Hi Taralastair, from the east coast of the South Island, NZ. Welcome to the site and forum.
I live about 25km west of Christchurch in Ohoka, which is a rural area. Population of ChCh is just under 400,000. It depends on how big or small a property you want. There are a lot of lifestyle blocks out this way and some small farmlets out at Oxford, (other half hour further west). New blocks with bare land, (no house) will knock you back from about NZ$ 250,000, and then you have to build. The smallest new block is 10 acres. You can buy smaller, but these will be already established. The District Council does not allow new blocks smaller than 10 acres as this puts too much pressure on services. Outside of towns most properties will have their own bore/well and septic tank.
Climate: We have four definate seasons; Summer, Dec, Jan, Feb. Autumn; Mar, Apr, May. Winter; Jun, Jul, August. Spring; Sep, Oct, Nov. They do overlap.
November is usually hot dry, (Nor-Westers) and temperatures can get up to the high 30s. Most times high 20s. February is the best month of Summer. Winters can get cold and wet. The coldest recorded temperature in NZ is -24.1C, but that was down in central Otago.Though weather patterns are changing. We don't get extremes of weather like parts of the North Island. I have lived here around ChCh. most of my NZ life. The internet should tell you most of the property situations. Nth. Canterbury.
Look at these two sites.
www.harcourts.co.nz
www.bayleys.co.nz
Robin
'You know you are a hard-core gardener if you deadhead flowers in other people's gardens.
To err is human. To blame someone else, is management potential.
we are getting quite a new Zealand contingent on here, its great!
