Ranking locations

[Elliana]

My partner and I have been in NZ for some time now, but long story short we might have to move in the next year due to his career. We can rank our preference for location (from 1-7), so I was hoping for advice on some of the locations.

We are a young couple with no kids so schools/etc are not an issue. We do like many of the things that the big cities offer (variety of restaurants, Asian marts, shopping malls etc), but South Island scenery trumps North Island scenery hands-down in our opinion. Work-wise for me, big cities are a plus, but I can work reasonably well from anywhere so there is flexibility there.

These are the options offered and my thoughts (no offense meant to anyone, just personal preferences ):

- Auckland - Lived here before, loved it. Would likely rank this #1.
- Tauranga - Never been
- Hamilton/Rotorua - Not really a big fan, but being close to Auckland is a plus
- Palmerston North - Seems okay when I visited it, surprisingly hip for a small town
- Wellington - Loved it when I visited, but afraid of earthquakes
- Christchurch - Very tempting, such beautiful scenery and access to the best weekend vacation spots in NZ. But afraid of earthquakes...
- Dunedin - Visited before, okay but very isolated and cold

Having been in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, I am also quite paranoid about earthquakes now . I have looked at the map of earthquake-prone areas in NZ and seen that the locations on our list at high risk are Welly, Palmy and Chch. Despite that I would probably go with either Welly or Chch as #2, just can't decide which. They each have their plus points so the deciding factor might be earthquake risk. My thoughts are that even though Chch has the higher quake risk by far (50% chance of significant aftershock in the next few years), all the EQ-prone buildings would have already collapsed, and the new ones are built to very good EQ standards. On the other hand Wellington is trying to get the owners of EQ-prone buildings to strengthen them, but there is a timeframe of 10-20 years allowed for this, during which a quake would be dangerous.

Thoughts?

[Elliana]

Hrm, meant to edit the title but can't seem to anymore - we're not just looking to pick a location, but rather ranking them from 1-7.

[JandM]

You only get a few moments to edit one of your own posts - intended for correcting typos, etc. - then it freezes. But I've sorted it.

[Elliana]

Thanks JandM!

[breeze]

Just to participate in your poll... My preference based on experience of either having lived there or visited a lot:

1. Auckland - Opportunities, weather, resources, international airport
2. Tauranga - Weather, pleasant living, opportunities
3. Wellington - Pleasant city with opportunities but don't like the cold and wind
4. Hamilton - Close to Auckland, would live in Cambridge and work in Hamilton
5. New Plymouth/Palmerston North - Only if we have great jobs.

(No comment on Chch or Dunedin as I've not been there.)

[Elliana]

Thanks breeze!

We went with Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton, Dunedin, Tauranga, and Palmerston North in that order. I love Auckland too, the only downside is the high real estate prices.

Crossing our fingers...