed when the job location moved. We live a couple of streets away from Gil and are very happy here. We are 5 minutes walk from the Half Moon Bay ferry, a couple of minute drive from shops and less than 10 minutes from Botany Shopping Centre.

and have a bit of space between houses

I did find this very hard though. I was surprised at the limited size of gardens and how very close to each other some houses are.

[hosebergine]

5 mins to the beach - wooohoooo! Is the Half Moon Bay ferry reliable for commuting or does it just sound romantic? Can you use a bus if the ferry isn't running? I thought I'd read somewhere that a ferry service was in jeopardy....