Leaving Sydney for Christchurch region

Hi,

My wife and I are looking at leaving Sydney for NZ, and are doing an exploratory trip in October.

We are most keen on the Christchurch region, as we do appreciate big city convenience as well as business and employment opportunities.
We are open to between 5 and 50 acres of land, but would prefer 10-25 acres (mostly arable).
We would ideally like to be within 45 minutes of Christchurch.

Could anyone point me in the direction of the more desirable locations around Christchurch for lifestyle blocks?
If you know the prices in the location it would be brillant too!

Thanks!

It sounds like you are keeping your options open land wise! The closer to the city, the more ten acre blocks you will find, for bigger blocks you would need to look at your forty five minutes distance. Are there any other things you need to consider? Do you need schools or preschools? Do you like being close to a village so that you can have a real coffee? Meet other people? Have you got a rough idea of a budget?

In North Canterbury the more sought after areas are Ohoka, Mandeville, Clarkville and Swannanoa. A little further out, so often a bit more land for your dollar, but still nice spots would be Cust, Loburn, and Oxford.

To get an idea of prices, I'd suggest visiting www.trademe.co.nz and check out the real estate. All the above places are in the Waimakariri district. They will have links or names on there for local real estate companies which would help you to search further.

Feel free to fire any questions on North Canterbury our way, and I'll do my best to help��. Hopefully one of the other Cantabrians further South can help you with areas that way.

Hi Trace,

Thanks for your response.
Those areas all do look very nice and incredibly affordable compared to Sydney.
Ohoka looks great for closer in, and Oxford looks great for further out.

Is there anywhere to the south west of Christchurch which you would also suggest?

We would need to consider daycare and schooling options, and it would be nice to be close to a village. Of course, we need to meet other people too!

We haven't set a budget, but looking at TradeMe suggests that the pricing on all is ok for us.

SickOfSydney;514447 wrote: Hi Trace,

Thanks for your response.
Those areas all do look very nice and incredibly affordable compared to Sydney.
Ohoka looks great for closer in, and Oxford looks great for further out.

Is there anywhere to the south west of Christchurch which you would also suggest?

We would need to consider daycare and schooling options, and it would be nice to be close to a village. Of course, we need to meet other people too!

We haven't set a budget, but looking at TradeMe suggests that the pricing on all is ok for us.

Have a look in the Malvern district, Darfield, Sheffeild, Springfield... not so far from chch and Darfeild is a reasonably sized town which should cater fro your requirements.

Swannanoa has a fantastic preschool and primary school. No shops and no village. Ohoka has a primary school, and a service station and a great Farmers Market. Oxford has a lot, from a small supermarket, to nice cafes and restaurants, a farmers market, and an RSA. Rangiora which is a good size town, is from ten to thirty minutes from all these places (fifteen early childhood centres, five primary schools, and a college).

www.essencemagazine.co.nz Gives you an idea of our nice north Canterbury lifestyle.

There are quite a few lifestyle areas south of Cheistchurch, but more South East than south west. West Melton is south west and not too far out. Tai Tapu is South and is nice. On that same trade me page, look under Selwyn for the district and then that should give you a few more ideas.

If you need to work in chch then pay great attention to the commuting times, not just the distance. Commuting in from the Banks Peninsula or Lincoln is a lot easier than commuting in from the North.

kai;514465 wrote: If you need to work in chch then pay great attention to the commuting times, not just the distance. Commuting in from the Banks Peninsula or Lincoln is a lot easier than commuting in from the North.

Yes, but we don't want too many thinking that, or it won't be... []

And it does depend on what time you leave for work. My OH commutes into the airport each day, but he leaves before seven and has a straight run in, and a coffee when he gets to work. Leave after about seven fifteen and yep, he's in traffic. I'm guessing it's the same for those travelling from Rolleston etc in.

If you plan on working in CHCH and living in and around Loburn commuting is a major handicap as there is pretty much only one road to take and that is right through the middle of Rangiora,if not,north Loburn would be the warmest area of the Canterbury Plains as it cut off from the cooling sea breeze, the soils do very greatly though from stoney to heavy clay

Yep Richard, no cold easterly wind up here!!

The soils are heavy in places as you say but the views are fabulous, the schools etc great and we are close enough to Rangiora. We love it up here and have no plans to move anytime soon.
We often don't have a frost up here and then freeze when we head into town for sport etc. Of course, when it snows, we do get some good falls as much of this area is 200m+above sea level.

Commuting is the drag as the one road does get clogged, but if you can leave early, 45 mins to city office from North Loburn is possible. Mindyou, that is leaving home at 5.30am[:0] However at least my farmhand is home by 4pm most days .

Now the new bridge over the Ashley is open , when the river floods we don't have to go via Sefton. Not that we have had enough rain for the river to rise or even reach normal flow this year but it is still a great feeling knowing we at last have a bigger, better bridge.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

Hi all,

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Oxford seems to be a lovely location, and Darfield seems very nice too. I do like the idea of a little elevation too.

Unfortunately they are quite far out! If you leave at 7.15 could you make the city by 8?

Ohoka seems like the best of the closer in locations.

Would anywhere close in have views of the alps?
Snow capped mountains are a bit of a novelty for me

I personally don't think you'd make it from Oxford to town by eight leaving at that time....however we do have a few people on here that live Oxford that would give you a much better idea of that (it's all to do with traffic congestion not actual distance. Also be aware that in winter you can get black ice on Tram Road (the main road to both Ohoka and Oxford) so this can slow you down as well.

Yep, buy the right property and you will certainly get good mountain views....we have the alps and the Canterbury foothills from our house. Bliss.

In this area (McQueens Valley/Motukarara) you are 35 minutes from the central city in school holidays, and 45 during terms: the time difference is traffic once you are into town - not on the open road.
Some areas here have mountain views too, but they are exposed to the southwest winds.

Don't forget Fernside. Close to Rangiora township and it's amenities and it has a lovely school and preschool. Again I realize this is on the North side. And as mentioned travel into CHCH can be slow if you leave at the wrong time. Depends where you end up working.

Commutes from Darfield, Sheffield and Springfield, being out west are less likely to be congested than those places north and south. Rangiora area is booming and the southern towns are linking together.

From Memory it is a 40 min drive from upper Riccarton to Springfield. and about 50 to the CBD. Much closer is Darfield. But Sheffield is right on the old west coast road in the middle of them. Sheffield does not have anything other that a bakery and gas really. But it is only 10 ks (at 100kph) to Darfield, lovcated right at the old west coast road turn off so quite rural, yet close to everything and on the quieter road to chch.

Being quieter and the gas station in recent years (decline) turning into a card only station, Sheffield might have some good land opportunities for cheaper, than say Darfield and Springfield which have more shops and higher demand I would guess.

It is literally 4 minutes drive to each of these towns in either direction from Sheffield... so unless you plan on walking to the shop Sheffield might be a good option... the pie shop/bakery is still going strong though. and if you are into skiing you are on the doorstep of 5 ski fields less to 30 mins away...

Just my thoughts, I lived in Springfield one winter. Grew up in chch and have driven those roads lots and lots of times. A nice Sunday drive to Athurs pass is only an hour or so from there with beautiful mountain roads. Or carry on to the wild west.

Anything around these towns will have you in any part of the city in about an hour with good traffic... to the fringe at the west (ringroad) in 30 mins.

Like living in the city, it depends on where you work as to where the bet location to live might be... you wouldn't want a job in sumner living out there...lol