Tauranga - can anyone tell me about life there, not just the suburbs of choice

[Duncan74]

I've done a few searches and seen a bit about Tauranga, but there's a lot less info as you'd expect compared to the big 3. I've been slightly blindsided by the thought of living in Tauranga by a possible job offer that I thought would be ChCh, or even Auckland, but it seems theres a lot of work happening in Tauranga so in the short and medium term they are keen for people there.

So can anyone tell me about life there, not just the suburbs of choice. Allegedly its rapidly growing, but is that coming at a cost. What's driving the growth. Are the services becoming stretched, or is it a case of there being the infrastructure there now in advance of all the people.

And I know that broadband is a hit and miss affair anywhere in NZ, but any experiences in Tauranga, as chancesa are my wife would at least initially continue to work for her UK company remotely, but that would of course rely on broadband.

I like the location in terms of access to Taupo and the Coromandel, two of our favourite places from the recce. We did stay just outside Tauranga, but stayed at the campsite on the night and drove straight through Bethlehem and the edge of Tauranga the next morning without stopping so didn't get to see anything of what it was like.

Many thanks in advance for any comments.

Duncan

[catt]

Its great!!!!

[janrzm]

We've been here in Tauranga for 9 months now. We love it here.
We picked Tauranga for the climate , it being fairly well placed to get to other places & also for future growth - I believe the Port is due to expand.
All these things will draw people here , much as it did us. Especially given the bonus of fantastic scenery & beautiful beaches.

You soon realise how small a place it actually is though , especially when you don't know many people but you regularly bump into them!
But then the population is a lot smaller than what we were used to in Sheffield
I'd say they are keeping up with the infrastructure - the new Harbour bridge is
due for completion next year.
There's the toll road that goes from Tauriko straight through to the CBD or down to the Mount - costs $1
Also there are talks about building a new 'motorway' from Papamoa to by pass Te Puke through to Rotorua.
Broadband - we had issues when we moved into our new rental at Pyes Pa , no free Port on the exchange... OH had to blag himself a desk in someones office as he also works from home.
Fortunately though we got a call couple of weeks later to say they were connecting us that day.
So maybe just check that out before you commit to an area/house.
We've visited Rotorua , Auckland , Hamilton , Coromandel & Mt Ruapehu - all easily accessible from here.
So far so good!!
HTH

[walshy]

Tauranga is great, Omokoroa is a small slice of heaven, beaches are beautiful, schools are great etc, and we came home !!! aarrrrgghh

[stu & amanda]

We’ve been living in Tauranga now for nearly three months and we love it as well!!
But I think there are a few downsides to living here, so I’ll mention them.
Tauranga doesn’t have a beach, the beach is down on the Mount and if like us you live around the Otumoetai side of town, it’s a 20 minute drive depending on traffic, which can be a bit of a pain when all you want to do is get a bit of beach action after work.
Another thing is that it’s a little bit suburban around here. It seems like they’re selling off every bit of land for sections and people are coming along and putting their kit houses on them. There’s a new development out of town called the Lakes which is just a giant housing estate, we drove around it for curiosity and it was very depressing, a bit Stepford really and not very NZ. We are renting at the moment but the chances of buying here are diminishing, but there again with the exchange rate the chances of buying anywhere may be diminishing.

Broadband? No worries.

[janrzm]

I don't mind a 20 min drive to the beach , given that where we were in the UK it would have been a 2hour + drive to the beaches of Scarborough/Filey/Bridlington - no comparison!
Of course you can choose to live by the beach , however I do agree with the comments about all the houses being on top of each other, as everyone has sold off their gardens.
The Lakes may not be very Kiwi , but I personally thought it had been quite well done. Nothing like a housing estate you would find in the UK.
Possibly a bit artifical , but they have planted 1000's of plants & tree , put in play areas , walkways , cycleways , lakes - all before the houses.

Just goes to show that it's horses for courses really....
Depends what your likes & dislikes are.

[stu & amanda]

Yeah we're from Chesterfield so as you say 20 minutes is better than 2 hours and a slightly better result at the end of the journey, haha. But I think it's something you don't realise until you actually live here. As for the Lakes, i guess when it's matured it will be better and i know that if they'd built it just outside Chessie I'd have wanted to live there.

It's all about what you do and don't want, everyone's different, that's why the forum is so valuable. I've read on here before someone put that one of the advantages of Christchurch is it's Englishness...

[Fern01]

We went to live in Tauranga in 1980, lived there for 20 years, it was a great place in those days, it wasn't as crowded as it is to-day. Traffic was more mangeable.
Auckland became too dear a place for many to live so they sold up and with money in their pocket, moved to Tauranga, where houses and sections were much cheaper, sending Tauranga prices sky high in the meantime.
We moved to Katikati, bought a kiwifruit orchard, stayed there for 10 years on a road that had very few homes, it wasn't long before the locals subdivided their farms/orchards and before long, what once was a quiet area to live, became another suburb.
Liking the wide open spaces, few crowds, Tauranga or the Mount is not for us.

[norma]

Personally I didn't like Tauranga but that's only from visiting for a weekend for a friend's wedding. It was pleasant enough but suburban and didn't knock my socks off in terms of its physical setting. Saying that though I'm not happy with my suburban lifestyle in Auckland. It will again depend on what environment you're coming from and what you're hoping for in NZ.

[janrzm]

It's funny how some places just grab you, something that you just feel but can't quantify as to why...
On our recce we visited Nelson & Napier - on paper we thought , yeah they'll be great , but they just didn't grab us...
Tauranga did.
As has been said before , it's such an individual thing.
Such as the fact that I personally wouldn't like to live anywhere smaller.