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Thread: Wellington or Auckland??

  1. #11
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    Nov 2004
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    I know this thread is old, but the debate is eternal :-) I wanted to share an impression. After spending 3 nights in a Wellington suburb (Karori), we came to the surprising realization that we might be better suited to Auckland after all.

    The main factor? The roads. They are SO NARROW once you get outside the CBD. Once people park on the sides, there's effectively one lane left. I won't say they're all like that, but too many for my taste. I frequently found myself driving squarely over the middle line on very twisty streets with blind corners. I'm told you get used to it (and to parking on the grass when the street is even narrower), but even as somebody who grew up driving around windy hills, it was stressful. Also, traffic is no picnic, with not much in the way of backroads to avoid the fray. We didn't have to drive at peak times, so it would be even worse with a regular job.

    The other thing was that the named suburbs such as Kelburn would often have only one or two blocks worth of shops, which means you would need to drive into the city for many necessities, or to a bigger suburb. I imagine we would order delivery more than we would avail ourselves of the downtown restaurants.

    Karori itself actually had a decent village, with all the basic necessities (grocery, post, etc) and even a nice library branch, and benefitted from straight, normal roads in the central part. It was just the inconvenience of having to drive through the more labyrinthine areas in order to access the CBD.

    Auckland may be a massive sprawl, but because of that, the suburbs did have a decent variety of offerings in each one, so you're not stuck with the same five dining/shopping options when sticking close to home...and you don't have to drive over the center line of the street to avoid parked cars on the way to work :-P

    Weatherwise, we didn't love Auckland's humidity and random downpours, so you can pick and choose between that and Welly's windchill, lol...

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
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    Germany
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    Quote Originally Posted by Juniper View Post
    The main factor? The roads. They are SO NARROW once you get outside the CBD. Once people park on the sides, there's effectively one lane left. I won't say they're all like that, but too many for my taste. I frequently found myself driving squarely over the middle line on very twisty streets with blind corners. I'm told you get used to it (and to parking on the grass when the street is even narrower), but even as somebody who grew up driving around windy hills, it was stressful. Also, traffic is no picnic, with not much in the way of backroads to avoid the fray. We didn't have to drive at peak times, so it would be even worse with a regular job.
    I think a short visit to Italy (or even the UK) will set you right regarding the roads in NZ. I've been hearing for many years how windy, narrow, and dangerous all of the roads in NZ are, but I think they're universally wider than roads in Europe and find them to be quite luxurious and easy to navigate. They're certainly not as wide as roads in the USA, but if you reset your baseline to southern Italy, you'll feel much better about them.

    Don't let a little traffic put you off what (I think) is the more welcoming, fun, and beautiful city.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by diallta View Post
    I think a short visit to Italy (or even the UK) will set you right regarding the roads in NZ. I've been hearing for many years how windy, narrow, and dangerous all of the roads in NZ are, but I think they're universally wider than roads in Europe and find them to be quite luxurious and easy to navigate. They're certainly not as wide as roads in the USA, but if you reset your baseline to southern Italy, you'll feel much better about them.

    Don't let a little traffic put you off what (I think) is the more welcoming, fun, and beautiful city.
    Yes, it all depends on your baseline! haha...I don't mind windy roads, as long as I get a lane to myself :-P

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Juniper View Post
    Yes, it all depends on your baseline! haha...I don't mind windy roads, as long as I get a lane to myself :-P
    Once you leave the "main" roads in Europe you rarely get lanes to yourself, but you'll get used to it!

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