# Whitemans Valley, Wellington



## Andrew Family (Aug 18, 2010)

Does anyone know much about the above area? It appears that my husband may be working in Upper Hutt and the above area appears to offer community and lifestyle choices. We have two primary aged children and I wouldn't be working initially. Any views would be welcomed.

Many Thanks


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Andrew Family said:


> Does anyone know much about the above area? It appears that my husband may be working in Upper Hutt and the above area appears to offer community and lifestyle choices. We have two primary aged children and I wouldn't be working initially. Any views would be welcomed.
> 
> Many Thanks


Only that it is VERY rural.
There's a great cafe out there called Short Straw Cafe (made of straw). Was an old farm but it has been turned in to a cafe - especially good for the kids as there's a great garden for them to run around and a small play area inside.
Good food and drink. Serves great coffee and they also sell beer 
They do themed parties for the kids - princesses or pirates with costumes etc and they have a bit of a petting zoo. 

Other than the cafe, there's nothing there only lifestyle properties. 
No shops etc. You would have to drive to Silverstream or Upper Hutt for shops/supermarkets.
There's only two ways in and out of Whiteman's valley. You can access the valley from Silverstream/Pinehaven/Blue Mountains via a very very windy and tight hill road. Not the kind of thing I'd like to be driving a few times a day.
The other access is from the Upper Hutt end of the valley and isn't as bad of a windy access route. I often travel this route on the motorbike and meet the wife at Short Straw Cafe for brunch. The ride through the valley on motorbike or cycle is tremendous as there's little traffic and because it's just a circular route there's no need for any traffic to be in the valley unless they have business there - i.e. no passing traffic use the valley to get anywhere else as it's remote.


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## Andrew Family (Aug 18, 2010)

Thank you for feedback. We love the idea of a lifestyle but may need to consider is very rural is what we are looking for.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Andrew Family said:


> Thank you for feedback. We love the idea of a lifestyle but may need to consider is very rural is what we are looking for.


I wanted a lifestyle property for us prior to arrival but a kiwi friend advised us against jumping straight into it. She said start off in suburbia just like we were used to in the UK then slowly steer away from it into more rural living if that's the way we wanted to go.
She warned us that living in a lifestyle block can feel very isolated and can cause issues with children - especially if you only have the one like we do as they don't have any friends close by to play with. 
Living in the countryside in the UK appeals to many people - it did with us, but you're never far away from people, a village, a shop, a pub etc.
Here it is completely different being that there's only 4.5M people in the whole country. I consider Whiteman's Valley as being close (ish) to Wellington but it can feel like you're on the moon as there is nothing other than the one cafe at one end of the valley. No shop, no village, no pub etc.

Don't get me wrong Whiteman's Valley is a beautiful part of Wellington and I'd love to live there in a lifestyle block, but for us it's just not practical since we both work in the city. Having acres of land would just be a waste as we couldn't devote enough time to it unless we really changed our lifestyle by giving up our careers and farming - ha ha not gonna happen!


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## Andrew Family (Aug 18, 2010)

Thank for your sharing this, it has really made me reconsider this area. What are your views on Whitby, belmont or silverstream? Would it be an easy journey from Whitby to Upper Hutt? When we first get out there we will be renting and at first i won't be working as I want to concentrate in getting the children settled. We have a 6 and 8 year old and it is important that we end up in a family friendly place.


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Andrew Family said:


> Thank for your sharing this, it has really made me reconsider this area. What are your views on Whitby, belmont or silverstream? Would it be an easy journey from Whitby to Upper Hutt? When we first get out there we will be renting and at first i won't be working as I want to concentrate in getting the children settled. We have a 6 and 8 year old and it is important that we end up in a family friendly place.


No problem.

Whitby is very nice in our opinion. 
Nearly moved there ourselves last December, the only reason we didn't was because we found the house we are in now much closer to Wellington so it reduced the commute.
Some of the properties there offer spectacular views across the inlet.
Basically Whitby is one massive housing estate (subdivision) and in the older part there's a small shopping area with a supermarket, cafe, real estate agents, library, leisure centre/gym, boating lake etc.
Companies are still building so Whitby is slowly expanding. There are houses there built from the mid 80's to present day.
Journey from Whitby to Upper Hutt is pretty straightforward using SH58 through Judgeford then over Haywards Hill. Be aware though this route is all single track apart from a couple of dual carriageway sections for overtaking. It's also one of the most dangerous sections of road in the Wellington area - high crash rates!
All depends what time you travel but I'd say you wouldn't be stuck in any traffic travelling Whitby to Upper Hutt anytime. Maybe 30 mins journey.

Belmont is nice on the hill overlooking the Hutt Valley and also can have views of the whole Wellington harbour. Bit of an older subdivision but properties look fine. Belmont is accessed straight from SH2 in a couple of places then you wind up hill to get to the properties. I'd expect some people get fed up of driving up and down these steep windy roads - I know I would, especially on the bike!

Silverstream is really nice. A well established subdivision. Has a great village feel to it in our opinion. Good schools, parks and a great little shopping area with supermarket, pub, take aways etc. Also has a train station for easy access into Wellington or to go North. Close to Upper Hutt and allows easy access to the rest of the Hutt Valley and Wellington via SH2.
Pinehaven is also very nice which is next door, just travel a bit further through Silverstream. Of course the houses here are older. There aren't many new properties in Silverstream or Pinehaven.

If I had to pick any of them for a family friendly place to get the kids settled etc then I'd say Silverstream, just as it has more of a community feel and everything you need is there - like schools, parks, lots of kids clubs running using the many leisure facilities, good shops, supermarket, train station etc


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