Our family (three kids, ages 21,14,11) will be living/working in NZ from 7/01-8/02 and need advice from NZers on where we should choose to live. The agency placing us (physicians) says we will have 4-6 cities to choose from (perhaps Whangarei, Napier, Blenheim, Gisborne, etc.) Note we are looking for great places to LIVE, not great places to visit! Another way to look at this question: If you could live anywhere at all in NZ, where would that be, in descending order, and why? We know we want a coastal area where we can rent a furnished house as close to the water as possible! Also, does anyone know a website for holiday home rentals (the only rentals we can think of that would be fully furnished)? Any suggestions (web sites, email addresses, opinions)would be greatly appreciated.

All of your options are on north island, right? All of north island is wonderful as is all of NZ. I preferred south island as it is less populated but.....depends on what you like. I think that you cannot go wrong as a physician in NZ, no matter where you choose. It is a small country and if you don't mind missing the big city lights, you are going to be OK with any of these areas.

Hi Ruth, <BR> <BR>I would suggest the following cities would be good to live in: <BR> <BR>Tauranga: pop approx 70,000, situated in the Bay of Plenty, in the Nth Island about 2hrs drive from Auckland. It has a good climate, plenty of sun etc. The city has great access to excellent beaches. It has a nice central city with decent enough shopping, bars and cafes. There is plenty there for kids to do. <BR> <BR>Nelson: pop: approx 45,000, situated at the top of the South Island. Pretty much the same as Tauranga, just a Southern version. Again has great access to beaches. <BR> <BR>Napier is OK close to the beach and an excellent wine growing region. The beaches in that area are not as good as Tauranga or Nelson, but not bad either. <BR> <BR>Auckland: Has good beaches, good climate,tons of cafes, restaurants etc. Excellent shopping and plenty of things for kids to do. Auckand also has good access to some great parts of NZ, the Coromandel is 1.5hrs drive away and the Bay of Islands 3.5hrs drive away. On the down side it has a larger population at 1.1 million people. <BR> <BR>Whangarei is not the most exciting city to live in, there are not really any decent coastal areas to live by. The city has a relatively low socio-economic population. The saving grace for Whangarei it is close to the Bay of Islands (approx 1-1.5hrs drive). <BR> <BR>Gisborne has some great beaches, but is very isolated from most of the North Island, it is about 6hrs drive to Auckland. It aslo lacks alot of the better attractions that the likes of Tauranga and Nelson have with their better restaurants, bars and cafes. <BR> <BR>Some websites to try for accomodation are: <BR> <BR>www.nzherald.co.nz <BR>www.stuff.co.nz <BR> <BR>They are 2 NZ newspaper sites which carry property rental classifieds <BR> <BR>Hope that of some use <BR> <BR>

ruth, i have to put in a pitch for gisborne especially in january. the weather is fantastic,the beaches are fantastic. good swimming and surfing. the people are fantastic and the whole place has a laid back, sun-drenched atmosphere.websites to checkoutare nzoom.co.nz and netguide.co.nz. both have excellent links to n.z. travel info.

Ruth: <BR> <BR>Just returned from NZ this morning after spending 3 weeks there.(2nd trip) <BR> <BR>Christchurch is my choice. Everything you want plus a great medical community. <BR> <BR>John <BR> <BR>

ruth, <BR> here are a few more sites to check-out.www.bluepenguin.co.nz, www.nzholidayhomes.co.nz and www.bookabach.co.nz.