# Moving to Wellington - Where to Live



## joegs

Hi Me, My Wife and 2 Children aged 2 & 4 are moving to Wellington in Sept/Oct 2013. Our eldest will be starting primary school in Jan/Feb 2014 so we are looking to rent somewhere near a good school and a nice area to live. My Wife has Family in Lower Hutt but we are wanting advise on where the best place to rent would be.

Ideas of what we want are:

Good Schools
Good Value Rental areas
Family Area to live
what there is to do in suburbs of wellington ie sport, shopping etc.
Areas to avoid with a young family

Thanks

Joe


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## escapedtonz

joegs said:


> Hi Me, My Wife and 2 Children aged 2 & 4 are moving to Wellington in Sept/Oct 2013. Our eldest will be starting primary school in Jan/Feb 2014 so we are looking to rent somewhere near a good school and a nice area to live. My Wife has Family in Lower Hutt but we are wanting advise on where the best place to rent would be.
> 
> Ideas of what we want are:
> 
> Good Schools
> Good Value Rental areas
> Family Area to live
> what there is to do in suburbs of wellington ie sport, shopping etc.
> Areas to avoid with a young family
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Joe


Hey Joe,
Me, wifey and our now 2yr old emigrated to Wellington from UK last year and have nearly done a year here.
We have plenty of time yet before we need to be thinking about schools, but understand you will need to be renting in an area within the catchment area of a good primary school.
Taking the school out of the equation there aren't really any no-go areas. It's not like parts of the UK where you wouldn't walk down the street at night.
Obviously there are areas more desirable than others but that's really as bad as it gets.

We live in Churton Park between Johnsonville and Tawa to the North West of Wellington up SH1. 
There is a new school on the estate called Amesbury Primary which I believe has good reports. A neighbour sends both his children there as does a colleague who lives a couple of minutes away on this eatate.
Also schools in Johnsonville seem to have good reports.
Our little one attends kindergarten in Johnsonville.
We also have friends in Silverstream down in the Hutt Valley who report their primary schools are good and when we first arrived we lived in Woburn next to Lower Hutt City which was a lovely area with very good schools.
I'm sure there's many more all over the Wellington area.

For better value for money the further away from Wellington city you are the more you will get for your dollar in respect of rent.
It's expensive where we are but I wanted to be within 15 mins drive of work in Wellington CBD so we upped the budget but in hindsight wished we'd looked further afield as we could get the same size house for much less dollars in the Hutt - ie Riverstone Terraces which is an equally new estate but without its own shops or school.
For a 4 bed here in Churton Park your talking min $595 a week for a small house up to $945 a week for one with plenty space and maybe an extra bedroom.
Amazes us how expensive rent is. Double the cost of UK rental and the houses aren't a patch on the build quality of the UK I'm sorry to say.

Depends what your after as a family for good family areas to live. We really like Raumati Beach up the Kapiti coast. Beautiful beach village with cafes, restaurants, shops and good facilities for kids with an excellent playground and splash zone plus the beach is right there.
Hutt Valley is also nice with plenty things to do but instead of the beach there's the Hutt River.

Sport wise there's everything you need. A multitude of sea water sports is available in Wellington Bay from Petone and is a place where many seem to run their jet bikes, waterskiing, sailing etc.
There's a 27km long cycling route on the doorstep in the Hutt as it runs up and down the Hutt River from Upper Hutt to Petone.
There are many MTB tracks, walking tracks, golf courses a plenty, racecourse at Trentham etc etc.

Shopping wise the best IMO is the Queensgate Shopping Mall in Lower Hutt. Way better than anywhere for miles. Wellington CBD not bad but its a lot of walking around the shops and I feel everything is more expensive in the city.
There's also plenty of supermarkets around the Hutt and up here where we are. There's no real need to go into Wellington CBD other than to sample the attractions there like the Cable Car, Te Papa museum, Royal Botanic Gardens, the Waterfront etc.

Where will you be working and what are you looking for as a family. What are your interests ?

Hope that helps somewhat & good luck.

sent by iPhone using Expat Forum


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