How do we choose where to live?

[Robi]

Hi,

We are just starting to think about immigrating to NZ and one of the first decisions is obviously where to live. My husband and I are both in the IT sector (no jobs or visa yet) so Auckland would seem a natural choice, but our main goal in moving to NZ is having a quiet surrounding, good quality of day to day life, great education for the kids and closeness to nature. I’d be happy in a small and quiet town although I’m afraid jobs would be difficult…
Could anyone suggest a place that would be a reasonable commute or have this “quiet and relaxed” feeling?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[JandM]

There are a lot of IT jobs based in Wellington, as well, so you might want to do some research based around that area.

However, you may have misconceptions about Auckland. It isn't like any other city I know of. If you call up Auckland NZ on Google Maps, and adjust the size till you see roughly Pukekohe in the south, and Waiwera in the north, roughly ALL that is Auckland. However, zoom in on all the areas, and you will see that this 'city' encloses huge tracts of open farmland and native bush (that is, uncultivated areas of indigenous plants), and also that even the built up areas closer in to the CBD have parks, many joining up to wildlife corridors of more native bush, often along the waterways. It is not one solid mass of building. It has many and varied separate districts, with space in between. If you use the Google StreetView option, you can have a virtual 'look around' to see what I mean.

[Robi]

We’re considering Wellington as well, will definitely look into it some more.
I’ve been to Auckland (a lifetime ago…) I had no idea it spanned as big as you mentioned.
I know this is a very general question, just to get a ballpark idea: would most businesses be located in downtown Auckland? What are the good neighborhoods considering schools and the people around us..?
Thanks

[JandM]

This is such a sweeping question that I don't know where to go with it!

These days, most businesses use IT, so it's possible you could get jobs with a firm whose primary focus isn't actually IT, but makes use of it for ordering, stock control, transportation, etc., etc.. There are businesses in all the smaller centres (where the map shows a different name for the district when you zoom in), as well as in the CBD. Auckland CBD is a very small area, centred around The Viaduct on the southern shore of the harbour, and there isn't a 'downtown' where you'd expect to find everyone who is anyone, though a lot of specifically ICT businesses are listed as Central Auckland if you look at the ads on seek.co.nz.

Then, what is 'good'? You've said a little about your preferences, but if you'd like to think about your own and your children's interests and share, that might help people to pitch in. The water? Organized sports? Preferred cultural activities? Places for eating out? Clubs?

You could work by Googling. One angle would be to find some possible employers you might approach, then look up their addresses on the map and see the living areas in that general area, or where you might not mind commuting from, then you could ask on here what anyone can tell you about THAT place, and what local schools are like. You could also do the virtual lookaround on StreetView.

By the way, quite a few people live somewhere on the North Shore though their job is on the south side, or vice versa, by using the ferries. The Harbour Bridge rush hour traffic jams make car travel slow at busy times. You can check out public transport possibilities here https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/. However, I think if you're likely to end up living in one of the outer areas, you are likely to want to use a car/cars, because transport tends to run on spokes from the centre, and you're quite likely to want to get to places for leisure and shopping that fall between these.

[Azkateaz]

In Auckland there are sectors that have more IT jobs than others - Albany (North Shore), the CBD, Papakura / Manukau (South Auckland) are where you'll see the most postings - but it will depend on what specific kind of IT you do. I live in the country just north of North Shore (Dairy Flat). I work in the CBD and my commute is between 45 minutes to 1.15 in the morning depending on traffic - the afternoon only takes about 30 minutes though I leave at 4pm to beat the worst of it. My husband works in Albany and the commute is 15 - 20 minutes pretty much any time of day. We wouldn't take work in south Auckland as it's just too long a commute to our home.

In Wellington (where we lived the first year we were here) pretty much all the jobs are CBD. Wellington feels much more like a small town than Auckland. You can live on the coast or in the country and take the train in but you'll still be looking at a commute of an hour or so.

It really all comes down to preference. I love Wellington and enjoyed the feel of the town much more than Auckland, but the cold was too much for me - I'll take sprawling Auckland and the lovely weather over fabulous Wellington and the cold rainy days.

[Sun777]

I’ve been to Auckland (a lifetime ago…) I had no idea it spanned as big as you mentioned.
I know this is a very general question, just to get a ballpark idea: would most businesses be located in downtown Auckland? What are the good neighborhoods considering schools and the people around us..?
Thanks

Yes, the city has changed a lot (more so in the past 5 years). Not all businesses are located in downtown, there are some of the bigger companies holding onto their offices in CBD and SME/Medium sized organizations have opened up offices in places Albany & Manukau. One reason is cutting down the infrastructure costs, at times you get to work from home depending on the organization and nature of job role.

If we had a choice, I would move out of Auckland or any remote location any day . Cost of living in Auckland is relatively high due to higher rentals, so is the commute time. Ex-colleague of mine moved to Hamilton with 15% lesser salary but his savings are relatively the same plus he gets to spend less time in traffic & 9-5 rush.

[Robi]

Thanks Kate, this really helps!
Your comment on the afternoon is something i'm wondering about, is leaving work at 4pm common, acceptable?
Today I have a full time job, I usually work 8-4 plus I work from home at night after the kids have gone to sleep. My employer is very flexible and basically I can come and go at any time.
I'm wondering what are the working norms, hours...
Thanks!

[Azkateaz]

Hi Robi - the hours will depend on your employer. My role is very flexible and I can choose my start and end times. My husband is currently working a contract that is strictly 8-4 but previously worked 8:30-5 and in his next role is expected to be there from 9 to 6. It's all pretty variable.