Best Places to Live with Hiking Nearby?

Christchurch/Canterbury of course! :D In fact I was walking the coastal track from Godley Head to Taylors Mistake to Sumner yesterday just saying that no-where else in the world would you be at the beach with the view of snowy Alps. Not sure where you are now but Chch has the Port Hills, Banks Peninsular, Craigieburn, Arthurs Pass & Lewis Pass all in easy driving distance. And the hiking is endless (not to mention beautiful!). I also work in recruitment in Chch so be aware the job market has slowed down quite significantly given the current 'recession'. However customers are talking positively and hopefully confidence in the market will build back up again soon. Good luck!!

Don't forget the foothills. Mt Thomas, Oxford, Richardson and Grey, and the area around Porters Pass are all good for day walks. Nelson is a great spot for the outdoors, but work would be very limited. Dunedin is natural but kinda cold and a long way from the ranges. Perhaps you should consider Wellington too -- more work, and there are the Tararua Ranges nearby, but not quite the diversity of options you have out of Christchurch.

Thanks for the info! I'm currently still in the US, waiting to see if my application to live there is successful. I've never visited NZ, so don't know the "feel" of the cities or hiking except from what I've seen in videos and read in books. The type of hiking I love is alpine meadows and ridge hikes. I especially love hiking in Alaska, the Canadian Rockies, and the North Cascades. A 4-8 hour day hike up among white-capped mountains is my idea of heaven! I'm equally passionate about being near the ocean. I love watching birds, seals, boats, starfish, etc. I love looking out over the ocean, feeling connected to the rest of the world. I dread being land-locked! For the past several years, I've been living within an hour's drive of alpine hiking and a 5 minute walk of salt water, and I realize that I've been a "spoiled" in having both so close by. I realize that the big cities in NZ are usually 2 or more hours' drive away from the best alpine hiking. If I had to pick, I'd rather live near the ocean and drive to the mountains. Having job options nearby is also a plus, so that's why I'm focusing on the bigger South Island cities. I don't know enough about the medium-size (20k-50k) towns to know which ones feel safe, successful, and good for raising kids. I think for my first city there I will need to play it safe, and pick a city with at least a university and/or a good hospital. So, right now I'm looking at Dunedin, Christchurch, and Nelson, but am slowly learning about other places. So is Christchurch the closest of those cities to alpine hiking? Are Dunedin and Nelson mostly going to be focused on the ocean and gentle hills? By the way, is there a way I can enable email notifications on this forum? I didn't notice such an option when editing my profile.

Nelson does not have a university, all the Citys and towns have good hospitals. But for rare complicated procedures often require a trip to Auckland or Christchurch. Nelson is a lovely city. It has quite a laid back feel to it, quite a few hippies choice to live there for one reason or another... Nelson is right next to Tasman bay and has several long sandy beaches, there is rocky shoreline 10 minutes to the east. Tasman Bay is often calm and offers good swimming in Summer. There is also heaps of good swimming rivers a short distance from the city. Qutie a few tramping options, to the east of the city is the Richmond range, quite gentle mountains but there is a alpine section to it. About a hour to the west is Marble mountain and the Nelson lakes national park. Very little, if any alpine there but still a nice place. About a hour south is Nelson Lakes national park and this is true alpine country. Lots of options to explore. A bit further, to the south east of Nelson lakes you can access the upper Wairau... Which allows access to more mountains and peaks... During the summer you can drive through to Hamner springs but that takes several hours, but up that way is a wide range of different peaks to explore. The mountains around Lake Tennyson are impressive. A bit further to the south east again is the Branch and Leatham which provide access to even more peaks. So Nelson (and even Blenheim) is a great place to enjoy the outdoors, but you would be lucky to find employment in the IT sector there. Blenheim has slightly quicky access to the alipine enviroment (Also can access the coastal Kaikoura mountains and the peaks surrounding the Awatere (not many trakcs in that region) in just over a hour. But there is no IT in Blenheim to speak of.

Yes, Chch is closest to snowy hiking, but the area around Nelson (Kahurangi and Abel Tasman is very interesting). I would say all those cities and towns are safe, and good places for children, but only Dunedin and Chch have universities. But I would say finding work would be the biggest challenge -- bear in mind that the recession likely means things look very dire at present. This is 1 hour from Christchurch: http://tramper.co.nz/?1485

Christchurch is also a nice city, the locals are a bit strange.... Probably the best chance of getting a IT job in the south Island, but I been told wages are lower then Wellington and Auckland (but rent is cheaper). These already been a couple of good description given, but I would add my 2 cents. Most of the beaches are surf which are fine to walk along and fish. Not the best for boating, but there is sheltered bays and harbors around banks peninsula. There is not much, if any alpine in the Port Hills and Banks Peninsular. In slightly over a hour you could access the Ashburton Lakes which are very scenic, and you are only 1.5hr south of the Coastal Kaikoura mountains which offer quite a few tracks. Arthurs Pass is a cool place, Lewis pass is about halfway between Nelson and Christchurch.

everyone has forgotten new plymouth!, it was recently voted the best city in the world to live!, you cant get much better than that!, mt taranaki is very close, plenty of alpine tramping and climbing avaliable. also there is eastern taranaki,waitotoras, whitecliffs, and other places such as pureora, ruapehu not too far away, its the only city where you can go skiing and in just over half an hour be surfing at the beach!, go the 'naki!!

Wellington- Many regional parks to go walking...Rimutaka Incline to go mountain biking then easy access to Tararuas/Ruahines/Kawekas/Central Plateau/Rimutakas/Aorangi/Down south!!

oo South Island--- Nelson, you got Nelson Lakes/ Richmond /Kahurangi / Abel Tasman/ West Coast / Kaikouras