"But why?" I have heard repeatedly, incredulously. "Why, Stratford?"
"But why on earth not?" I always reply, somewhat amused at how genuinely baffled the locals seem.
I made the decision to move to Stratford from Auckland a little over a year ago now and haven't looked back. This town has everything you need, and much more that you don't even realise you want until you find it on your doorstep. And quite literally, everything is on your doorstep!
In Auckland, there's no such thing as popping out to the shops. It's an elaborately planned excursion carefully fitted in between peak hour traffic and parking restrictions. And if you forget something, well, damn it, you just go without. Recently I needed to return to the supermarket twice, yes twice, for crucial items if I was to keep making lasagne for dinner. And it took me little more than five minutes (each time) to bundle the kids in the car, park, purchase the onion/tomato paste and return home. If we'd been in Auckland I would've made scrambled eggs instead.
There is so much on offer in this beautiful town and its surrounds. And so much of it is FREE! A trip to Hollard Gardens not long after we arrived found me digging deep into my wallet to pay for pony rides only to discover there was no charge. It was family day. The walks, that mountain, the fact that everything is flat! That alone would have brought me here given that we lived on a main road with a hill in every direction. On the positives we also had a pretty mean view of the sea and lots of beaches nearby, but give me Opunake and their local chippie any day of the week.