WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW: PART4!!!

[AngryBeaver]

Arrgh,had to start a new thread!

Yes,you can get more land in Tauranga. Well,somewhere like Omokoroa or somewhere.Wouldn't want to live much closer than that. And I woulkdn't want to live at he Mount. Lovely as it is. Too touristy,imo.
We would like enough land for a pool (eventually) maybe a sleepout and still enough for a veggie patch and garden for kids. Don't neeed acres +. Wouldn't say no though,if we could afford it! Be nice to have a few sheep or something/

I think Mum would have to fly to Tauranga. So that would be
Manchester-London,London-Singapore, Singapore-Aukland,Aukland- Tauranga
Bad.

justa howws the back? Hope physio was a help,we may have driven past you!
Your house sounds great.
My mums friend lives in Silverdale.She has about an acre with some sheep etc
Wasn't overly impressed at but didn't give it a proper look I suppose,just stopped to buy flowers for Mums friend! Always worth another look

Thanks everyone,I'm 6 weeks today. Very early days!

It must be hard to relax AB. Here's hoping everything will go smoothly.

We've just bought strawberries and melon for the first time since last summer - yummy. Still a bit pricey but so lovely - cant wait till all the summer fruits are in season again.

I seem to be going out more than dh these days, he has turned into a bit of a homebody. He used to be a drinking-all-night type person. I'm always home by about 11 though and only have two or three drinks, I can't handle any more these days.

Luclily for me, dh isn't big into sport, but now we're here would watch rugby.
He also likes F1 which I can't stand, gives me a headache! And golf,yawn! And yes, also would watch the cycling...he actually sounds quite into sport now I've typed that!
Yes, I will be incredibley anxious at each stage. If I get the all clear at the 20 week scan, I will still be expecting a disasterat the birth I think. I'm just lucky I got to experince 3 carefree pregancies I suppose.

Congratulations AB! That's lovely news. And yes, just accept that you are in fact married to a sports fanatic, by the sound of it

All work and no play this week at this end, but I have retrieved DH from Down Under, which is helpful (to some extent ) though he is moaning about being straight back in harness when he's just come off an intercontinental flight, blah blah groan moan blah - not much sympathy from me after his two-week solo freedom pass in the sunshine!! Anyway he remains v keen on the Auckland option...and is entering into negotiation with North Shore hospital shortly.

Anything anyone can tell me about house renting would be much appreciated. ARE there any (half-decent) houses to rent, for instance?! (Dunedin was a nightmare- we ended up buying, even though we only ended up staying a year, bcs the quality of rentals was SO poor) - and WHAT IS ALL THIS TALK OF MOULD ??!!

I have acquired a battered second-hand copy of 'Where to live in Auckland' but it's a bit out-of-date - very useful though - I know now that Takapuna is where the millionaires live, for instance, i.e. not us

Thanks girls, have a good day

Thanks meerkate. I have been looking for something to help you out,it was a great site called"Aukland suburb Guide" where it divided the map of the North Shore and then rated it and reviewed it. It seems to have gone!

I found you this though www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15365
seems to lead on to another few links which may help.
I am going to be in Aukland for the last show of Mary Poppins. We are staying at Sky City and going to explore Waiheke Island...I really like the idea of living there at one stage.

Yes, mould! Bloody disgusting. We haven't got much storage space in this rental,so loads of our stuff is still in Pickfords boxes. I looked in one which contained, leather belts, my shoes and handbags, one is my nice Fossil bag...covered in fecking furry, hairy disgusting, mold! And we lifted our drawers away form the wall and looked behind them. Guess what we saw?
And when the estate agent saw it and was horrified on our behalf and told the owner. She kicked us out for being "troublemakers"!

meerkate you know about Trade Me to browse for rentals?

I've seen that suburb guide that AB was talking about but I don't have a link right now.

All the rentals I lived in were nice houses but a couple of them v cold (old, draughty villa). A lot of houses on the Shore will be newer than that. Let us know a budget and we can do a virtual property search for you to give you some ideas .

My top tips for picking a good rental would be to get one with lots of north-facing windows to let in lots of sun and to try to get one with a heat pump or a fire. We don't get mould in our house, apart from one room (a bit on the curtains) that gets v little sun. Opening windows every day to let air through the house helps.

AB if you're up in Auckland do you fancy a bit of a meet up or will you be busy doing family stuff all the time?

meerkate this is the suburb guide link I was thinking of www.auckland-suburb-guide.co.nz/. I don't agree 100% with all their ratings but it's pretty accurate.

Yep, that was the link I was looking for. I had saved it to favourites but it wouldn't work! Pretty good site, can't comment on accuracy as I have never lived in Aukland!

wss I would love to have a meet up, but we are picking up my Mum from the airport dumping bags and going over to Waiheke, then Mary Poppins the next then back! Maybe a bit nearer the time when I know the itinerary I could try and clear and hour or two for a meet? (I was going to say a few drinks, but mine would be apple juice!)

We got that house btw, it's smaller than this one, but the garden will be great for summer.
How hideous is this weather? Apparantly we are in for a worse time than when the Weather Bomb hit... wonderful!

Second the north facing windows. Ours has lots but no heating and old and wooden. We have had a very cold winter in there and tbh I hope we are bought before winter next year as it was a bit miserable. Heat pumps seem to be amazing - toasty.

I just found a shop in Auckland for people with big boobs - I am very excited. Just got new running bra cos doing Auckland half in a couple of weeks.

Baby is 1 today! Which means I think I've been on this thread for about 2 years!

That is crazy! Happy Birthday babylolly
Good luck with the run. Have you tried the ah bra's (not for running obviously!)
I am a 34E and I find them really comfy. In fact I was in the kitchen the other day making tea for a school friend mum when she said "Hey, can I ask, are you wearing a wonder bra?!" I said no and told her an ahh bra, and she said "ohh,I didn't think they'd be good for big boobs, but yours look great,really perky!"
I was like
It was the first time we had met, but I really like her!

You know at the Bendon Factory Outlets, they have the Fayreform range which cover big boob sizes. I'm a 38F and never pay over $20 for my bras from there, and they are really good. Last time I was there I got some sports bras too.

Our home is built north facing, sited on the section so that we collect sun all day. My power bill hasn't yet topped $200 (in the 2 years since we had it built) and the internal temperature hasn't dropped below 18 deg C all winter. There's lots to be said for proper insulation, double glazing and thermal backed curtains! NZ houses are just absolute horrors for warmth.

Congrats AB! Lots of good thoughts coming your way for things to go smoothly.

One of my work mates was looking at a place on a half section in One Tree Hill recently. She thought it would be around their price range as the CV was $500,000...it only went and sold at auction for $757,000. It's just crazy out there at the moment!

I've never read Where To Live In Auckland so I don't know what it says about my suburb - its probably very derogatory as we are out west.

Similar thing out here with auctions and house prices Bbqwidow. Friend of ours was going to auctions in Blockhouse Bay for houses with CVs in the mid 400000's - they were going for between 600K and 700K.

DH is making me watch Country Calendar.

Divorce may be on the cards.

Thanks for the tip bbqwidow will have to pay a visit to there and have a look at the hammocks bras

justa glad you're all safely back inside...tree's falling down all over the place here!

sorry, trees!

Does anyone know about the noise control laws here? Next door are having a party/controlled brawl and revving car engines.

DH is going to explode any moment... I'm too busy trying to get the baby back to sleep ...

Oh wait. Cars have zoomed off & there appears to be sudden silence. Phew.

There's NEVER an excuse for Country Calendar!

Webe been to the cinema to see Looper which is good if you like sci fi time travel films (which I do).