New Brighton Travel Forum

We want to move to New Brighton to live shortly and would like to know from people who live there where they would consider to be the most favourable spots to choose a home in and possibly any parts to avoid for any reason, eg boy racers, noise, flooding etc. We flatted by the beach in the 70's but it's so different now. Would apprieciate the locals advice.

Although New Brighton is becoming nicer and nicer, and property prices are rising, it still is not Christchurch's best suburb.

But let me go into detail...

The location itself is - as you will surely know - fantastic, with this endless beach that it is fabulous for all kinds of water sports and jogging etc. And all this right at the doorstep. The shopping mall has been updated nicely, and there are a lot of cafés and pubs to go to, and there is a Woolworths supermarket.

It is no boyracer hotspot, and whenever I go there I have never considered it noisy. However, I would not hang out on the beach after dark. There are some dubious figures hanging around, and even when once I took photos of the illuminated pier, accompanied by my husband, we felt threatened by some strange guys (probably into drugs) and fled the scene before being assaulted. There might also be more burglaries and car break-ins (while on the beach) than in other suburbs - but also, there are a lot of worse places.

Locals and visitors see it very differently. When I moved to Chch I would have loved to live in New Brighton but for my husband - a local - it was not even worth a discussion. He said he would not move into this poor people's suburb with all the linked social problems. With properties becoming unaffordable for poor people the face of NB will change dramatically.

My favourite pastime in NB is birdwatching at Southshore which is a great place. That is where I would probably choose to live. The mix of houses and people is very mixed there. Some rich people and still many poor people. But it is hard to say what will happen in the next some years. Developers have bought many sites and are trying to convince the City Council to allow high-rise buildings, so the laid-back atmosphere would go, and a mini Gold Coast could be created. However, it would surely be nice to be able to look over the dunes from a quality apartment...

Very good housing is further north, with new subdivisions in the area of the Bottle Lake Reserve.

Flooding is no real issue. But if a tsunami hits the south of NZ (the last one in 1960 flooded Lyttelton Harbour) New Brighton will be gone... Weather-wise you get hit by strong winds which can get so severe that big trampolins fly through the air. Friends of mine once found theirs outside the garden, on the beach.

There is good bus service to all areas of New Brighton, including down to the Spit (Southshore), QEII Park with indoor swimming poo, gym, stadium etc. is closeby.

Sissi

Thanks for that sissi, your reply is much apprieciated and has given us a lot of food for thought. Just out of interest, what area of christchurch do you like the best?

Really hard to say... Many suburbs have their plus and minus points.

For a start: I live in Lyttelton and absolutely love the view over the harbour to Banks Peninsula, and that I can walk up the Port Hills right from our house, and that we do not have smog in winter. Looking out of the panorama window is like a holiday every day :-)

We lived in Merivale for a while and I also loved it. And I would love Fendalton if we could afford a house there ;-) They are quiet suburbs, and from Merivale you are next to Hagley Park and the Botanic Garden, which is great for jogging and cycling at your doorstep. But there is no sea view...

Sumner has a nice feeling, the beach, just the beach not long enough to be really interesting for running, and no beach at high tide... But fabulous cafés and restaurants, a cinema... And the only real promenade of Chch, good housing quality, great starting place for walks (we often take the bus to Sumner and walk to Lyttelton). There are great hillsite properties but the sun disappears rather early.

Perhaps the best compromise for views of land and sea: Mt. Pleasant, Redcliffs, St. Andrews Hill. But expensive suburbs and no cafés - however, Ferrymead (building craze at the moment) and Sumner are not far away. Difficult commuting at peak times, and when lots of people head to Sumner beach on a Sunday. (You are faster in Lyttelton than in those suburbs from the CBD.) This summer there was a lot of bad odours at low tide, due to a lot of algae.

Well, as said in my previous post: Somehow I love New Brighton... especially the Spit. But at this time and moment I would not (yet) want to live there.