Auckland City or ChristChurch City?

[jones]

I read some posts already here but I didn't get specifically what I need about my concerns.

We are planning to move to NZ as Family and it will be under entrepreneur category so it doesn't matter about the Job.

Since we are new in NZ, we need to make sure that the location we choose will make our life easier to live with. It should be :

1. near the airport
2. affordable apartment/condo ( budget not more than 300 pw with 3 bedrooms )
3. near the school ( we have 4 kids )
4. near mall
5. easy access to bus/transportation
6. near the office of the government ( so I can settle/pay taxes )
7. 0 or less crime ( good for family and friendly people )
8. fast access to internet ( this is important since my business rely on this )

I am sure all new zealanders here can give me some inputs and I appreciate it in advance.

And by the way, very nice forums.


Sincerely,
Jones

[Sun777]

Hello & welcome Jones, here are some answers:

1. near the airport
Auckland has international airport (not sure about Christchurch) with higher population and much more fast paced life than Christchurch

2. affordable apartment/condo ( budget not more than 300 pw with 3 bedrooms )
Christchurch might fare better on this one, you get cheaper rentals. Again, this is due to less demand & population (probably)

3. near the school ( we have 4 kids )
Auckland will have higher no. of schools, so you get a variety to choose from. Christchurch also has some good schools but you have more choices in Auckland, stay next to city, probably less travelling time for your to-be-clients.

4. near mall
Auckland has more malls than Christchurch and recently I was told that Christchurch has very few 24/7 driveaways and Auckland has 1 or 2 in each suburb (might be bit exaggerate)

5. easy access to bus/transportation
Auckland!

6. near the office of the government ( so I can settle/pay taxes )
I think you can do this at post office? Again, Auckland will have more no. of offices as more business run here compared to Christchurch.

7. 0 or less crime ( good for family and friendly people )
Difficult to say but Christchurch being less populated, crime will definitely be low.

8. fast access to internet ( this is important since my business rely on this )
Try to google for Red network/zone that Vodafone provides, this might be helpful for you, its dedidate LLU around Auckland CBD and very high internet speeds. Check on some threads which talks about positives and negatives of various service providers.


Hope that helps!

[jones]

Thank you for the information.

I heard there are some places with daily earthquakes? Does Auckland do have one?

[Sun777]

Most of NZ sits on ring of fire and once I read there are few thousands shocks every year. Offlately Christchurch has been witnessing significant ones, relatively Aucklands has least.

[jones]

Thanks.

Since you are in Auckland, what is the best district to stay in? Affordable apartment? Eden Terrace, Grafton, or?

Sorry for many questions.

[Sun777]

Thanks.

Since you are in Auckland, what is the best district to stay in? Affordable apartment? Eden Terrace, Grafton, or?

Sorry for many questions.

I stay in Greenlane and its quite close to CBD (abt 30 minutes drive during peak hours), Grafton, Remuera, St Heliers, Kohimarama & Mt Eden are bit expensive but again depends if you wish to go for some old properties.


Places around One tree hill are quite good and interiors from Mt Eden road, rental might be bit low. I think for Couple with 4 kids, you might have to look at areas which are in the circle of Mt Albert, Mt Rosskill, Greenlane, Glendowie, Orakei will have bigger affordable units. Again, it works out bit cheap if you opt for unfurnished house.

[jones]

Thank you.

I will study this and I appreciate your help.

[Familyofmonkeys]

You can find some of the things you specifically want in both cities, but when you say you want to be near to facilities like the airport, just how near are you talking in terms of travelling time? Having lived in both areas, I personally find the Christchurch airport to be easier for access, as the traffic approaching the airport is much busier in Auckland. Many of the suburbs in very close proximity to Auckland airport are less desirable with higher crime rates. There are plenty of undesirable areas in Christchurch too, but you can still live in a nicer area are have a short journey to the airport there.

If your budget is only $300 per week, I assume you are not looking for somewhere very big? With 4 kids, you *may* have some problems finding an apartment. When we first arrived in Auckland, we considered renting an apartment in the CBD for 6 months while getting to know the suburbs, but there are not that many 3 bed ones available and those we could find allowed a max of 5 people and were not keen on lots of kids. I'm not saying this will definitely be an issue for you but it's just something to be aware of.

Depending upon where you locate yourself, where you wanting to travel to, and what time of day you can be close to good public transport routes in both cities, or find them sorely lacking. Most buses routes are serviced later into the night in Auckland compared to Christchurch.

There are malls in both cities....Auckland has more because it is spread over a much wider geographical area. Personally I have found you can be within easy access of a mall in either city. The opening hours for the large Westfield Malls are similar in both Christchurch and Auckland.

There are good and bad schools in both cities, and many have strict enrollment zones which might affect where you live, especially if you are wanting to reside in an apartment or condo. The age of your kids will have an impact upon this. Rents are higher in zones for the best high schools, but this is less of an issue for primary schools. Auckland has a wider choice of private schools if you are considering this as an option.

Internet speed varies not only from one suburb to another, but also from one street to another. The main providers all use the same cabinets. You would need to check with internet providers once you've found somewhere to live. We've lived in Auckland CBD, Waitakere, North Shore and rural Canterbury and in all cases the broadband provision has been adequate for my OH to work remotely, which he does very frequently. There are some more rural areas that still only have dial-up.


As for earthquakes....nowhere in NZ is free of risk from earthquakes. Auckland is sitting on top of a volcanic hot spot, and so the risk of a being affected by a volcanic eruption is higher. In any 50 year period, there is a 5% probability, or 1 chance in 20 that an eruption will occur from the Auckland Volcanic Field. In Auckland, earthquakes shaking capable of causing liquefaction damage is lower than Christchurch, with a return period of more than 500 years, or a 10% chance of occurring in the next 50 years.

http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/ma...%20Hazards.pdf


The recent earthquake activity in Canterbury is on a previously unknown faultline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Canterbury_earthquake

The biggest known risks to Christchurch come from the Alpine Fault and Porters Pass Fault. Every year there was a 1 per cent chance of an Alpine Fault earthquake and there was a 50 per cent chance of an earthquake happening in the next 50 years, with a magnitude of 8+ on the richter scale. Porters Pass fault last moved between 500 and 600 years ago and has ruptured six times in the past 9000 years, causing earthquakes of between 7.1 and 7.7 on the Richter scale. There are also a number of other know faultlines in the area including one near Rangiora/Cust and another near Hororata/Sheffield but these are expected to cause lower magnitude earthquakes in the 6 point range.

http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/...d/Alpine-Fault

[jones]

Thank you FamilyofMonkeys for the detailed explanation :-)

[hsfa484]

@Familyofmonkeys
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