Hi Guys!!!
Off course I haven't binned you MB! Just life has been busy the last couple of months so I dont get as much PC time as I used to boohoo
Hi Heidi!
So strange that this time last year I was in the exact same postion as you and was doing all the research, looking at houses on Open2View,dreaming the dream etc hehe, and here we are a year later actually living it and actually living in one of the houses we saw on Open2View and liked the look of!!!
Ok, let me think what would be useful to tell you ...... hmm well let me start by saying I LOVE NEW PLYMOUTH!!!! It is a beautiful town, people are incredibly friendly, they couldn't do enough for us in our first couple of months when we where finding our feet, so different from what we ever experienced in the UK. The town itself is a nice size, not massive, not small and is more than big enough and has just about every type of shop you would ever need, the main high street and shopping arcade, and then all the big Supermarkets are on the same road as well. Depending which area you ended up living in quite a few areas have there own little shopping centre as well. Nothing is too far from one thing, probably driving from one side of the town to the other would say take 20 mins if you had no traffic, apart from rush hour and in the main city centre roads traffic is never a real problem luckily.
Who is the possible job with? Then I can give you an idea of where it is amd how long from different parts of town it would take to get there, but I think I am fairly safe to say it wont be a long time even from the edge of town where we are. We live in the suburb of Highlands park which is right of the NE edge of town so we are right out from the town centre and right on the edge so have the best of both worlds, and you would be surprised how many people who have fair sized sections out here have animals of varying sorts hehe. Again depending on where you work having a little house in the country is still easily doable without a massive journey into work, be it living out in the country or heading out to the townships about 15k out of town like Inglewood, Egmont Village, Oakura, Okato, but apart from Oakura which is such an up and coming area so house prices are sky high there as it is on the coast all the others you get a load more for your money as they are inland, and the further inland you go the cheaper things get normally, but looking at a house out in the country you would be looking at about 30 mins drive max for most cases, unless you went really far out We bought our 4 bedroom, 2 bath house for $350,000 and as long as you are not looking for a new property you will be able to find something you like for a reasonable price.
Areas in town, there are quite a few and the only area we where ever told to steer clear of when looking at houses/schools etc was Marfell as it is the 'rough' area of town but otherwise people said there is nowhere that you should avoid though some areas are more sort after than others. School wise again there was no ones to avoid apart from Marfell (our son is 7 so we are talking about first school here) and there are some REALLY good schools in NP according to people, our son goes to Welbourn school and I have to agree, it is absolutely great and he really enjoys it there! As with anything some are more sort after but a lot of schools are zoned now so it will depend on where you end up living as to which schools your kids will go to. Intermediate schools there is the choice of 2, Devon Intermediate and Highlands Intermediate, Highlands is the sort after one and thought of as a brilliant school. High schools there is NP Boys and Girls High, both excellent reputations, Spotswood College not thought of as highly as the other 2 but still heard good things of it, plus there is the religious based schools which has great reputations and apparently do have to take a quote of non relious students each year. I love that the schools seem to encourage the kids to be so active, loads of sports clubs even for the youngsters, Miniball, Cricket, Soccer, they do fitness each day and in the Winter when we first got here they did x country which they just dont do in the UK for infrants school! My son loved it hehe
Weather, well we've been here since July so seen winter and spring/early summer weather and haven't been put of, dont get me wrong we had some real windy/wet weather back in the winter but for me its winter so I just expect bad weather, whereas come spring it has for the majority been lovely weather, we've had some bad weather still but its getting less and less and it had been hot and sunny up until mid last week when to welcome Elton John to the Brooklands Bowl it chucked it down haha
Things to do, well even though we've not gone out of our way to do loads of stuff there is so much to do, off course you have the mountain which is beautiful by the way, and you have 2 visitor centres up there and the ski fields, we went up to the North Egmont Visitor centre our first weekend and had a look around, there is quite a few trails around the mountain for tramping but you do have to be prepared and have a change of clothes etc as weather conditions can change so quickly up there, it can be clear blue skies one minute and 30 mins later it has clouded over and can be cold and wet, so while it is a beautiful mountain I have learned to have a lot of respect for it and would not go up there unprepared now. But once up there wow, it is an amazing view
You have the coastal walkway from one end of town to the other which is beautiful, you have the port to go spend time at, it has some nice little beaches, can hire kayaks. go out on a boat trip to Sugar Loaf Marine Reserve where there is a big seal colony, or have the yummiest Fish and Chips ever lol, the chip shop there has won regional award for the best F&C shop and wow do they deserve it hehe, just a lovely place to spend a sunny day. Beaches everywhere, lots of beaches good for surfing, or quieter beaches for just having fun with the kids. I have taken up learning to ride, I go out to some stables nearer the mountain and am having lessons which I love! Really there is so many things to do a few Zoo's, Pukekura park and the Festival of Lights is about to start for the summer hols, we have a list about a mile long of places to visit lol
Oopsie, I have gone on a bit hehe but do you get the impression I like it here hehe ..... I have been lucky and made some really good friends quickly which I am sure has helped the feeling of settling in but even so I still think I would love it here and besides you will have at least one friend waiting for you when you arrived
Any questions fire away and let me know who your hubbies possible job is and I can let you know anything I know about them. Money wise, yes unfortunately wages aren't as good here, my husband took a wages cut to come here but we are glad we have come :)
Ali
x