Wellington-Lower Hutt

[gsp0702]

I have been interviewed for a job in Lower Hutt, so i would like a bit of heads up on good/bad areas to live in the wellington area with a reasonable 20-30 minute commute to the Avalon area of Lower Hutt by Motorbike. Any info greatly appreciated.

One of your members recommended posting on here.

Cheers


Andy

[Hans]

Please elaborate on what constitutes a good/bad area. 20/30 min. Commute shouldn't be a problem from most places.

[Steam]

Everywhere in Wellington / the Hutt is within 30 minutes, as you will be going against the rush hour into the city. Oh sweetness!
I dunno about good places, but bits to avoid are Wainuiomata and Porirua. Try to get a house on the hills, they are always nicer areas.

[superslug]

Yeah, definately Wanuiomata to avoid, and Naenae in Lower Hutt.

It all depends on your budget, a lot of the nicer areas can be very expensive.

[Nasty]

Everywhere in Wellington / the Hutt is within 30 minutes, as you will be going against the rush hour into the city. Oh sweetness!
I dunno about good places, but bits to avoid are Wainuiomata and Porirua. Try to get a house on the hills, they are always nicer areas.

Wainui I agree .. but Whitby is in Porirua and there isn't too much wrong with that ... (hmm apart from living there for the past 12 years I guess)!!

Living in Wellington/Lower Hutt really depends on what you like .. there are so many variables ... and most of them within 30 mins

[Hawkeye]

Wainui I agree .. but Whitby is in Porirua and there isn't too much wrong with that ... (hmm apart from living there for the past 12 years I guess)!!

Living in Wellington/Lower Hutt really depends on what you like .. there are so many variables ... and most of them within 30 mins

I totally agree. As Nasty has said, some places such as Whitby are classed as Porirua but are one of the more affluent areas of greater Wellington.
There are not many places in the greater Wellington region that will take you more than 30 mins to get to Avalon. Unless you are on the wrong side of the city in which case you will have to fight with the daily commuters to get through the city.
Anywhere north of the city, apart from a few exceptions will suite your initial needs.

I don't know how much you know about the Wellington region but apart from the city itself, there are two basic route's North. The east valley of Lower and Upper Hutt and the west valley of Northern Wellington and Porirua.
The valleys are connected via a couple of roads through the hills. One at the outskirts of the city and the other further north joining Porirua city with Lower/Upper Hutt. Avalon is in the Lower Hutt region.
Further up the West coast is the Kapiti region which again has some great areas to live and is still only about 30 mins from Avalon.
The thing to do is to try and get a short term rental and then use the time whilst there to look around and see where you like.


Oh! and by the way.... Welcome to KB

.

[gsp0702]

Wainui would be what i would describe as a bad area, has been described as a fighting and drinking kinda place. From the internet Porirua looked quite nice but getting mixed feedback on that. And i would like some idea of good places and schools rather than being in the position of relying on agents input so i can direct my search. But all info gratefully received.

[Hawkeye]

Wainui would be what i would describe as a bad area, has been described as a fighting and drinking kinda place. From the internet Porirua looked quite nice but getting mixed feedback on that. And i would like some idea of good places and schools rather than being in the position of relying on agents input so i can direct my search. But all info gratefully received.

Schools - age group? What kind of job do you do? That will give us more of an understanding of the kind of thing your looking for. ie. If you have money to burn, there's Eastbourne, Kandahlah, send the kids to private school.
If that's not where your at then places like Tawa, Whitby, Camborne (sp), Plimmerton, Rauamati Beach, Avalon, Silversteam etc etc etc. (I'm sure some of the guys from the other side of the hill can give you more info about the Hutt side).

The problem is there are good and bad areas, all classed as the same place.

Porirua is a 'city' which has areas such as Whitby (Bankers, IT specialists etc) and Cannons Creek (State housing, low or no income)
Don't be put off from a whole area. Specific places are to be avoided but not the whole region. It's a bit like saying the east end of London and Chelsea are the same area.

As an example. I lived in Whitby for 6 years. 10 mins from Porirua city, 10 mins from Cannons Creek. Now live in Tawa. Again, 10 mins from Porirua, 10 mins from Cannons Creek. Whitby is in Porirua 'city' and Tawa in Wellington City.

I will PM you an email address so you can ask specifics if you want.

[Dafe]

It will be easiest to buy out the Hutt if you're gonna work there.

Do you have children? Is schooling zones an issue? Because you'd really want to make sure you get your kids into the Lower Hutt City schooling zones, not Naenae/Taita zones (5 mins north of Lower Hutt).

Another way of looking at whether you're getting a good area is to go by price.
If you're spending over NZD $500K, then you are more than likely hitting the nicer suburbs.

In Lower Hutt, you're doing fine by obtaining a home in any of the following suburbs:

Woburn, Waterloo, Epuni, Belmont, Fairfield, Alicetown, Normandale, Mangauraki, Boulcott.

A very nice location to live in would be Eastbourne/Days Bay. (Coastal Location, 10 mins ride from the Hutt). Definately worth a look since you get good currency conversion. Great schooling too. Ferry service to Wellington city also and good Bus runs available.

For House hunting use try these sites:

www.open2view.com
&
www.trademe.co.nz

The open2view site will allow you venture offtrack into all the local real estate websites.
If you see any homes you like, come back to us and we'll give you more info on the location.
Also, The local Hutt council provides a good info source on individual houses.
Use this to further gain details regarding rates, area, zones etc for those specific houses.

http://gis.huttcity.govt.nz/pes/pres...ass/search.asp

[sels1]

If you dont mind a longer commute (45-60min) the Kapiti Coast is a nice place to live, good schools, great lifestyle. On the bike I can get from my place near the beach to Avalon in 45min using the Paekakariki Hill rd, a narrow winding road thats fun on 2 wheels.
As someone else suggested, its probably better to rent for a few months until you get a feel for where you would like to be.

And welcome to the site, fellow Tiger owner!

[apteryx_haasti]

I live in Eastbourne and can vouch that it is a splendid place. I work in Wellington city and commute daily on my bike.

My parents also live out Eastbourne way, my sister and her family live in Maungaraki (note - Maungaraki primary school is very very good) and my brother and his family live in Avalon.

It takes about 15-20 minutes to get to Avalon from Eastbourne - you could make it take longer, of course!

Bus service from Eastbourne to Welly or lower hutt is pretty reasonable and there is a ferry as well into Wgtn City (as Dafe mentioned).

www.harcourts.co.nz - you can do a residential property search of all of the Eastbourne suburbs (also, in individual listings there are the contact details for the EB based harcourts people - they will also know about rentals). Point Howard is closest to the Hutt, Eastbourne proper the furtherest away.

Has dairy, little supermarket, pub, library, bookstore, a few cafes, fish and chips a good indian resturant...

Beaches...

Volunteer fire brigade...

...well, I've probably rabbited on long enough. Like people have said there's some nice suburbs in the Hutt and some places you really want to stay away from - I'm sure that you'll be able to figure those out by browsing the real estate pages.

(PS - www.realestate.co.nz is also good)

[unhingedlizard]

Funny thing I find in the hutt is a good area and a bad one are often two streets apart!

[Juud]

Can't believe you're all coming down so hard on Wainui. I've lived here for 6 years now and, having moved from Upper Hutt, I can't have made a better choice. Sure, it has its rotten apples but which town hasn't. It's beautiful and has a great community spirit.

It's 25 mins from Welly in traffic hour, a nice twisty hill to look forward to every day. And if you're bored just take the 20km ride to the coast.

Did I mention Tana Umaga lived here?

[/end Wainui ad]

[Skunk]

Funny thing I find in the hutt is a good area and a bad one are often two streets apart!

Second that (being a Naenae boy).

[riffer]

On a bike nowhere's really a hassle to commute from.

I regularly do Upper Hutt - Wellington in half an hour or less (35km).

As others have said, there's good and bad anywhere.

What are your requirements, ie $$$, kids schooling, etc?