Whangarei, Northland

[Duke]

Just curious if anyone has any opinions or facts of this area... I may have a job offer, I have a phone interview sometime soon.

[MotherBear]

Hi Duke,

No personal experience of the area, of course, but here's a few links to read up on.

Whangarei . Official site.
Wikipedia on Whangarei .
Whangarei Online .
Whangarei District Council .
The Northern Advocate . Local newspaper.

for the interview. We seem to be having a rash of job interviews on here lately. Let's hope they all come good.

[Glenda]

Hi Duke,

We often visit Whangarei, our nearest city at over an hour's driving, and find it pleasant enough. It is not as affluent a city as some others but is growing more popular, expanding and improving. The city centre is easy to deal with, the 'Town Basin' is an area of shops and cafes alongside the river, and there are the odd retail parks in the commercial areas. There are some nice commutable towns nearby, long beaches to the south and many small bay settlements to the north-east if you would like to be within commuting distance and have that beach/sea view. The weather is subtropical (as Auckland going north is) which means plenty of heavy rain, plenty of sun, and winters free of snow.

Whangarei is one of those places you may like as soon as you arrive there, otherwise it is sure to grow on you.

[Ginabridget]

Hi Duke,

I lived in Whangarei 10 years ago, it was a nice place to live, it's a small city and has all the amenities/leisure facilities that you would expect and has some lovely parks and green areas very close to the city centre and Whangarei Falls (in Tikipunga) are lovely, as is Mount Parahaki which overlooks the Town Basin.

Whangarei has quite a good cafe culture going.

As with most cities Whangarei has it's poorer areas and more affluent areas and these are pretty well defined, a lot of people move down to Whangarei from the north for work as it's the biggest city in Northland so you get a wide variety of people.

I really enjoyed the time I spent in Whangarei, I loved that fact that I could go straight out to the beaches at Whangarei Heads after work for a swim, there's access to loads of fresh local produce because of the fertile volcanic soil. After looking at property on Trade Me lifestyle blocks within a good commutable distance still seem almost affordable.

The shopping is OK (not fantastic) but Auckland is not too far away.

I'm going to be in a little village about 1/2 hour south of Whangarei in about 8-10 weeks (fingers crossed) and depending on availability of rental properties may end up back in Whangarei, so I'll let you know what it's like then.

When is your phone interview? Good luck.

[Dawn]

Hey Duke, well done and fingers crossed with yours for the job offer I'm going up to Whangerei for some training next weekend. Don't know if I'll have much time to look around but I'll take some piccies and give you my first impressions when I get back

[BabyPom]

Good luck with the interview Duke!

Jane