Nelson, Bay of Plenty, Christchurch, Wellington - Where do you recommend to live?

[barking]

Having not been to NZ yet we are trying to work out where would be the best place to settle - it all looks good!

We work in the creative sector, my dh could potentially bring his illustration business to NZ, we would like somewhere arty, the beach close by with a good university if I go back to study. I feel we really need to focus on one area as we have to think about schools for the dc's.

Love the idea of Nelson, Christchurch, Bay of Plenty or Wellington, but would love to hear your recommendations

[Shells]

Hi Barking,
We settled for Wellington, despite having no family here. Work in creative industries too. The University is good here, but they're all pretty good. Depends what you want to study. I think the definition of arty here is quite different from UK. There are pockets of genuine 'arty' in a lot of places, but they are pretty much on the fringe.
How old are your DCs?

[barking]

Hi Shells [smie] I've only just seen this as it had fallen off my theads.
My DC's are 8, 4 and 2 so I feel we have to get a move on if we are going to go for it. We've just put our house properly on the market today so tiny steps and all that!

My dh's old boss is at Massey but still waiting to hear if there is any teaching available.

Could you tell me what New Zealand 'arty' is?

I love the idea of somewhere smaller like Nelson but worry there won't be very sensible career wise.

Love to hear how/when you got there

Sorry for the stilted post, dc3 feeding and typing at same time!

[Shells]

Hi Barking. We lived in London before (moved just over a year ago) and I guess I would have thought arty to be 'grown up bohemian'. So lots of Guardian readers who read proper books, went to exhibitions, tried to buy organic, knew who Klaxons were etc. Terrible cliches, but you know what I mean.
Seems to be much more self conscious here. I think arty means 'an artist', or 'a poet' or someone who still lives like a student in a squat etc. And then the other extreme is the ladies who lunch gang who go to exhibitions, turn up at book launches etc. but are definitely rich, and probably middle aged. Does that make any sense. We live in Island Bay in Wellington and its sposed to be 'arty', but really it isn't. Nice, but not arty.
I really like Nelson. Quite hippy-like. And gorgeous climate and beaches. But job ops are probably slim.
And I grew up in Christchurch and find it a bit conservative. But lots of people love it and there are nice parts.
There are quite a few MN kiwis so I'm sure they'll have opinions too.