Exodus: We're leaving town

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN
When dairy farmer David Wallace moved to Hamurana nearly 40 years ago, he knew everybody in the neighbourhood.

Now there are so many new residents he can't keep up.

A new trend in real estate is seeing more Rotorua people move from central suburbs to lifestyle blocks built on former farmland.

The latest Census statistics show big population increases since 1996 in Hamurana, with 489 more residents and Ngakuru with 207 more since the 1996 Census.

Mr Wallace has lived on farms all his life. With his parents he moved to Hamurana Rd from upper Atiamuri in 1968, then to nearby Te Waerenga Rd in 1972 where he remains. He said there only used to be about five families living along the road but because of farmland being subdivided, he has lost count of the area's residents.

Mr Wallace jokes that the "city slickers" are spoiling the farming culture.

"People are turning good farmland into houses and maybe just putting a couple of horses and some sheep on it," he said.

"I guess Rotorua city is growing so people have to move somewhere. Hamurana is quite attractive because a lot of the land is on a slope so houses get views of the lake."

Glennis and Fred Marchant live in North Riding Estate bordering the Tauranga Direct Rd and have a friend's sheep grazing on part of their land. They moved to the estate about eight years ago because of the "quietness" of the area.

"It's relaxing out here and really good for the grandchildren. They can run wild without getting in anyone's way. It's like being on holiday all the time."

The Marchants found their old house in Ngongotaha was too close to their neighbours.

"We're not looking into people's kitchen windows anymore or watching them wash their car on a Sunday," Mrs Marchant said.

When the pair first moved to the estate there were only about five houses there. Now the area has 25 houses.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Rotorua spokesman, Ian McDowell from the Professionals, said there had also been a big increase in residents over the last 10 years around Pukehangi Rd, because of new subdivisions in Matipo Ave and Cobbe Pl, replacing farmland.

That suburb is called Pomare and Census statistics shows there are 75 more residents there than in 1996.

Over the next 10 years Mr McDowell is expecting more people to build in Ngongotaha and on Vaughan Rd, Ngapuna, where land is being subdivided and sold.

"I think people like the space and privacy of lifestyle blocks. It seems to be families who live in them. Maybe the daughter wants a horse so they need a bit of land to put it on."

The biggest increase of residents in the Rotorua district is the Pukehangi South suburb with 834 more people and more houses being built on the southern end of Pukehangi Rd.

The biggest decrease has been in the Victoria suburb, which includes Pererika St, Ranolf St and part of Te Ngae Rd, with 321 less residents in 2006 than 1996.