Moving to new zealand with family, i want to live in a small town like most 2000 people any ideas? if not less?

Show all answers

Kel

take those negative responses with a pinch of salt....there are plenty of great towns in Nz with the community feel/spirit you are looking for. If at all possible I would first recommend you get a rental car and spend 2-4 weeks touring both islands......you will really get a feel to the different areas. The thing about new zealand is it has a small land mass, but the regions are so varying: dry, hot Hawkes Bay, mountainous south island, rugged west coast, sub tropical northland.......etc etc. There are definatley some towns you want to give a miss to, but i guarantee if you look you will find your ideal place! I have never been, but I have heard stuart island is bee-autiful! too cold and isolated for me, but you may love it! I also second Keri-keri up north if you like it a bit warmer.... Alexandra is in the south island but seems to be in a microclimate of its own...always great weather, vineyards, artists. What about some of the islands near Auckland: Waiheke (if you have some money!), great barrier...the world is your oyster!!!! Do the hard yards and travel is my best advice!!

Driver T

Get out your maps and do a bit of googling for these places; (north to south)
Taipa,
Mangonui,
Opononi,
Whangaru, Dargaville,
Parakai,
Stanmore Bay,
Kumeu,
Tuakau,
Miranda,
Coromandel,
Te Aroha,
Waihi,
Katikati,
Paengaroa,
Hicks Bay,
Reperoa,
Kihi Kihi,
Arapuni,
Ohakune,
Eltham,
Norsewood,
Waitotara,
Bulls,
Shannon,
Eketahuna,
Akatarawa or Kaitoke,
Ngaiwi,
Days Bay,
Havelock,
Pakawau,
Karamea,
Murchison or St Arnaud,
Hanmer Springs,
Cheviot,
Oxford,
Methven,
Akaroa,
Haast,
Geraldine,
Omarama,
Waimate,
Luggate or Tarras,
Alexandra or Clyde or Omakau,
Kingston,
Ohai,
Manapouri,
Lawrence,
Winton,
Riverton,
Tuatapere.

It's a long list, but I would be quite prepared to live in any one of these small communities. (I haven't mentioned the one I do live in - it's too small for your criteria.)
Where I've put an alternative, it's because these towns are similar and fairly close to each other - sometimes sharing the same facilities, doctors, schools etc.
In most of these places employment would be school bus driving, farm contracting, forestry, mining, tourism and farm work.

I hope you can find somewhere satisfactory.
Driver T

mareeclara

Well there is isolated and isolated. In New Zealand we have small towns and small towns. I lived on the West Coast of the South Island which is the least populated province in NZ. I found it quite separate and isolated, eg we had to order in vegetables from Christchurch as it was cheaper than buying them in the shops...also they did not have selection. But if you go to somewhere bigger like Hokitika..i think it has around 5000...but if you look outside the town you might have something good.
I am thinking only of areas I know here and I know the South Island better than the North. There could be Moueka ( near Nelson), Murchison ( kind of near Nelson..sort of), Kaikoura ( tourist town but not really huge), Waimate ( where wallabies are!) in South Canterbury,
Riverton ( southlands coast..near Invercargill).
I will say that the small towns will love a nurse as its hard to retain them in some places....in general if you go for places in more inland places in the South Island they are generally less populated......
It depends on how isolated you want to be!

Dorklander

Ashurst, Manawatu!!!!!!

Dangerous

It sounds like you'll be making a big mistake coming to NZ. Contrary to what you've assumde it is actually a very sub-urbanised nation with over 80% of the population living in 6 locations.

The towns have seen their best people leave and ths most people still living in towns of populace of about 2000 won't have any love thy neighbour attitude and are more likely to be complete redneck trash you'd want to avoid.

You could try Balclutha, Gore or Tuatapere down south. Then there's the West coast and Buller. Or if you don't mind the Maoris you could consider heading to the east cape.

hayden5650

Come to the South Island. Small North Island towns are often largely inhabited by the Maori natives. Many still practice cannibalism.

The only problem you might have in moving to a town of <2000 people is finding work other than farm work or mining.

You'd be best to find a small township within a few miles of a 10,000 person town. Look up Oamaru, there are plenty of small towns within comfortable daily transit distances of there.

Hippiechick30

I'd try taihape if I was you.
I just drove down to Wellingotn from Hamilton this past weekend and stopped over in Taihape on my way because I simply couldn't face driving any further! The motel owner where I stayed was so nice. He helped me settle in and brought over a couple of free beers and chips. When i mentioned I was looking forward to curling up in front of the telly with a beer he put a movie on for me as well!
The next morning I got up fairly early to get back on the road. On my walk down to get a coffee and breakfast everyone I saw smiled and said hello. It was a really nice friendly town!
But i didn't see if there was a doctors surgery nearby. There was a main street of shops so I assume there would be...

daisyrose

country town here ,,, even if you found something out of the main city , there township in those place too ,,,are you looking at the south is or north is of nz ,,

PARADISE_WATERS

Featherston, Greytown (the oldest inland town in New Zealand),
Martinborough (world famous wines) or Carterton.

Their populations are all between 2000 to 3000 and about 1 hour
by train/car to Wellington - New Zealand's capital city.

BVLGAR1

There are so many small towns. I guess it all depends on you & your family, on what surroundings you'd prefer. The North Island is much warmer than the South Island. So if you don't mind the cold, love the snow, whale watching, Glaciers & etc.. then a town in the South may be suitable. If you'd like some where warmer, surfing, beaches & etc.. then the North Island just might be the spot. There's so many great places in the North, Warkworth, Wellsford, Kerikeri, Paihia, Gisborne, Napier, so many to list. I LOVE NZ!!

Totem

Have a look at the Wairarapa. Some great, cute small towns there really coming into their own.

Anna.

Greytown.

Soon to be

Thumbs up to Gore. And they have the best organic cafe there, that makes the best carrot muffins in the world. It has a real sleepy feel to it.

Dorrian

I would probably suggest taking a look at Kaikoura.

http://www.kaikoura.co.nz/

Ashleigh M

Pirongia!
25 min to Hamilton, 10 min to Te Awamutu
Buses into H-twn and T.A for secondary students
School in Pirongia for primary students
sports club with a range of different sports on offer, getting upgraded each year (there getting a gym soon! sooooo exciting!).
service station, childcare, pub, and a few other great businesses
wonderful little town, nearly everyone knows each other.
check it out

oh and its in the North island btw

Zebra

Katikati is nice & peaceful & Featherston has gotten rid of alot of it's unemployed trash/criminals & is said to be an up & coming area where property prices will increase in 5 years or so (people from Wellington have started to buy there if they can't afford to buy in Wellington or want to afford a larger home). Cambridge is a nice leafy town lined with trees with antique shops, horse trainers & breeders, etc.

The problem with some small NZ towns is that they can have cruddy unemployed criminal types who live there as they know there will never be any jobs so they can stay on the dole & you get gang members living there (they are like NZ's version of the Mafia but look far more terrifying with their gang patches on their jackets & tattoo's, etc). Not all towns are like that though. Also Northland can be quite violent with high unemployment but the Hokianga area is fine & the wealthier parts are the Bay of Islands, Paihia, & Kerikeri, etc. North of Auckland there are nice places near beaches like Leigh, Matakana, Orewa, etc. Fantastic beaches up there. There are also the beautiful, wild surf beach places West of Auckland like Piha, Muriwai, Bethells Beach & Karekare (where the NZ movie the Piano was filmed). I guess Piha would have about 1000 - 2000 people around there, the others much less. These places are near or in the Waitakere Ranges (fantastic forest).

The Coromandel has alot of small towns also, all near great beaches. Alot of holidayers go there in Summer though.

KÅ¨whai

Kerikeri is really lovely.
An hour drive from a big city, its not 'in the middle of nowhere' but its still quite small. A good highschool and primary school, shops, friendly community, up north, sunny and warm. But - it can flood when there is a lot of rain, most places are fine, just the low-lying fields but just be aware of that.

Brandon T

Huntly, is a great town to live in. It is 1 hour away from Auckland, 30 minutes away from Hamilton. And there is around 7,000 people here. It is great.
There are 4 doctor surgery's here which is ideal. Also there is a maternity hospital here.
Its a small town with very friendly people. I would suggest this as an ideal town.
Overall good weather.
Reasonable house prices.

But, it is up to you.

I have put some websites about our town below.

foigjsgi

Mate. If you want to live somewhere where everybody knows your name and business then NZ small towns are the place for you. Especialy in the winter when there is little else to do other than drink and talk about other people. If you are used to that then the transition will be easy. If you play rugby and drink lots you will get the gossip well before most people (unless the gossip is about you in which case you will be last). If you have a criminal record then NZ is also the place for you. Most set court dates for criminal offending are schedlued well after the offending and no body will remember exactly what is was you were arrested for initially. If you are like most NZ offenders you will have acquired a string of other offences in the mean time and even the judge will be confused about what your court appearance is for. Dont worry if the judge remembers either. You will not get deported back to where you imigrated from . This is New Zealand and we dont do that to international criminals. That would be unfair. If you like rednecks then you will be welcome by many small communities in NZ. However, if you have any kind of tertiary education then stay away. Informed people are frowned upon and you will soon find yourself wishing you had never listened to your parents go on about getting an education. On the up side these places breed complacency and you need not bare the burdon of recognising your potential or having life goals that do not include consuming alcohol or having sex. Cherrs

Moving to new zealand with family, i want to live in a small town like most 2000 people any ideas? if not less? pic 1

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: