Hi, been looking back through all the old posts about New Plymouth.
We may well be moving there in the New Year, so would like to hear from anyone who's living in the area.
Stuart
Hi, been looking back through all the old posts about New Plymouth.
We may well be moving there in the New Year, so would like to hear from anyone who's living in the area.
Stuart
Hey
We live in the Naki, been here just over 5 years now and absolutely love it, we've travelled around the rest of the country a bit too and definately think this is the best place to be We are in Spotswood, in New Plymouth, close to town, the beaches and only about 20 mins from the mountain. If you want to know anything just shout
Hello and welcome.
May also be moving to Taranaki sometime next year so would be nice to know what people think of it now
Coming to the area for mini break in late Jan with parents visiting from Uk so be good to have any local knowledge for good places to go, swim, eat, walk etc.?
Hi,
We're coming down to New Plymouth in December to visit the school & look at houses to rent, we came down in October for a few days & enjoyed our time there. Any info on school / areas of the city would be appreciated. We know to avoid Marfell!
All the best
Stuart
Hi
December is a great time to come the festival of lights starts at Puke kura park and theres loads of free activities on for the children. Pretty much any part of the "city" is good to live in, yep Marfell is kinda rough but everywhere else is good, just depends on which side of town you want to live on, Fitzroy is beautiful and you can get properties overlooking the beach away from the railway track but lots of $$$$$ lol, everyone I speak to is really happy with the school they send their children to, I love the school my kids go to - West End School Central school is probably the biggest school in the area but it freaked me out to think of my kids at a big school, which is why I went for West End, most of the smaller schools have about 300 students and start at reception class and end at year 6. After that there are 2 (yes only 2!) Intermediate schools which cover years 7 and 8, there are some schools in the area that go from reception to high school age (so the children leave at year 8 and move onto high school) I'm not too sure which ones they are though!! The high schools are Spotswood College, NP Girls High, NP Boys High, Sacred Heart and Francis Douglas. All are ok, I've taught at 3 of them.
When it comes to houses you tend to get alot more for your money in Spotswood / Blagdon / Westown areas, unfortunately there are ALOT of rubbish rental properties out there! May be worth looking on trademe.co.nz as well as the real estate agents.
Thats all I can think of lol, any thing else you want to know then let me know
Hi
Pukekura park is a great place to visit, great walks and theres a cafe there too. Within the park there is also Brooklands zoo which is a small free zoo. All of this is about a 3 - 4 min drive from the centre of the city. There is also the Aquatic Centre which is a great pool, has hydroslides, and outdoor pool, with sunloungers and a gym etc. There is the walkway too which is great and last summer has a coffee cart which also sold ice cream cones, so hopefully will be back this summer. The beaches that are great to swim at are Ngamotu beach (not the prettiest as its at the port) but there is no rip at all so very safe if you have young children. My fav beach is Oakura beach about a 10min drive out of the city it has lifeguards in summer and is a beautiful beach with a huge amount of rockpools, we regularly find starfish bigger than my husbands hand and the kids catch crabs (now just with their hands!) There is also another zoo called Pouakai its ok. There is a great garden called Pukeiti Gardens, beautiful drive to them too. Again this has a cafe on site.
So there is also Mt Taranaki about 20min drive out, this has a visitors centre with cafe. Pretty much all of the restaurants are very good to eat at, the only ones I would avoid are Cobb & Co (awful) and Marbles (can be ok, but a bit hit and miss). My favs are India Today, Lone Star and Okurukuru. One of the best things to do is to get fish n chips and take them down to the beach to eat
Hope that helps
Hey 1k001
Taranaki is AWESOME theres always things to do and the people are very friendly and helpful, we've travelled around the country a bit and the only other place I would even consider moving to (if I HAD to leave the Naki) would be Napier (but the beaches there are rubbish!)
It really is one of the best places in NZ to live and I dont regret moving here at all
Hi Charlee,
Thank you so much for all the info we're looking forward to our trip down. We're going to meet up at Brooklands Zoo on Sunday 9th Dec with some people from the British & living in New Plymouth group from Facebook, so if you guys are free, come along.
All the best
Stuart, Sharon & Aimee