Hi Colina,
Sorry, no personal experience of this area but thought I'd put on some links to information relating to it in case you want to read up about it.
This shows the
demographics of the area .
Hawera .
Taranaki .
An overview about living and working in Taranaki. It mentions the gas plants.
Touristy info that will give you some idea about
what goes on in the area .
A dragable
map of Hawera .
If you want to check up on property prices, take a look at some of the agents mentioned on the
NZ Website List under Real Estate.