I've been in Auckland for about a month now. Time flies!
The first couple of weeks were about settling in, finding my way around Devonport and Auckland, getting the essentials, finding a place to stay, and of course starting work. I was loaned a bike by a work colleague and so could travel around the area reasonably well. Devonport is a peninsula at the end of a peninsula, so access is a bit tricky. The area I'm in is called North Shore, which is essentially everything north of Auckland harbour/bay. It's something of a second CBD for Auckland, somewhat comparable to south London, except posh.
The Good
Auckland is spacious and green. There are great beaches, parks, hill and trails everywhere, so it's a very pleasant place to live. My daily run is along Cheltenham beach and up North Head - see below.
People are very friendly and helpful. I've been offered furniture, taken to dinner, given a bike, and shown around the immediate area and further afield.
Twenty minutes by ferry will take you to Rangitoto Island, a beautiful new volcanic island slowly growing forest. It's only five hundred years old, and you can see the process, from empty lava fields to forest. It's also a bio-preserve - you have to check that you're not bringing any seeds, plants, animals or anything not indigenous.
I bought a nice little car imported from Japan. Japan has very stringent rules on second hand cars, and also drives on the left, so many such cars end up here, in excellent condition. I tried to use the built-in satnav!
It's perfect if you speak Japanese and are in Yokohama. I will have to see about getting it re-programmed.
Devonport is also twenty minutes by ferry across the bay to central Auckland, so you can commute quite easily. The picture with the cruise ship has one of the ferries in front of the ship - quite a size difference!
Culturally it's not much of a clash. NZ is pretty close to the UK, and at my workplace there are about ten colleagues who are also immigrants from the UK.
Work is great and also classified. But it's great.
The Bad
Housing. The situation in Auckland is worse than London! House prices are on a par with London - a house in Auckland is NZD800k to NZD1m, which at the current exchange rate (roughly £1 to NZD2) is about what you would pay for a house on the edge of London. New Zealand houses, however, are flimsy, draughty and cold. The houses here are a surprising mix of wood and other lightweight construction, and if affordable they are not large or comfortable. Also, space is not well used; places that look like flats inside are detached bungalows. There's been a recent realisation that this is not sustainable, and a couple of areas have been rezoned for denser construction. This includes nearby Takapuna, which has a sizeable Korean community.
Fortunately I've found a house which is mostly brick and mostly insulated, for a rather steep monthly rent. The house is about ten minutes walk from work and the ferry port, which also contributes to the steep rent as Devonport is the poshest part of North Shore. Also, because I'm employed by the military, I can eat in the mess (sorry, it's a Navy base - in the galley) where three course meals are about £3. I have not been cooking.
The Ugly
Traffic is terrible, especially for the area I'm in. The peninsula has one single carriageway in, which gets jammed up during rush hour, and lunch time, and during the school run, and on weekends. So all the time. Either leave very early (6am weekdays, 8am weekends) or expect traffic queues. Getting into Auckland is also bad - there is a single lane to get onto the motorway southbound into Auckland central, or northbound to the rest of North Shore, so it's not worth doing. Better to take the ferry to Auckland, or bike to North Shore. It's genuinely faster than driving.
The Future
Work will take me around NZ, and further afield too. Travel as part of the job - lovely!
There is currently little movement on joining the NZ Army Reserve. They don't seem particularly interested, and the NZ Army is tiny - tiiiiny - so I'm not hopeful.
I will try to update monthly. I'm missing friends, colleagues and London a fair amount, but Y, V and A are arriving from Korea this Friday and I'll have people to talk to again!
