Moving to NZ - info on Hastings/Napier (?)

Hello,

My husband, Michael, and I currently live in Toronto, and are massive Toronto FC fans. Jeremy Brockie is already missed!

Michael's a New Zealand citizen and wants to move back there next year. He left NZ in '88, so it's been a while since he's been there.  We have to fill out all the forms to see if I can get in as a resident under the family category. We're currently looking at either Hastings or Napier for our place of residence. We don't want a huge city, as we've been in Toronto for many years, and would like something smaller. 

Just wondering if anyone on here lives in either of those cities, or if you guys recommend either of the two over the other.  Another place Mike was musing about was New Plymouth.

Best of luck to your Phoenix this upcoming season!

Wellington is a small but cosmopolitan city and has a football team so don't discount it because its the capital. The city itself is under 200,000 with an urban area of under 500,000 so tiny by international standards.

I don't know much about Napier / Hastings but New Plymouth is a nice city. Both areas will provide a great lifestyle depending on what your interested in, jobs may be limited. I'm moving to the Queenstown lakes district and am finding that there isn't many job opportunities for my girlfriend so you might be in the same boat.

Like most rural areas around the world both have a bit of a reputation of red kneckness, although probably undeserved you should look into the suburbs that you want to move to. I know my sister had issues living near the Stadium in New Plymouth after rugby games and the like. Saying that New Zealand towns are quite urban / not backwards, you will find plenty of culture.

Napier/Hastings has lots of fruit and wine and sunshine.

New Plymouth has a wind wand and cows.

Yes it does depend on what lifestyle and jobs you would be after.

Napier/Hastings is mostly warm and sunny with good fishing, good wine and fruit as Junior said but probably limited jobs.

New Plymouth is a charming town and has the mountain nearby if you are into snow skiing etc.  They do have a saying in New Plymouth which is: If you can see the mountain it is about to rain and if you can't see the mountain it is raining.  Probably more job opportunities than Napier.

Napier has C-Diddy. 

Napier although very beautiful is a bit mobtastic.

Thanks for the info! 

Warm/sunny with good wine and fruit is definitely a plus for us! Rain and snow, not so much. We're trying to get away from that, as we've had so much of it in Canada. Walking, biking, swimming, gardening and footy are things that we are into.

In terms of jobs, I'm a photographer (sell my images on stock sites etc) Mike's a computer technologist, but he's been offered a retirement package from work so there will be some money coming in from that. In addition, he'll likely start a home business up again, like he used to have. He does data recovery, and fixes computers that have gone dowm. In other words, our jobs are pretty mobile.

Hoping to be there by next fall, maybe late October, but there is still much to do, it could take longer.

New Plymouth is the only place in the world where you can go surfing in the morning in the ocean and skiing in the afternoon up the mountain as they are literally a 30 min drive apart.

Both places have their pluses and minuses. Napier is warmer as it gets sheltered from the foehn wind by the central plateau and experiences up to 50% less rainfall of New Plymouth. Napier is also a bit more art deco (I guess refined rural culture) and has the viticulture

In terms of sport, Napier has it better in Napier City Rovers and Hawkes Bay United for football, The Bay Hawks for basketball and the Magpies for rugby.

I guess the only downside is that the trip to Auckland and Wellington is longer from Napier than it is from New Plymouth.

Ooohhh and New Plymouth being on the West Coast has a black iron sand beach and Napier has white sand beach. Quite odd but its a common West Coast/East Coast divide thing in NZ. 

The culture shock from Toronto is likely to be huge if you pick either place...try Wellington before committing long term ;-)

We call it Autumn over here.

The warm temps of Napier sound pretty promising. But, ya, New Plymouth being closer to Wellington/Auckland is a draw.

In terms of culture shock, I'm sure there'd be some. However, I've lived in a small town in Northern Ontario for many months doing my photography, and Michael's lived in small towns too, so we'd adapt fairly quickly.  We much prefer life outside of Toronto. We will miss our Toronto FC a lot though!

Napier is closer to Wellington than New Plymouth is and New Plymouth is only about 20 minutes closer to Auckland.

Not quite sure where the White Sandy beaches in Napier are JV? My recollection of beaches near Napier are rocky and somewhat dangerous for swimming.

The difference are not huge but New Plymouth to Auckland is about 4 hours. Napier to Auckland is about 5. I stand corrected on the trip to Wellington.

Nelson is definately the place to be if you want close to Wellington and yet best weather - only really rains at night - and summers are stunning with decent beaches around the city. The only real issue will be work depending on what jobs you're looking at..

Where in Toronto are you from? I lived in Etobicoke for a bit

Nelson is a good option, also has the benefit of being near Marlborough which is a large wine producing region, has plenty of beaches around, and is in a good location for exploring the south island, also a 20 minute flight to Wellington.

And also everyone mentioning the skiing in Taranaki, its a pretty crappy hill, if they ever do the long planned ski field by the shark tooth it would be good but as it is its icy, rocky and barely open. It's a club field and definitely not what someone from Canada is use to.

If you're really that mobile, go the whole hog and get to Collingwood, a 90min drive NW of Nelson.

Wgtn might be better then.

Sh!t weather but better hospital compared with Napier/Hastings or Nelson.

Palmerston North Hospital not too bad... but it's Palmy.

BTW - thanks everyone for all the suggestions! It'll be fun exploring all the options!

Napier/Hastings are warmer than Toronto in the winter, but in July temperature are4/13.  A lot higher than you are used to in winter, but certainly not warm.

We could live with that compared to our winters here. I take it, that it's colder in Wellington in the winter. Snow is rare though, eh? It's been so long that Mike's been there, not sure what he remembers is still true.