Whangarei?

My sister moved up there from Wellington nearly 2 years ago, the bought in Parua Bay. Sort of rural so being from a city you may not like it, but they love having a lifestyle block. I went to school there but was a long time ago so probably no help to you re areas sorry.

Good luck, i'm sure it will be great.

we live in Mangawhai 45min south of Whangarei but I use to work up there and it is actually a really beautiful place, (Im a born and breed Aucklander) the beaches are STUNNING! and arent that far away from the city really.

Areas to avoid are Otangarei ? sp? its like Otara! Raumanga isnt that fantastic either but im sure you will get an idea just from looking around, there are some lovely areas within the city / just on the outskirts but there are some amazing places further out there is GLenbervie which is lovely and some other places like that with stone walls etc then there is places out towards WHangarei Heads too like Parua Bay - a friend of mine just brought a place for $440,000 (round there) right across from the beach! (within Whangarei Harbour) and since your an Aucklander and use to travelling places like TUtukaka and Ngungaru arent that far either

It is a small town but it has nice cafes and restaurants and the beaches! and Paihia is only an hour away for little holidays

*sigh* now you've got me trawling TradeMe for baches again...

I use to work at the Council so know some of the ins and outs of the city - so if your looking at buying in Kamo or Hikurangi there are old mine shafts under ground and some subsidence issues - so do your home work

Thanks everyone.

Re suburbs, we drive through Tikipunga whenever we head up to Tutukaka and it seems a bit average. Is Kamo ok though? Not too close to SH1 or anything? Good point about the mine shafts Kye, we will definitely remember that.

Anyone have any thoughts about somewhere like Onerahi?

I like the idea of being close to a beach, but would rather not be too far from civilisation. How far is Parua Bay in terms of kms?

Pomikiwi - thanks for your offer on midwife help. I'm a bit gutted because I have just signed up with a fab midwife here, but I'm going to chat with her about the feasibility of commuting to Auckland for visits. I had my heart set on a straight Birthcare delivery, so would love to see if that would be possible, even if it means moving in with my mum in Auckland for a few weeks around my EDD. Last labour was only 5 hours, so who knows how quick this one will be! I will definitely PM you though if I do need to change.

Any more tips - keep them coming!

xx

You go through Onerahi to the Parua Bay Road.

weegee wrote: Oooh Linzy we LOVE Pataua Sth! It's our favourite spot, we used to camp there every summer, until this year... we should be back next year. We almost bought a bach there a couple of years back but it fell through (lease was up too soon). Do you ever rent out the bach for weekends?

Just to thread-jack, we stayed at Treasure Island for about 10yrs, then didn't go back for a few as it got too crowded. Bought the bach early 2007 and love it up there. My parents own it and us 'kids' help with the upkeep. The place next door is for sale at what I think is an ok price, lease up for renewal 2014 but the community is working to get the leases sorted. We LOVE it!!

Small world!! Yip that sounds like our place, No 7. We love it. We have made heaps of changes, we usually have the bunk room and we lined the garage so it has a dble and bunks in it for bro and SIL. No 9 is for sale now, looks like it has even more than ours i.e. more garaging etc

yip potato I really didnt want to deliver at birthcare in warkworth or whangarei hospital (glad I didnt after having a stint on there with bubs) so I was under AOC and went down for my appointments and cause I had pre-eclmpsia I stayed down in aucks for 2 weeks before being induced, was planning on doing that anyway! and gave birth at National womans and went to birthcare after - glad I did and would do so again

As ive said previously I use to work at council and weegee is right, the airport is at Onerahi and houses around the airport are within the air noise boundary and have restircitons etc on them (gee can you tell I was a policy planner????) so once again if you like it there do your homework most suburbs in whangas have good and bad areas but to be honest you can get a feeling from the type of houes and neighbours etc

Parua bay is past Onerahi but is not that far out and yes 3 mile bush is lovely

HI , I'm from Whangarei , we are in Tikipunga its not a bad area , it dose have its not so like able streets like Vinegar hill  subdivision .

Onerahi is nice but the schools are not the best , maunu ,& Glenbervie have the better school areas if you want to look at the schooling side of things . Otangarei don't even look there Morningside not to bad . Raumanga has the poly-tech but the area is not the greatest .

Riverside is nice close to town and on the way to Onerahi but can be pricey to buy in unless you spot a bargain .

Kengston is close to town and has a lot of bungalows , villas & cottages in but is over priced in my books .

Hikurangi is about 10 Min's north don't go there its like a hicksville lol .

Hope my ramble helped , and good luck with the move , ill properly think of more at some stage