Roger Moroney: The urban drift - in reverse

Tamati Coffey looks into the stories of people who have left the big city for a more provincial life.

It used to be called the urban drift...the movement of people from smaller more rural and semi-rural climes in favour of settling in the big city.

Where it all happened.

Where there were jobs and lots of opportunities and some nice houses to be had.

A lot of people did that - moved to the big city.

But things have kind of done a U-turn in recent times and now we have the semi-rural drift.

The packing up and heading off to smaller climes away from the pressures and seemingly ever-increasing social and financial pressures of the big city.

Especially the big city called Auckland which has spread far and wide over that great isthmus and appears to be continuing to spread as people continue to arrive from far off lands and figure that Auckland is New Zealand so that's that.

But yes, the times-are-a-changing, and lots of people once settled somewhere on the landscape of Auckland are now moving away.

We've all heard the stories - of more affordable suburban homes and the wonderful sensation of only having to spend about 10 minutes commuting to work instead of one hour and 10 minutes.

And I guess in this new age of online business folk can run their businesses and ventures from anywhere in the country, just so long as their hard drives can pick up the right signals.

In a less complicated world though (and peering through the glasses of simplicity) the over-riding reasons why people get tired and weary of living in a big city are (at least on paper) fixable.

First it's the price of a property or the cost of renting an abode that rattles people.
Then it's the madness of congested transport.

So then, slash the property costs, build more houses and build more roads and a better public transportation system.

Simple.

Job done.

Now everyone can live in the big city and not feel battered and bruised by it.

Of course nothing is that simple...the only simple thing about what I've just suggested to ease the trauma of big city life was that I was able to simply jot it down in a couple of minutes.

Turning it into reality is a slightly more daunting challenge.

In fact I'd go as far as say it just can't be done.

But hey, it makes for a good talking point and plenty of people are talking about it, and doing it.

Making the shift from a big place to a more modestly sized place.

It has become a familiar tale, and a tale former TVNZ presenter and now Labour MP for the Maori electorate of Waiariki Tamati Coffey has taken up...because he's an escapee from Auckland, having targeted Rotorua as the place to set up house.

A house which has four bedrooms, has two stories and a lake view...and he paid less than $450,000 for it.

Auckland price equivalent?

Probably three times that.

The result of the shift, and the shifts of a growing number of others, has led to the creation of a series appropriately called Moving Out with Tamati, and it focuses on couples who have moved out and away from Auckland for more provincial climes.

Wonder if it will touch on the likelihood that for every couple that moves out of Auckland about four or five others from across the seas are probably moving in.

● Moving Out with Tamati, TV1 at 7pm Saturday: Could be interesting, although I suspect it will simply fuel the anti-Auckland antics of a lot of people.

There's nothing wrong with the place...it's just a tad overcrowded, that's all.

ON THE BOX

● Game of Thrones, Prime, 9.30pm tonight: I don't think it would be an exaggeration to describe this as a television phenomenon.

While I'm not drawn to watch it the scenes I have happened upon are, shall we say, aggressively colourful.

Sort of look like Lord of the Rings without hobbits and with 'AO' attitude.

The one thing which is very evident is that there do not appear to be any limitations on the cost of making it.

It has a following of millions all over the planet, and I daresay the real diehards among them have already seen this series...somewhere.

But for those who have not, here it is. And for many, prepare to get hooked.

● Tigers About the House, Choice at 7.30pm Thursday: This is a repeat series and may have slipped under the radar for many the first time it emerged.

It's an interesting and rather entertaining look at a couple of housebound cats which are slightly out of the ordinary.

They are Sumatran tiger cubs, and while they are cubs they are still twice the size of the average full-grown domestic moggy.

Giles Clark, the big cats boss at Australia Zoo, takes the rare newborns home to ensure their survival and as the cubs grow they begin to test the boundaries around them.

Rather him than me.