Where to live in Wellington?

Question

I'm moving to Wellington soon doing a 1-year working holiday. First I hope to rent a room in a shared house while I get some work sorted, and then hopefully rent my own place. I'm wondering which areas I should be looking to live.. I don't know Wellington at all (yet!) so I don't know exactly where the majority of jobs are going to be, and where's a good (cheap?!) area to look for renting which still has good access to jobs? Is transport good in wellington? Is living near the centre important for working?

If someone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Mt Victoria is a nice suberb in the center of town. otherwise haitaiti, mt cook, aro valley are all nice a central to. Mt Victoria can be a little more expensive tho.

Answer 2

If your working your most likely to be in town, so try places like Thorndon, Te Aro, Waidstown, Mt Vic...

It's not that important to be close to the city though public transports pretty good, buses and trains are quite reliable. www.metlink.co.nz for bus and train timetables, destinations and maps!

have a look on http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Property...   to get a bit of an idea of rent princes/availabilty and what your money can get you...

if you need any extra help just give me an email or something, i'd be happy to help!

Answer 3

I moved to Wellington at the start of this year.

If you'd like to rent a room I suggest you look on Trademe. It's like the New Zealand version of Ebay. You can move into an already existing flat.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Category...

You can also look on Trademe for one bedroom apartments.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Property...

You'll most likely be working in Wellington's main central business district. Unlike some other cities, Wellington has one main business hub.

http://www.wellingtonmap.co.nz/WELLINGTO...

There's a map of Wellington. All of those suburbs are within decent bus distance from the CBD.

There is also a train line (I have only used it once) which comes from the Hutt (off that map) but it goes through Johnsonville and Ngaio into the city.

For $95 a month (although I've heard that prices are increasing) you can get a Gold Pass, which allows you on any bus, unlimited trips for one month. Other wise, you can buy a Day Tripper from after 9am which lets you go unlimited buses for one day. Wellington has the best public transport system in the whole country. You could definitely get by without a car.

It's not that important to live close to town. You can bus or train in like most people do. My University lecturers live in the Hutt and train into town every day.

Some areas to avoid- Wainuiamata (a lot of state housing), Newtown (a lot of immigrants, students and a high crime rate). Wadestown is very nice, expensive but is quite sheltered from natural sunlight.

I would recommend Karori, Brooklyn, Kilbirnie, Hataitai, Mirarmar, Strathmore.

Good luck. I hope that helped.

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