I recently read a blog post about the cost of housing in Auckland, New Zealand and then followed the links through to some other blog posts which discuss the cost of housing in other major cities around the world (largely Northern American) and I was blown away. I thought I would do a few blog posts which cover living in Auckland (the good and bad) and what your housing dollar can buy you outside of Auckland.
I left you with my last blog post with my rants about big city living, today I want to focus on the awesome things about living in Auckland as there are definitely a number of awesome reasons to live here!
The Great Outdoors
Whenever I’m going for a run through the Auckland Domain I feel so lucky to be living in a city where you can run through such an amazing area with all the greenery yet you can see the sky tower and see just how close you are to the hustle and bustle of the CBD. There is an abundance of green parks all around the city, both in the CBD and out in the suburbs.
Then there is the fact that you can hop on a ferry and cruise through the Auckland Harbour (which is seriously stunning) before arriving at any of the beautiful islands including Waiheke Island.
If you are into any type of outdoorsy pursuits then Auckland is likely to have something for you. When the weather is co-operating we enjoy getting out to Woodhill Forest and giving our Mountain Bikes a ride.
I could go on and on about the awesome outdoorsy things you can do in Auckland like checking out Piha, or walking or biking down Mission Bay as well as taking any one of the walks or hikes out in the ranges around Auckland.
Open Mindedness
In smaller towns there is a lot of close mindedness and there is the converse in the big smoke. Generally I have found that in Auckland people tend to be more open about both people and experiences. Having such a vast variety of people from all walks of life makes living here very interesting.
Back in Wanganui if I said I wasn’t drinking one night I would get weird stares and the inevitable peer pressure in an attempt to get an alcoholic beverage into me. If I don’t drink up here nobody really cares or says anything and I’m usually not the only one who isn’t drinking, which is nice!
Blogging isn’t weird
I never told anyone that I did any blogging back when I was living in Wanganui (even though it was very sporadically back then) as I wasn’t really sure how people would take it.
I love that blogging is actually a thing up here and that there are some awesome events being set up for bloggers #bloggersbrunchclub, #laptopclub and Bloggers Club are amongst some of the great events and communities for bloggers.
I consider a number of the bloggers up here to be friends and I really enjoy it when I get to spend some time with them. I also like that I can take photos of all my food and they don’t even bat an eyelid.
There is always something on
It doesn’t matter what you are into, there is ALWAYS something on somewhere. This is something I don’t think we have been taking advantage of enough to be honest so I am going to make a conscious effort to get out and do more and see more in Auckland.
There are always concerts, festivals and shows on as well as random events such as Art in the Dark, The Italian Festival and then there are all the night (and day) markets which are awesome!
Food
While this is at the bottom of this list I have put together it is one of the things that I absolutely love about Auckland. Although I have no idea how anyone would want to open a food business here as I would believe the failure rate would be pretty high. Everywhere you turn there is amazing food!
Sometimes we fall into the trap of going back to our trusted favourites as there are too many other options. But then grab one comes to our rescue and has some awesome deals on places we have heard about but never ventured too. Trying a new restaurant for half the price? Yes please!
I also love the variety of different foods you can get living in a big city. Korean, Japanese, Mexican, American, Malaysian, Brazilian… the list could go on and on. I love how there is always somewhere different to try and because of the number of restaurants the foods are generally reasonably priced, especially the asian food. Yum!
I’d love to know your thoughts on what you love about living in a big city. Please do comment and let me know 🙂
Although I was actually born in Wellington, I grew up in Sydney, and only returned to New Zealand just over a year and a half ago… first Blenheim (*shudder* trust me, I know EXACTLY what you mean about small towns and the close-mindedness in them!), and now Auckland!
For some stupid reason (I honestly don’t know why!), I thought I’d *loathe* Auckland. Without even getting to know it, all I could think about was moving back to Australia… and then I moved into a little apartment in Auckland’s CBD, spent every day exploring the surrounds and promptly fell in love with it!
I recently moved to Auckland from another big city as well. I can’t imagine being away from the metro. I need the convenience of being near to the hustle and bustle. It’s definitely true that something’s going on. There’s so many choices! That goes for the food as well. The city is a huge international food court.
I’m a born and raised Aucklander and have always loved living here. There’s always so much to do – concerts, comedy shows, events, eating out, shopping, festivals. I love that we’re right near lovely beaches, and can go just a bit out of town for some gorgeous scenery and some seemingly untouched landscapes.
I totally get why people never really leave Auckland as there really is something for everyone here and you don’t need to go to far to find it!