MNetters in Auckland - ABetaDad may be joining you

[ABetaDad]

I never thought I would ever post here but hello to all NZ MNetters and especially to anyone in Auckland (Sibble?).

I promise not to keep bugging with questions about emigration but me, my wife and 2 DSs may be coming to Auckland for 18 months and would be ever so grateful for a few tips on schools/housing.

We have been doing a lot of Googling so know a fair bit about Auckland and how the NZ education system works but if money were no object which co-ed private school would you send your DCs to age 10 and 12 and where would you ideally live in the centre of town?

The only contraint is that it has to be no more than 15 minutes bus/train ride to the CBT.

Most of the good private schools seem to be single sex which we do not really want so we are also willing to consider very good state schools too. We do not drive so we have to use pubic transport and hence need to be in the centre of town.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Hi.

Central Auckland suburbs are Remuera, Newmarket, Parnell, Epsom, Ponsonby, Herne Bay, Orakei, Mission Bay. Not many Auckland suburbs have a 15 minute commute on public transport - buses and trains are pretty slow in NZ. Ponsonby and Parnell probably offer quickest commute to CBD - and should take around 15 minutes by bus. Of course, all of the suburbs I mentioned are expensive places to live.

Private schools have in the past generally been single sex, but some of the boys' schools are moving to co-ed - Kings College (in Otahuhu)and (I think)St Kentigerns College (in Pakuranga) now take girls as well as boys. These schools are not in central Auckland - there will be school buses to them from Central suburbs though. Very good girls' private schools are Diocesan and St Cuthberts (both in Epsom). There is tough competition to get into these schools. There are some well-regarded state schools in various Auckland suburbs. In the central suburbs, the state schools that come to mind are single sex (e.g. Epsom Girls Grammar, Auckland Boys Grammar, Auckland Girls Grammar). You generally need to live within the school zone area in order to attend state schools.

Seeing that you don't drive and need to be within 15 minutes of CBD, I would recommend Ponsonby - it is within walking distance (30 minutes) or a bus ride (15 minutes) to CBD. It also has lots of nice shops and restaurants. I think the state schools are Auckland Boys Grammar and Auckland Girls Grammar. Or Remuera - state schools are Auckland Boys Grammar and Epsom Girls Grammar.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Hi

ditto everything desertkiwi says. All those areas are great and you wouldn't go wrong. The mix of people might be slightly different, you'll need a 4WD and designer gear for Reuera Herne Bay seems to be slightly more laid back???

I also think though that although St Kents is mixed sex the boys and girls are educated (so kept) separate until they are 16. I also agree I wouldn't underestimate Auckland traffic, coming from London we used to laugh when people talked about traffic jams etc...but over the past 7 years it has steadily increased. It might be worth checking out the time the school bus would leave to different schools from different areas. The info is usually on the school websites.

As an alternative to public transport (which is not very good IMO) dh used to walk to work from Mt Eden to CBD most days when we lived there, got fit and arguably as quick as waiting for a bus and sitting in traffic.

Any other questions fire away.

desertkiwi/Sibble - thank you for both of your answers which are very helpful. Just the type of info we are looking for.

Sounds like Ponsonby and Remuera is where we need to look. Shops, restaurants within easy walk and and Kings school just a short bus/walk away sounds ideal.

The only other question we have now is working out which year our DS1 and DS2 would end up in. Me and DW are sat here with calendars and bits of paper feeling totally .

We know the NZ school year starts in February so if we arrived in NZ on 10 July 2011. DS1 would already be age 11 (March) and DS2 would already be age 9 (April). We are assuming DS1 would therefore be in Yr 6 and DS2 would be in Yr 4? Have we got our maths right or would they be in Yr 7 and 5 respectively? Even after looking at several official websites it is as clear as mud.

Many thanks again for your help and nice to see Auckland being proclaimed as 10th best place to live in the world today by the Economist Intelligence Unit. London came 56th - which is not a surprise to us at all.

ABetaDad - Have nothing useful to add to discussion but just wanted to say, very best of luck ... it sounds very exciting for you all.

As a NZer (though not from Auckland) I would (respectfully) suggest you learn to drive before you go. You've got plenty of time, and will really, really benefit from it. NZ public transport will be a huge shock to the system, believe me! And if you want to see any more of the place, you'll really need a car.
There's quite a useful book called "Where to Live in Auckland". I bought it a few years back and think they do updates periodically, so have a google.
Sorry, but went to school way too long ago to understand this "year" thing they do now!

I think your children would go into Years 5 and 7. It's slightly complicated to work out, but basically -

If you pretend your children started school aged 5 here (in NZ), because of their birthdates they would have gone straight into Year 1 in their first year. If they had been born slightly later in the year (after May or June at most schools) then they would have done Year 0 and then Year 1 the following year.

So for your children:
the year they turned 5 = Year 1
" 6 = Year 2
" 7 = Year 3
" 8 = Year 4
" 9 = Year 5
" 10 = Year 6
" 11 = Year 7

Hope that helps. Obviously the school will take a look at them, and decide if that isn't appropriate for any reason, but otherwise I think you could expect them to be years 5 & 7.

I don't know much about co-ed private schools in Auckland (most in NZ tend to be single sex), but take a look at Senior College. I have heard reasonably good things about it, and it's right in the middle of the CBD (next to the Central Library).

Best of luck. And, yes, would support the previous poster about driving. I couldn't drive before moving to Auckland. I learnt very quickly. Without it you can't enjoy the wealth of opportunities Auckland offers. It's a real shame, but the public transport system is quite inadequate.

pavlova - thanks for clearing up the school year thing for us. It is much clearer now.

On the car issue we are actually really using Auckland as a base to travel around the NZ/Aus so each school holiday we will not be in Auckland at all but travelling elsewhere. When we are in Auckland we will be working and at weekends we may well be taking long distance trains to see the countryside or just lazing in Auckland itself doing the cafe and culture thing.

I agree that if we were there a long time we would definitely have to drive. For a year or so I am sure we will able to cope with taxis and buses and trains if we plan ahead.

ABD! Wow, how exciting! (am namechanger but we've often shared views on MN - we were on a thread about renting a house a wee while back...most people were saying it was better to buy but I agreed with you...does that trigger your memory?).

What an amazing plan, I'd love to go to NZ one day and so am very excited for you. I really hope it comes off and that you all find it an enriching and fun experience.

What's inspired you to move?

Speedy - I do indeed remember the thread. Its renting a house that has allowed us to just upsticks for a while and take ourselves and our children to NZ.

We have always planned to have an adventure with our children for 1 - 2 years while they still want to be with us and before they start having to work towards exams etc. They will go to private school in NZ but we will book a round the world ticket so we stop in several places on the way there and back as well as travel within NZ/Aus as well.

Who knows we may just stay in NZ for ever and never come back.

That sounds amazing, ABD, I'm so thrilled for you. What an adventure indeed. Utterly brilliant.

lol at long distance trains. I think there is only one in NZ?

If you are travelling around NZ without a car you will end up flying. It's not great for the environment but then any sort of travelling is costly in those terms.

You may also want to check out Devonport. Lovely place and the ferry is 15 mins to the CBD.

I love Auckland. Didn't expect to. We came for a year too, 18 months ago....

I agree about the transport, even outside of Auckland it is hard to get around without a car. There is one trainline, from Auckland to Wellington. There are coaches, which are slow. You would probably end up flying to places. Even in Auckland, many of the nicest places (West coast beaches, regional parks etc) are hard to get to without a car.

But it is doable and you could get to the islands in the Hauraki Gulf, easily enough by ferries (you must go to Waiheke - cafes, vineyards, relaxed pace of life, lovely beaches - half an hour on ferry from central Auckland)

I would agree with the suburbs mentioned for commute to city - I lived in Mt Eden for 6 years (very good state schools) and worked in Ponsonby for 6, (great cafes, bars etc). Remuera/Parnell a bit more "designer". Suburbs bordering Ponsonby (Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Freemans Bay) also good.

If you are looking at the North Shore at all, Birkenhead also has a ferry to CBD that takes about 20 mins I think? Out of all the places mentioned though, if it was me I would choose Ponsonby or nearby.

Good luck, I came here for a year, nearly 9 years ago!

Thank you all for all your answers. I take on board what you are saying about transport as I have read a lot about the public transport issues in Auckland. It has become quite a political hot potato I believe in recent years. Not likely to be resolved before we get there though. Seems a shame a lovely city is being ruined by the car. I read they have just put in bus lanes to speed up bus journeys so the local Govt are clearly trying to get to grips with it.

Our solution here in the UK (and in NZ) will be just live very close to shops, restaurants and schools and work from home. Truth is we could live anywhere in the world and carry out our business as it is internet based.

Nice to see a few people who have gone there and stayed longer tan they though. We have checked the immigration EOI score we would get and if we got a job in the University we would have 185 points so we would have a good chance of being allowed to stay if we wanted.

I don't think public transport is every going to be great in Auckland. The kiwi's are very wedded to the car and this is a low density city. I got my first car here in my 30's after DD arrived last year. Without it I would be very isolated. Before we lived on the link bus route which was great for round the city but quite limited.

Check out maxx.co.nz for public transport. It's very expensive though. A return bus trip to the city centre from where we live (about 15 mins) is $4.30 single. Which may not sound much in £'s but it is a lot in $.

Another website to look at for housing is www.trademe.co.nz

newkiwi - I will have a look at Devonport as not heard of that. We have been looking at rented housing on the internet - which does not seem that expensive by UK standards. Not quite got the hang of which websites to look at for housing yet but we found one called www.realestate.co.nz which had a lot of new build stuff on but not many old style character properties.

Interesting that you went for a year and stayed on. It is what we kind of hope might happen to us. Did you go for work or get married to a kiwi or have family there?

Devonport is very popular with university staff, and full of character homes by the seaside with lovely swimming beaches. It's only a 10 minute ferry ride to the city - and extremely reliable (compared with other forms of public trasnport in Auckland). I'd highly recommend it. It's lovely, but very expensive partly due to UK emigrates buying up all the houses!
It's not a private school, but Takapuna Grammar is a good co-ed high school just a few minutes up the road from Devonport.

Realestate.co.nz and the Trade Me property pages are the most comprehensive property sites - I think virtually every estate agent lists on Realestate (for rental as well as buying).

I stayed after my initial year was up simply because I didn't feel ready to leave NZ yet, so I kept getting work visas, then got residency to save on the hassle of having to keep renewing visas, then met dh (also English) and had dd (and dc2 due in July). There was no big plan to stay here permanently, it just kind of happened!

Devonport has a big expat community. We'd like to live there but it is impractical for OH's work. I find housing here expensive, but OH is paid in $ which does make a difference. Beware, kiwi estate agents have am uncanny ability to make property look much nicer than it really is. We pay $750 a week for a nice family house which we got a really good deal on. Unfortunately we have to move soon as the owners are coming back soon. When we were looking, smaller houses around 650/700 were a bit grotty. You will be expected to negotiate $50 off the advertised rent. But you really, really need to view somewhere before you take it.

Another word of warning- beware the unmodernised character home. Our first rental was bloody freezing and we just couldn't heat it- central heating is very rare here. If I'd had to stay in that house we would have left.

We came for OH's job and a bit of a change. I had a baby 11 months after we arrived so I still haven't seen much of the country. But the care here I had was great and it's a great city to have a baby in a buggy. Folk are so nice and helpful. My folks want us to go back, but I live 10 mins walk from the beach and it's 27C. So we'll be here a few more years, but I doubt we'll stay for ever and ever. Might come back to retire though. Being here has changed my perspective a little. So it's all good!

can only agree again with what has been said. Devonport is great, we looked at buying there but it just wasn't practical at the time. DH needs to be able to drive to work and the one road in and out is not good, if you can use the ferry though it's good. A few people I work with do.

Old villas, again we nearly froze to death in a beautiful looking old villa. However some very new houses are 'leaky homes' and have associated health problems. As ugly as they are you might consider looking at a 70's brick house (depending on area) unless you can find a well insulated renovated villa.

It is a great place, we came 7 years ago for 2 years and although it wasn't love at first sight for me I'm very happy here now.

Thanks for all the info on housing. I read somewhere that the NZ Govt is up in arms at the large number of new build properties that were built outside housing regulations and are now leaking and dangerous to health.

The older houses do look nice but having lived in rented property for over 25 years myself and currently in a badly renovated (leaking and inadequate heating) Georgian house I certainly agree that heritage is not the most important thing.

Good to see people saying they went from the UK to NZ for 1-2 years and then stayed. We will go with an open mind and see how it works out. I will not be until July 2011 so a lot of plannng to do before then. We are contacting schools next week to make preliminary enquiries to see what is possible and what the costs are.

I expect that before long you'll all be a refering to me as a 'JAFA' and asking if I have learned to drive a Remuera Tractor yet .

LOL at you trying out the local lingo. Ha, typical JAFA!

Following this with interest as we are looking at taking DH's sabbatical later this year in Auckland. 3-4 months Sept/Oct to Dec/Jan. Currently juggling the nightmare of how to organise furnished accommodation for such a short period without breaking the bank, as we will still have the outgoings on the property here while we are away.

We have definitely decided that we will buy a cheap car to get around while we are there, as agree it's a bit hopeless otherwise. We both used to live there centuries ago before we met so have an idea what to expect. Last time we were there we spend a couple of night's with some friends in their (very expensive renovated) Ponsonby villa, and FROZE! Really strange as I never noticed this when I actually lived there.

Ponymum- have you looked on the sabatical homes website? There are also furnished flats by the docks which will do short term lets. I'm currently looking for long term accommodation as our evil landlords unexpectedly gave us notice and we're trying to buy a house. Don't want to tie ourselves into a 6 month lease.

Hi Newkiwi. I hadn't heard of that website but have now googled it - thanks very much as it looks as if it might be quite useful.

Okay, I've held back long enough.

I know. I feel ridiculously lucky to live here. Even if it costs a bloody fortune and I have no where to live soon.

I think stuff on trademe is quite negotiable too. I'm thinking of seeing if we can do a shorter term let on a property which has been hanging around a while.