Technology professionals Tara Kearney and Liam Reeves\u2019 move from Hawke\u2019s Bay to Christchurch started with a post-Covid holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was back when the Government was really pushing for people to travel in their own country. We\u2019d never actually been to the South Island,\u201d says Kearney, 26.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came down [to Christchurch] for a weekend, and really liked it. The city was really nice, had lots of great food, and was so walkable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou drove five minutes out of the city centre, and then it kind of felt like Hawke\u2019s Bay again. We\u2019re like, oh, it gives us all the benefits of the city but without feeling overwhelming and being stuck in traffic for ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains with the Southern Alps covered in fresh snow.<\/p>\n
They loaded a shipping container, a car, and borrowed an RV to help transport their cat, and made the move on May 1, 2023. <\/p>\n
The couple had spent their whole lives in Hawke\u2019s Bay and wanted to see what it was like living away from the town they grew up in. Their trip to Christchurch had inspired them – and shown them what the region had to offer. <\/p>\n
Career flexibility also factored into their decision to move. Reeves, 29, works remotely for a company based in Auckland in a job he secured about a year before the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work fulltime from home, but things just felt like they were getting a little bit stale just in Hawke\u2019s Bay. <\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, my job was still fine with me moving anywhere, and there are a few other staff members in Christchurch as well, so there is a small office that I could pop into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kearney has taken up a hybrid job, based in Christchurch. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was also working fully remote [when living in Hawke\u2019s Bay], so moving from Hawke\u2019s Bay to Christchurch actually made zero difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we were also quite aware that with us both being in tech, even if something was to occur that made it difficult for us to stay in those roles, there was going to be a lot more opportunity for us in Christchurch to develop our careers than in Hawke\u2019s Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riverside Lane by Riverside Market in Christchurch. Photo \/ ChristchurchNZ<\/p>\n
A home away from home<\/p>\n
The cheaper housing market was also a driving force for the couple\u2019s move south. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking for somewhere to go with plenty of opportunity – and the fact that Christchurch was a city that offered that while also offering cheaper housing was the cherry on top,\u201d Kearney says.<\/p>\n
Three years after their move, they know this is where they want to be – so much so, they have begun the process of building a house in Selwyn, 20 minutes out of the city, which they describe as being \u201clike Hawke\u2019s Bay\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristchurch really opened up that opportunity [to build a house] … you\u2019re getting a lot more bang for your buck down here,\u201d Reeves says.<\/p>\n
A commuter in Christchurch’s expansive Hagley Park. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
\u2018The city sells itself\u2019<\/p>\n
Before moving, they thought carefully about what they wanted to keep about their lives in Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t necessarily want to change my lifestyle,\u201d says Reeves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Hawke\u2019s Bay, I was playing a lot of cricket, squash and other sports. And we still had a lot of school friends sort of lingering around.\u201d<\/p>\n
But they quickly found a new social group and various clubs in Christchurch that welcomed them in. <\/p>\n
While the cost of living and groceries are \u201cpretty much the same\u201d as in Hawke\u2019s Bay, it\u2019s the variety and focus on hospitality that makes Christchurch stand out for the pair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more effort put into cultivating a good atmosphere and wanting to make people come and eat and spend money, so it feels more worth it, even though it isn\u2019t necessarily cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the new One NZ Stadium set to bring further buzz to the city and plenty of new dining and retail options popping up, the couple don\u2019t expect to be bored as they settle into their new home. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many unique little areas here with fun activities that aren\u2019t your standard \u2018go to the movies\u2019 or \u2018play a sport\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
They have also discovered Christchurch\u2019s diverse dining and food scene, including Riverside Market and Little High Eatery.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to say that Hawke\u2019s Bay doesn\u2019t have options, it does, but it is between Hastings, Napier, and Havelock, which is quite spread out.<\/p>\n
\u201c[When we moved] we started eating out a lot more, trying different cuisines, and even cooking at home became more interesting because we had access to a wider range of ingredients. You have Chinese supermarkets, your Indian supermarkets, and your Pakistani supermarkets, so you get to have a bit more range.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reeves says if there was one thing they miss, it was Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s relatively predictable weather (\u201cit can be a bit wild here\u201d) and being close to family and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think to a degree we\u2019re probably still looking at that old Hawke\u2019s Bay life and Hawke\u2019s Bay stability, but without giving up the great things that Christchurch brings.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if they have their way, they will soon be joined by some familar faces. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a few months of talking to our friends back in Hawke\u2019s Bay, we slowly managed to convince quite a few of them to move down,\u201d says Reeves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say we have like a 65% success rate of convincing people to move to Christchurch,\u201d Kearney says.<\/p>\n
In their words, \u201cthe city sells itself\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Technology professionals Tara Kearney and Liam Reeves\u2019 move from Hawke\u2019s Bay to Christchurch started with a post-Covid holiday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,1561,4487,9828,1866,71,1976,10938,1345,78,2882,32033,117,111,43,139,69,5202,384,95425,13688,1963,17213,165,8229,1961,61,6923,4276,80],"class_list":["post-368988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-bay","tag-christchurch","tag-different","tag-find","tag-from","tag-hawkes","tag-herald","tag-home","tag-in","tag-love","tag-moved","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-part","tag-people","tag-relocated","tag-relocation","tag-series","tag-speaks","tag-their","tag-they","tag-this","tag-to","tag-what","tag-why","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}