Taranaki
The region offers a pleasant climate and a beautiful natural environment together with all the advantages of a sophisticated provincial city, including restaurants, art galleries, theatres and nightclubs of international style. The heart of the province is Mount Taranaki, the 8,260 foot peak that dominates the region's landscape. Its accompanying national park also offers some of New Zealand's most refreshing and unspoilt outdoors experiences, with mountains, lakes, rivers, sea, surf, beaches and bush-walks all readily accessible. Taranaki is an ideal place for families and bringing up children, providing a lifestyle destination where it's possible to travel to work in minutes. Taranaki boasts a full range of shops, including specialty shops, interesting arcades, a broad range of supermarkets and many boutiques. There are excellent schools, healthcare, clubs and social activities with plenty of room for recreation and leisure activities to suit the whole family.
State Business Overview
This section is currently being updated.Education
Taranaki has excellent educational facilities, with a full range of public and private schools and tertiary education courses where students are taught by well educated and dedicated staff. The focus is on providing schools with a safe, friendly and positive environment where students are actively encouraged to reach their full potential. For early years education there are a number of pre-school facilities available to parents including Kindergartens, play centres, home based family day cares and nanny placement services. The region's primary and intermediate schools have low teacher to pupil ratios, and secondary students have the choice of enrolling in an educational system that best suits their needs, be it co-education, single-sex, boarding or day school, religious or secular. The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT) offers high quality tertiary education and the added bonus of a great lifestyle. There are a wide variety of courses available to students, including part-time community courses, certificates, diplomas and degrees. WITT's main campus is located at New Plymouth, however there are also satellite campuses situated at the nearby locations of Hawera, Stratford and Taumarunui. For more information about education in Taranaki please visit our useful links section or our section regarding education in New Zealand.
Employment
Key industries
In terms of employment in this region the main sectors are the primary, manufacturing, retail trade, health and education sectors. The main primary industries are dairy, pastoral farming and forestry, with dairy farming most common throughout the South Taranaki, New Plymouth and Stratford districts. The oil and gas industry is also important to the region and New Plymouth and Taranaki are world renowned for their strength in this sector. The energy sector provides the base for New Zealand's oil, gas and petrochemical industries, which in turn provides a solid commercial and employment base for the region. Although mining and energy make up only a small percentage of the local workforce, they contribute largely to the region's economic activity through oil and gas exploration, mining, and manufacturing, and are therefore key to the region and New Zealand. Planted production forests are a major use of land in the Taranaki region and production and manufacturing related activities are another strong regional employer.Employment in Taranaki has expanded at a fast rate since falling slightly in 2000. Job growth has been particularly good over the last two years and unemployment rates are currently some of the lowest in New Zealand. A recent report on skill shortages suggests that looking towards the future there are likely to be shortages of builders, other skilled and semi-skilled manual workers and health workers in the Taranaki area, and also the strong potential for skill shortages to exist in the engineering industry in the future. Vacancies within the New Plymouth and Taranaki region are generally advertised in The Taranaki Daily News.
Housing
The residential real estate market in Taranaki and New Plymouth is very competitively priced by New Zealand standards. The median price for housing in Taranaki is consistently lower than in many other regions in New Zealand and many properties come with the added attraction of beautiful sea and/or mountain views. Another benefit of the region is that regardless of which suburb you choose to live in, you will only ever be a matter of minutes from the city centre and the journey to work is likely to take no more than 10 minutes each day. Taranaki and New Plymouth offer a wide range of affordable housing options ranging from traditional bungalows on private sections and lifestyle blocks on the outskirts of town to apartment-style living alternatives in the city centre. House prices in the region vary considerably depending on the size of the house, its facilities, and the area in which the property is located. According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, as at April 2005 the median house price for a home in Taranaki was around the NZD $216,000 mark.
Renting
Taranaki offers many types of rental accommodation, including short and long term leases, multi-share student flats, apartments, townhouses, units and family homes. The rental market also offers secure returns for investors due to the large student population attending the region's various educational institutions. Like house prices, rental prices in Taranaki can vary greatly. According to the New Zealand Ministry of Housing the average rent for a three bedroom house in Taranaki is approximately NZD $240 per week. (Rental prices shown are as at Sep 2005). The Taranaki Daily News is a good start for finding a place to rent. Real Estate Agents and private landlords list properties in the 'To Let' section of the 'Classified' index, with Wednesday and Saturday editions being the best for Real Estate. Not all the properties will be advertised in the newspaper so it can pay to call in to the offices of the Real Estate Agents and ask for a copy of their listings. For more information about housing in the Taranaki and New Plymouth region please visit our useful links section.
Transport
Private car is best method of transport for people living in the New Plymouth region, however there is also a public bus service which operates daily between New Plymouth and Waitara. A daily airport bus service is also available. Taxis are also readily available, with a number of taxi companies operating throughout the region. New Plymouth has excellent road networks, rail links, a world class port and a modern airport. Flights are operated in and out of New Plymouth and routes include the major international gateways of Auckland and Wellington. The airport is also a major air freight distribution centre. There are Intercity Trains and Coaches that operate between New Plymouth and Wellington, Tauranga, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Hastings, Hamilton and Auckland.
Population
There are three districts within the greater Taranaki region. The New Plymouth District has a population of 69,200, the Stratford District has a population of 8,750 and the South Taranaki District has a population of 27,600. The two main population centres within the region are New Plymouth with a population of 49,500 and Hawera with approximately 11,000 people.
Climate
The Taranaki region is exposed to weather systems from the Tasman Sea and conditions can can therefore often be windy. Despite this the region has few climate extremes, with good summers and reasonably mild winters. Summers are warm (average 20-25 degrees Celsius) and bright, with Taranaki having some of the highest sunshine hours per year (around 2,000 hours) throughout New Zealand. During winter months the average temperature range is between 10-14 degrees Celsius and the weather can be unsettled. The region's annual rainfall provides just the right level of moisture to ensure it maintains the vibrancy of the flora and fauna.
Geography
Taranaki is situated on a peninsula on the west coast of the North Island, surrounding the volcanic peak that is Mount Taranaki. Mount Taranaki is the dominant feature of the province, a near-perfect cone that last erupted in the mid-eighteenth century. The mountain and its immediate surrounds form Egmont National Park. The province is exceptionally fertile, thanks to generous rainfall and the rich volcanic soil. There are also oil and gas deposits in the region, both on and off-shore.
180 Miles of Coastline
There are almost 180 miles of coastline around Taranaki and the way the land mass projects into the Tasman Sea with northerly, westerly, and southerly exposures results in many excellent surfing and windsurfing locations. Taranaki has a high standard of natural air quality thanks to the relatively windy and exposed nature of the region and lack of heavy industrialisation or high motor vehicle densities. The region's 'fresh clean air' makes a significant contribution to the quality of Taranaki's environment. Much of Taranaki has been developed for agriculture, particularly pastoral farming. Over 6 per cent of the region is in grassland or crops and nearly 40 per cent of the land area is in indigenous or exotic forest cover.
Cost of Living
In comparison to other overseas locations (and many other parts of New Zealand) Taranaki offers excellent cost of living along with very affordable housing. Taranaki offers all the advantages of living in a large city combined with an environment full of arts and culture, great restaurants and cafes, and a wealth of outdoor living options. Furthermore, short commute times throughout the region and no traffic congestion means there is more time available to spend with family or partaking in one of the region's many leisure pursuits.
Other areas in and around Taranaki
Eltham
Eltham is a local town known for its production of fine cheeses. Historically it has been the most highly industrialised town (per capita) in New Zealand. This trend is still evident with the headquarters of Eltham Meats, Rennet, Ferndale, Galaxy Cheeses and Mainland Packing all being based here.
Hawera
Hawera is the main town serving the South Taranaki District. The Kiwi Co-operative Dairies factory on the outskirts of Hawera is the area's biggest industry, but some major dairy and meat processing companies are based in this area, along with several major energy plants.
Opunake
With a population of around 1,600 Opunake township hosts one of the most magnificent crescent shaped beaches in Taranaki. During summer the population swells with tourists and holiday makers.
Stratford
As the gateway to both the Egmont and Whanganui National Parks, Stratford is strategically positioned in the centre of Taranaki. The Stratford township is an important service town for the dairy farming sector and headquarters for the province's major environmental agency, the Taranaki Regional Council.
Waitara
Waitara is 10 miles north of New Plymouth and is the largest town in North Taranaki with a population of over 6,500. Rich in history, Waitara was one of the first areas to be settled by Maori.
