C2 Cities Of New Zealand p1
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This article is from the New Zealand FAQ, by Phil Stuart-Jones and Lin Nah with numerous contributions by others.
C2 Cities Of New Zealand p1
WHANGAREI. It's the gateway to the Bay of Islands, Whangarei Falls is
beautiful, it has excellent diving (Poor Knights), excellent fishing, a
fairly interesting Kauri museum near by (can't remember the name of it),
that clock museum (yawn).... Golfing all year round.
AUCKLAND. It's the biggest, it's hilly, it's got a motorway or two, no
water except what gets caught in rain barrels, Rob Hay's brother and his
family and a couple of his friends live there, it has more winebars and
cafe's than Chch - but not within walking distance of each other....
HAMILTON is smaller, messier, and wet. Fast growing, vibrant, strong
University influence. "It's a hole".
ROTORUA stinks! It's quite nice but it still stinks. :-)
GISBORNE fits in here somewhere...
NEW PLYMOUTH is sitting on the side of an 'extinct' volcano.
NAPIER/HASTINGS is where kiwifruit grow and the earth moved...
WANGANUI has a nice river, but no-one knows who owns it.
PALMERSTON NORTH
Mark Doherty offers:
Population about 80,000. The city has (to me anyway) a distinctly
rural/parochial atmosphere which I kind of like. It's VERY laid-back.
It's built (mostly anyway) on a regular grid plan - wide streets, low
traffic density and definately lowrise building. Since the city is almost
entirely on a very flat plain, it's fairly compact for its population.
Plusses?
The town hosts a reasonable sized university, so nightlife is somewhat
more diverse than you might expect (it ain't Seattle or SF, tho'!).
People are friendly.
House prices are low, so is cost of living generally.
It's a great town for getting around by bike - flat as a griddle, plenty of
bike lanes and traffic density is SO LOW that last time I went there I
wondered where all the people were.
Easy access to outdoor lifestyle - hiking and hunting in the Ruahines and
Tarauas (little bitty mountains on the order of the Shenandoahs or
Smokies), canoeing on the Manawatu and Wanganui, hiking and skiing in the
central plateau (real mountains), horse riding etc - all within about an
hour or two's easy driving.
There is nothing even remotely resembling a US-style commute - you can live
(literally) in the country and drive to work in 10 minutes, or cycle to
work in half an hour (easy!).
Great Pubs!
Easy and relatively cheap internet access.
Minuses?
The weather is grotty. Not really cold in winter, but grey and rainy.
Summers are often nice - long, dry and warm, but not really hot.
It is, when all is said and done, a provincial town. I really enjoyed the
6 years I spent in Palmerston, but I would find it hard to go back now for
more tan a visit (those I always enjoy the hell out of!). But then, I
wouldn't move to Kalamazoo either!
So there you go. Not the place to move if you like bright lights, but a
good place if raising a family looms large in your agenda.
WELLINGTON is a tectonic nightmare. Go there if you like politicians, wind
(oops, redundancy :-) and dangerous airports. It's the capital of NZ.
NELSON is sunny and warm and a nice place to retire to (if you can afford
the house prices).
BLENHEIM is sunnier, warmer, and a great place to grow grapes (ask Montana).
WESTPORT is on the We[s]t Coast and is therefore wet.
GREYMOUTH is also on the We[s]t Coast and, being backed by higher hills is
wetter still.
HOKITIKA is a little drier because it's away from the hills. No other
redeeming feature.
CHRISTCHURCH was founded in about 1845. The older part of the city is laid
out on a grid system bounded by four avenues. Other roads take you out to
the suburbs which started as separate villages and have now grown together.
Chch is the largest city in the South Island with a population of about
350,000 people. It has a nearby port and an international airport.
Industry is a mixture of high tech (software, electronics design and
assembly) and agricultural oriented service and processing. Tourism is
expanding and is important.
There are two universities, Canterbury (near town), and Lincoln (30 km out
of town) and lots of opportunity for recreation. There are many parks in
the city and the CBD is experiencing an increase in nightlife. Access to
the rest of the SI, and indeed the NI is excellent.
If you like golf, there are 42 courses available in Canterbury...
TIMARU is 160kms down the coast from Chch. It's the other main port in
Canterbury. My sysadmin is from there so I thought I'd better include it!
WANAKA is by Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps and is a predominately
tourist and holiday centre. Treble Cone and Cardrona skifields are near
by. The Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow in April (usually in Easter weekend)
is an awesome show but unless you've booked accommodation you won't find
anywhere to stay within 100 kilometres - it'll probably attract about
50,000 visitors. There's the MAZE in Wanaka if you like solving puzzles.
It is an excellent place to while the day away.
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