What's commuting like in Auckland NZ??

dazzawazza

Hi, I've been a cycle commuter in London for several years now, but my wife and I are planning on moving to Auckland when we sell our property in London.
I know there's a bad public transport network in Auckland and that cars are the main form of transport. Does anyone here have any experience of cycling in Auckland?
Owning a car is a must in this city, but I was hoping to get away with one car between us.
My wife is also a keen cyclist, but nothing that involves distance, so she will be the main car user. In anticipation of the hills I have a triple chain-set on the Allez.
I know most users of this site are UK, but hoping someone has knowledge. Thanks

Clever Pun

Yeah cycling will get you through the traffic at speed, I don't remember seeing much in the way of cycle lanes but the roads are wider

quite a few hills about as well

Me and the missus were thinking about moving over there at some point probably try and get a place on Waihiki Island and ferry/cycle to work

mailmannz

Why are you moving to Auckland? I mean, think of London...except without any public transport infrastructure!

Mailman

biking_mongoose

Much the same as the UK but you do it upside down (boom-boom!!)

cooper.michael1

Have you ever been to NZ? I was there for quite some time, move with the plan of settling in Auckland....i lasted 4days (sleeping off the jet lag) before i left.

It is the type of city in which i see no benefit of living, its not attractive, got no history, a core with no real real cultural highlights. It is the size on London but with only a population of 1 million...because everyone lives in detatched houses, it is urban sprawl on a grand scale.

Traffic is bad, probably not as bad as London...but the average car size/quality and standard of driving is not so good. The thought of 15 year olds driving around in 10 year old japanese supercars with no insurance is really terrifying....and that is perfectly legal in NZ.

I ended up back in Auckland for 2 days when i flew back... after eventually living in Christchurch, a much nicer smaller city....5 miles from the beach, within a day of the highlights of the south island. Out side the city there are no motorways, just nice quiet roads. The city centre is more European, older with a nice central core...

Many people i talk to when i say i lived in NZ seem to think of it as some fantasy land, it has many problems and many drawbacks.

NZ was not for me, a nice place for a couple of years but that is all, and of course it has its positives too. Nice mid sized towns like Nelson are very self sufficient and the complete opposite of the UK commuter society.... although nelsons breeze block cathedral is a joke, a must see.

UK for NZ i could see an attraction, but moving to Auckland i simply could not. Want a big city go to Sydney, want a smaller one Christchurch or Wellington. But one thing id defintely recommend is go out there and see it before you move, in my eyes Auckland is no dream location.

Clever Pun

off topic a little here, but Christchurch??? of all the places I visited over there it was the worst... it just so wanted to be england it wasn't true. the only place I disliked more was Dargaville which had absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever

reutercrooks

If your going to go that far south of the river then you might as well come to Melbourne.
Nice mild winter, though still cold and wet and with nice hot summers.
The roads are alright to drive on though the Aussie drivers tend to hate sharing the lanes with anything two wheeled so will either not overtake and cause traffic or will overtake too close and they don't like it when you filter to the front at the lights. They don't like it in the UK either.....but then who gives a fark.

mailmannz

Of course Clever Pun never mind the fact Christchurch IS an English city (just located in NZ! ). Well, its as English as it can be but without all the social ills that blight English cities of today.

And I can only agree with every cooper said about Auckland...to be blunt its a sh1t hole. You would be much better off elsewhere.

Mailman

whome

One redeeming feature of Auckland is being close to Waiheke island, which is very nice. Didn't do any other big towns on the North Island - Mt Doom (Tongariro National Park) wasn't an area to live in even if it was rather spectacular.

I quite like Christchurch (centre), though the 'burbs looked as demoralising as an American sprawl. Dunedin was a nice town and the Otago peninsular great. Again the other places we visited were more scenery than living areas.

dazzawazza

mailmannz wrote:

And I can only agree with every cooper said about Auckland...to be blunt its a sh1t hole. You would be much better off elsewhere.
Mailman

Anyone reading this thread should know that many NZ South Islanders have a very bias one-eyed hatred of the North Island, especially Auckland. This is particularly strong in Christchurch (where Cooper.michael1 lived).
I lived in Auckland many years ago and it wasn’t a sh1t hole when I left. Like many cities there are good and bad parts. The best part for me being Auckland’s proximity to the ocean.

Mailmannz are you by any chance a South Islander?

lateralus

I grew up in Auckland and commuted there on bicycle and motorbike.

I won't go into the debate about its merits as a place to live but other posters have made valid points about riding there. You know it's quite hilly, which is neither here nor there.

It is very sprawly, so you might have some distance to cover to get from place to place. Again, neither here nor there.

Biggest drawback in my view is that it's a very car-oriented society, and the attitude of many car drivers to cyclists is shocking. The standard of driving is, believe it or not, noticeably lower than in the uk and there is very little courtesy, even from one driver to another.

Not such a problem in the suburbs, but I feel safer riding in central London than I do in central Auckland.

Given NZ's (not entirely deserved) reputation as a clean, green, fitness obsessed place, I thought it was telling, when I was there last (NZ) summer, that a lot of people were out on the weekends in team kit on their bling bikes but I saw hardly anyone commuting by bike.

davelakers

Clever Pun wrote:

Me and the missus were thinking about moving over there at some point probably try and get a place on Waihiki Island and ferry/cycle to work

That would be THE perfect commute. My wife and I got married at Mudbrick Vineyard, Waiheke Island in Feb this year and the Island holds a special place in our hearts!!

We are thinking of emmigrating as soon as we can, hopefully settling in Auckland first, as my wifes family live there, and then possibly settling somewhere a bit more rural. We spent a month in the East Coast Bays area (Torbay) and that was quite hilly and it looks like challenging cycling territory. A bike commute from there would be lovely though, down to Devonport and across on the ferry to downtown Auckland!! What a way to start the day!!!!!

I absolutely love Auckland, its my favourite city in the world!!!

cooper.michael1

dazzawazza wrote:

mailmannz wrote:

And I can only agree with every cooper said about Auckland...to be blunt its a sh1t hole. You would be much better off elsewhere.
Mailman

Anyone reading this thread should know that many NZ South Islanders have a very bias one-eyed hatred of the North Island, especially Auckland. This is particularly strong in Christchurch (where Cooper.michael1 lived).
I lived in Auckland many years ago and it wasn’t a sh1t hole when I left. Like many cities there are good and bad parts. The best part for me being Auckland’s proximity to the ocean.

Mailmannz are you by any chance a South Islander?

Arrh thats cool, if youve been there before and you enjoyed it, good on you. It certainly was not the city for me but it may be perfect for you!

Buy any cycling or outdoor kit over here, before you go....the competition of the big stores make it miles cheaper.

mailmannz

Dazza,

No, I am not a south islander. Im from the east coast (dont hold that against me! ) and have lots of family in Auckland that I used to visit quite a bit, especially over christmas and also used to spend a lot of time with work in Auckland.

Nice place to visit once or twice (very fond childhood memories of MOTAT) but a sh1t hole otherwise.

Regards

Mailman

dazzawazza

mailmannz wrote:

but a sh1t hole otherwise.

Regards

Mailman

OT s/be in soapbox

I was just watching 'Ross Kemp on gangs' on Sky2, can Auckland really be considered a sh1t hole by anyone??

I'm looking forward to taking part in my other hobby, fishing!

markruss

Move to Auckland, live in St Heliers or Mission Bay and cycle alongside the ocean to the City centre. Lovely!

Clever Pun

markruss wrote:

Move to Auckland, live in St Heliers or Mission Bay and cycle alongside the ocean to the City centre. Lovely!

Mt Eden was pretty nice too, but not near the sea... which is odd for Auckland