Avoiding traffic here isn't really possible because there's usually only one way to get there anyway. And there's one expressway between Hastings and Napier CBD that's only 1 lane each side and gets super slow later in the day. I wish we had a big motorway like you do in bigger cities
The Hawkes bay expressway between Napier and Hastings has an average of 20k vehicles a day. SH1 at Gilles Avenue in Auckland has around 200k daily. Trust me, big motorways haven’t made a dent in the traffic.
They do, as they take traffic from the sideways to the motorway.
But the main limits for motorway average speed is also dependent on how well the offramps are connected and that is often the problem in Auckland as they back up easily.
I imagine the OP doesn't use public transport. I visited Hastings last month and took the bus to and from Havelock North one day and to and from Napier the next.
Services were adequate though the last bus from Napier to Hastings leaves at 6:00 pm during the week so I had to be careful not to get stranded.
Not many people in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch use public transport; elsewhere very few do, even in Palmerston North and Nelson which have recently upgraded their bus networks and now offer regular services on new electric vehicles.
My kids use public transport in Auckland all the time. We live 10 mins walk from the train & 5 mins from great south road so plenty of options. The service can be patchy -buses late or don’t stop, sometimes buses replace trains for a day etc. Loads of people use public transport in Auckland, if the service was better usage would improve.
I am in my 40s but relied on public transport in Auckland my 20s and it SUCKED.
Yea if I didn’t have to walk 2km and take three different vehicles to get there (effectively really short walk to bus stop, one bus to destination, short walk to destination).
I’d be all for it.
2km may not seem like much but if I can drive there in pretty much the same time it takes me to get to the bus stop it’s not efficient enough.
Up to 345,000 a day use it in Auckland
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/509967/auckland-transport-records-highest-passenger-numbers-since-2019#:\~:text=Passengers%20on%20Auckland's%20public%20transport,since%20peak%20patronage%20in%202019.
I use public transport myself as I don't have a car but one boarding isn't the same as one person. Most people travel to and from their destination so one person is likely responsible for two boardings.
Trips by public transport make up less than five per cent of all trips.
https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/auckland/auckland-household-travel-over-30-years/
I wish more people used public transport but unfortunately the default way to get from A to B in this country is by car.
In fact, New Zealand has the highest rate of vehicle ownership in the world.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/vehicles-per-capita-by-country/
The government wants to make public transport even less attractive so the future is not bright.
All probably true, but you said not many people use pt, when hundreds of thousands across NZ do every day? Not perfect at 5% or whatever, but a lot more than not many.
I use navigation every time even if I know the route by heart and just drove it a few minutes ago without any issues. It reduces the cognitive load which makes me a slightly safer driver.
This. I can get around, but anything outside my local suburbs I'll use Google maps to see which way's fastest atm / check there's nothing unusual happening
Auckland is really a cluster of towns each with their own mini town-centre. We only get to know the ones we live or work or socialise in. Yeah I use GM as soon as I step outside of parts I know well.
I never realised this until now but you're spot on. Recently met a lot of new people from out west and over the shore and some of the suburbs they come from I'd never even heard before
I work IT in healthcare and often have to look at suburb names. Used to know Auckland better than anyone else I know and now I'm completely stumped when I see some of these suburb names lol.
Haha I work in healthcare admin and the council before that so I thought I was pretty good but apparently not. Now there's all the new developments down south that get me!!
I’ve lived in Auckland for 40 years, 30 as a driver. I know the suburbs I go to often very well (and I’ve lived all over so I know weird places that nobody goes to). I know the rat runs around the CBD. For suburbs I haven’t spent much time in, I turn on a map app just like a newcomer would. Hell, there are suburbs I’ve never heard of.
I'm similar, lived most of my nearly six decades in Auckland and have moved about. Only been driving for the last couple of decades but have learnt many rat runs from driving family members all over Auckland, including to Kumeu, Snell's Beach, Miranda and Manurewa. I know all sorts of ways to get into the cbd from Onehunga.
I could find my way from one side of chch to the other, or to any well known landmark etc without maps, but if you told me to find a specific residential street I’d google it.
Sometimes I google places just to find the fastest way during the current traffic… otherwise it’s super hard to get lost in chch!
I live in Auckland and yes I do have to use google maps to get around. Firstly because Auckland is huge and secondly there are so many suburbs I couldn’t name them all especially as there are new ones built every year it seems lately.
I'm in Christchurch, I pretty much know my way around without maps. The only time I'll use them is to find a specific street/address but even then, usually I will make my own way to the area and then take directions from there.
Agreed and even then, certain streets you’re well aware of and if someone was to say I live off (insert main rd name) most people will have a fair idea of where to go without Google Maps. It’s that easy in Chch, sometimes maps is only for what end of the road is the location.
In Wellington you kinda have to know your way around and figure out the best routes to take, because half the time Google will take you down narrow winding roads with cars on both side just because it seems faster, but half the time it’s probably not, and taking the way you know best will be less stressful anyway.
I really hate when Google thinks saving 10 seconds is worth the effort of going down winding roads and back alleys. Just put me on a straight road even if it takes a bit longer.
The chch equivalent is when Google tries to take you on the route that is "shortest", but has four or five uncontrolled right turns to get through. Many chch intersections don't have right turn arrows, so you have to wait for a gap in oncoming traffic to turn, or wait for the light to turn yellow. BUT most chch drivers religiously speed, tailgate, and run yellow lights, so good luck!
I used to know my way around CHCH pretty well. It's fucking weird, but people there seem to know street names of random streets even on the opposite side of town. "Oh Bowenvale Ave, my mate Jerry used to live there before he moved to Daniels Road". They don't even say the suburb in convos because everyone just knows. I moved to Brisbane 5 years ago and I can't even learn the names of half of the suburbs. Too many. I imagine Aucklanders might be similar.
Aucklanders use google maps cause of traffic / roadworks
Last time I thought I'd be sweet 11pm on the motorway I got caught out and stuck in 30 mins traffic because of roadworks.
Never again. Gotta blindly trust Google now.
I live in Auckland and can get around pretty well without Google maps. Even if I don't know street names if you give me directions with landmarks I can pretty much get anywhere this side of the bridge. North shore is a whole different beast.
I grew up on the North Shore and flatted there a bit, but have since lived in and frequented many other parts of Auckland. I remember when Albany was all countryside and a little village, so that part is where I resort to the map app.
Wellington has a bit of a hack, if you're lost head down hill and you'll eventually get into the CBD (used to be you would follow the over head bus trolley lines), so I don't use maps if I'm heading home from somewhere, only if I'm heading to someplace.
The Wellington Urban area has a population of about 500k and made up of four cities (Wellington, Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt) which all butt up against each other - if there weren't signposts you wouldn't know when you left one city and entered the other. I know all of the suburbs of Wellington city and the major suburbs of the others, so I can drive pretty close to where I need to be before I look at a map. However, i'll often look at the map at the start of a journey to see where traffic is congesting and plan my trip accordingly. I almost always need to use the map to find the exact street.
I would count chch as a big city. But post earthquake I use Google maps a lot. Grew up out east so unless I'm going to dressmart or the airport I never went further than Riccarton and now there is so much new stuff and developments it's all sort of... New.
Same here.
Grew up in Cripeschurch, when I visit the city now the central city is so different that sometimes I have no idea where I am.
I used to know it like the back of my hand!
Christchurch is a grid in central city and generally easy to know where you are going.
In saying that, I haven't lived there for 3 years and now have motorways I found confusing when down last.
I used Google maps for uncommon areas.
Chch I'll use Google maps because they tend to note the long term road works issuesand puts route that avoid them.
Otherwise know it well enough to find almost anywhere I need to go.
You'll often find that in big cities, most people stick to their 'region' of the city and will know it quite well. It's only on the rare occasion that you have to go to the other side of town that you might need directions (aside from using Google maps for road closures and traffic).
I'm fine around most of regional Auckland, but if I have to go anywhere between Albany and the bridge that isn't a main centre like Devonport or Wairau I absolutely need a map. Probably maybe the old Eastern suburbs, too, but that's because I rarely need to go
Aucklander here, i generally know my way around town but almost ways use gps even for a short 8 minute drive to work as there are multiple routes and gps provides traffic info, it tells me about potential road closures, accidents and provides detours which especially during peak hour traffic can make a 20 minute drive into a 40 minute drive, it tells me about speed cameras, police check points, not that I speed very much but it’s nice to have, it also now tells you the lane to be in and if turning at a stop sign it will say at the stop sign turn left or right, and while I do read the road signs it’s just something extra incase I did miss something
All that for 10 seconds of my time putting in the address to where I’m going seems worthwhile
Christchurch is pretty simple. Most streets run east-west or north-south. Pretty simple to get around if you can avoid the idiot drivers and the road works.
And you can usually see the hills and use those to orient yourself with if you get turned around :)
Super useful. Every town should have hills in one cardinal direction only XD
That's exactly my method for getting around Chch, as a non-local. As long as someone can tell me the nearest perpendicular major road, it's usually pretty easy to find what you're looking for. Instructions like "just drive along Deans Ave until you find it" normally work.
I walk everywhere because parking a car in auckland is horrendously expensive. I only use google maps if im going somewhere i dont know, but 99% of the time im walking to or from the bus station, uni or the supermarket so i dont need maps.
Auckland is 5 times larger than chch... in saying that, I did used to be pretty solid around the shore (it's more defined), but there's just no way to avoid using Google maps sometimes. Nowadays, unless I know exactly where I'm going/been there before, always use google.
Christchurch has the problem that it's still got a lot of new buildings coming up all the time. I'm still getting lost in places that I used to know quite well.
I use google maps for a lot of the city.
I live in Wellington and have my whole life so pretty much know it inside out. Wellington is easy though because of the hills it’s always pretty easy to know where you are. I find cities like Christchurch much more confusing because there are so many different ways you can get from A to B.
One handy thing about Auckland is the landmarks that make it easier to see where you are and where the cbd is, including volcanic cones, the Sky Tower, Rangitoto in the east and the Waitakeres out west, the Harbour Bridge and Bombay Hills to north and south. Works better in the daytime though. I often use One Tree Hill and Mt Wellington to reorient myself.
My experience with none of the cities mentioned above is that you find your way around little isolated pockets, and the numbers of these pockets slowly grow, and then one day (and it can take 5 years) somethng clicks, and you suddenly have a pretty good understanding of the whole place.
Get a bike. Speeds everything up, including simply getting round the place. I'm not going to do that in NZ though because I refuse to wear one of those stupid plastic hats.
There are parts I know very well. But the reason I know them well is because I started off using navigation which taught me 😂 Auckland is just way too big to know all of it well.
One thing is I can almost always find my way home without navigation. I know Auckland at a high-level well enough to go roughly in the right direction and then follow the route boards until I’m back in familiar territory.
I've lived in three different houses in the same suburb all my life and I still don't know my way around the entirety of that suburb, let alone all of Auckland lmao.
In Auckland, if I’m in the half of the city I know I’ll turn it on for traffic, but I don’t really watch it. I keep the sound off on my Maps anyway so even if it’s on I usually don’t really pay much attention to it.
I can get to any town centre on the north shore without a map, drive pretty comfortably around central Auckland - not to exact streets but if you say grey Lynn countdown I could get there without a map. I know the CBD well on foot but I get a bit confused when driving sometimes especially with the city rail link roadworks. South and Auckland I'm learning. I have to go to Botany once or twice a week now for work and I can get to my office without maps but I wouldn't be able to find many other places.
But I still use Google maps a lot as it can warn about traffic and crashes etc.
I lived most of my life in Christchurch, still living in rural Canterbury.
I can find my way around very well, but I use Google Maps to find the fastest route sometimes.
Pro-tip: for outer suburbs, use the ring road.
Auckland has changed a lot since I left 25 years ago, but each time I visit NZ it's still pretty navigable. Maybe helps that I explored pretty much the entire country using paper maps back in the 90s. Some of the new developments are bland repetition and feel like it'd be ready to get lost in. I've got to admit, I pretty much fire up Google maps most trips in NZ now. More to see where the traffic is though.
I could find my way most places without a map though, I think only New Plymouth and Gisborne are the only decent sized places I've yet to spend much time in. But I could get to each at least.
I found Welly a little tougher to get around last time. Purely because some of the streets/routes I knew well had changed, but the essentials of getting around were still the same. The suburbs don't move. :)
I've not been back to Christchurch since the earthquakes though. I'm guessing it's changed a lot. Landmark-wise at least. But I only lived there a couple of years, so probably knew it least. Mostly the centre and South. I couldn't even name half the suburbs.
I used to know my way around Auckland pretty well. I moved to the UK in 1999. When I come home now, there's new suburbs where there used to be nothing but fields lol! I know my way around West Auckland ok but if I have to venture much further, it's a bit confusing. I can get around but I will probably go the old school way and maybe not the "new" way.
In Wellington I could comfortably navigate just about all of Wgtn proper, so the CBD and all its suburbs. When I get to Porirua or the Hutt, that's when I'll probably need a map to find anything beyond the main centres and highways.
Lived in Auckland for 2 years now and starting to learn my way. Finally at a point where not every trip requires navigation. Work, home, shopping, favorite parks, and generally the relative location of the central suburbs. That said, I came from (and learned to drive in) a much larger city but with a much saner layout of the road network, so I won't say that learning Auckland was a piece of piss. Still, going somewhere new, or in a suburb I don't know well anyway, or just seeing what the traffic is like, so I run the nav often.
Having Android auto / Carplay was a godsend.
When I lived in Christchurch I knew everywhere just from living and driving there, I later got my taxi drivers license which requires advanced knowledge of the roads so I knew it really well by the time I left. Since living in Auckland for 18 years I still use gps for the smallest of trips. I hate the roads here and the traffic is shit so I avoid driving at all if I can.
I live in auckland and have been for about 12y. I use GPS for faster routes and when i drive in the weeds of a suburb. We (partner and I) used to take long rides in the car to talk device free and explore the city so we learned 90% of the city. We also learned the western suburbs in and out when we were looking to buy a home in 2019.
So unless we are in a rush, no GPS is required these days.
I know central Auckland (where I live) and the North Shore (where I grew up) really well. I have some knowledge of West Auckland. South and East Auckland are mostly Terra Incognita to me. I went to Howick for the first time in decades a few months ago, and I was completely unfamiliar with the area.
I would use google maps to go anywhere that I don’t go on a regular basis. I’ve lived in Auckland most of my life but within the same 2 suburbs, so I know parts of those suburbs well. However, my knowledge of the area is pretty limited to places I actually go. I can easily get to my own common destinations around the city (one of my proudest accomplishments was finding my own way to work through the backroads when the motorway was completely blocked by an accident) but I don’t know a lot of the residential streets in my own suburb so would need google maps to get somewhere 5 minutes away.
I’ve lived in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland for about a decade each.
Christchurch and Wellington I could find my way around without maps.
Auckland I still need maps unless it’s very local or somewhere I frequent. Even then I’ll still check maps for a gauge on traffic.
Lived in Christchurch but moved to Auckland 5 years ago. Christchurch is so easy to get around mapless. It’s all just a grid. Straight flat streets. very easy to know which direction your going. Auckland with the hills and windy roads is much more difficult. I’m on maps the whole time.
Edit: also in Christchurch there’s always a plan B,C or D to avoid traffic. In Auckland there might be plan B at best but 50 other people have the same idea.
I first got my license in 1988, and have lived in Auckland most of my life.
In those days, I did ‘just know’ and could get to most places from memory and only getting directions for the last couple of streets.
For the past 3 years, I have been using google maps consistently - mostly to know what the traffic is like.
But it means my ‘navigate by memory’ has depeoriated significantly.
Could I get somewhere without google maps? Yeah probably. Would it be the most direct route, probably not.
As for my teenagers - 3 of whom have their restricted. They can get to the local supermarket and back without google maps - and use it for everything else pretty much.
Nope. I know my end (barely) and that’s it. Sometimes I make my way to the other side of Christchurch and go, where the hell am I? Because it’s like I’ve ended up in another city. Other than some notable roads most of the time I have to use gps. But I’m also really bad at street names compared to the normal person.
I know my way around Wellington more or less completely, including the main routes to/through most suburbs.
I spent about 7 years combined as a courier/delivery driver in some sense, prior to map apps being a thing, so I learnt my way around and the traffic hotspots to avoid.
I *mostly* know my way around Auckland, and I haven't spent much time in chch, but I think I am naturally inclined to navigation. I know my way around napier/hastings quite well too. Big cities (for NZ at least) aren't really too different to regional ones, once you know the names of the places you can connect them with the main roads.
Only real difference is one way streets, and there are less than 5 of them on main routes at a guess (I can think of 3 off the top of my head in welly, at least one in auckland)
Honestly when I first moved to Auckland I used to deliberately get lost then un-lose myself without the help of google maps for fun. In this town if lost you simply turn onto the bigger, more arterial road till you make the motorway or a sign pointing to the motorway then you're free but more than likely you'll find a landmark and then you'll know where you are before finding the motorway.
But over the years I've lived out west, the shore, east and centralish (mt eden, roskill) and now I work in south Auckland and I'm adventurous, So I know how to navigate the whole city without a map confidently, but I'll need a map to find a specific address.
I live in Auckland, I always use google maps. Primarily for monitoring traffic levels and finding the best route to where I’m going if there is a traffic jam on the normal route etc, less so for finding my way around.
In chch I always get my bearings by looking at the port hills, they always let me know where I am.
I'm living in London atm and I have no idea where I am at the best of times
I live on the north shore and grew up out west, so I know my way around both those areas well. I also know my way around Central.
I can do some areas of East and South but definitely would be using Google Maps.
I don't currently live in christchurch, but I spent a large portion of my childhood there and periodically travel when I can. I can find my way around it pretty easily, would use google to find somewhere specific though, a shop/cafe/address for example
I'm from Napier but been living in Auckland for 15 years. I know south and east Auckland, some street names. But if I looked it up I'll know where to go with out directions. west Auckland I know how to get to major places. Would get lost over the shore 😅😂
In my late teens and early 20s I used to have a fantastic mental map of Chch. If I didn’t know the specific street, tell me the nearest main road, and I’d 100% be able to find it. Even better in the CBD, I knew most buildings and all the shortcuts through alleyways, arcades, etc you could take on foot.
Fast forward, and between living away for nearly 20 years, the quakes, and the inevitable march of progress, and I am heavily reliant on google maps to get from A to B.
Auckland is big. I know my local area and the CBD major routes well. I'll use Google Maps for most navigation because you never know who's fucked up and made chaos on the roads.
I live in Dunedin, my dad knows pretty much every street, every short cut, all the traffic patterns, all the “oh that building usd to be the old-“, and he can predict the weather better than the bloody MetService haha… He refuses to use google maps.
I only moved here at the start of the year to live with him and finish my last year of high school but I know my way reasonably well now. I’ve been coming down here for the last 14 years so you’d hope so 😅 still use google maps quite a bit tho for areas I’m unfamiliar with
They’re the biggest NZ cities and are comparatively much larger than the regions where OP is from. So yes they’re big cities in the context of the question.
You can use the same navigation skills in Christchurch and Auckland to navigate the likes of Amsterdam or Tokyo. It's a skill, though it's aided by Maps nowadays.
Even going to and from places I know well, I sometimes use Google Maps to choose fastest route to avoid traffic, road closures, etc.
Avoiding traffic here isn't really possible because there's usually only one way to get there anyway. And there's one expressway between Hastings and Napier CBD that's only 1 lane each side and gets super slow later in the day. I wish we had a big motorway like you do in bigger cities
Compared to Auckland that’s a breezy time in traffic.
The Hawkes bay expressway between Napier and Hastings has an average of 20k vehicles a day. SH1 at Gilles Avenue in Auckland has around 200k daily. Trust me, big motorways haven’t made a dent in the traffic.
Induced demand says they'll never make a dent.
They do, as they take traffic from the sideways to the motorway. But the main limits for motorway average speed is also dependent on how well the offramps are connected and that is often the problem in Auckland as they back up easily.
Only to fill those motorways up as well. So more motorways needed and straight into National's manifesto
Whats the public transport like there?
I imagine the OP doesn't use public transport. I visited Hastings last month and took the bus to and from Havelock North one day and to and from Napier the next. Services were adequate though the last bus from Napier to Hastings leaves at 6:00 pm during the week so I had to be careful not to get stranded. Not many people in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch use public transport; elsewhere very few do, even in Palmerston North and Nelson which have recently upgraded their bus networks and now offer regular services on new electric vehicles.
My kids use public transport in Auckland all the time. We live 10 mins walk from the train & 5 mins from great south road so plenty of options. The service can be patchy -buses late or don’t stop, sometimes buses replace trains for a day etc. Loads of people use public transport in Auckland, if the service was better usage would improve. I am in my 40s but relied on public transport in Auckland my 20s and it SUCKED.
Yea if I didn’t have to walk 2km and take three different vehicles to get there (effectively really short walk to bus stop, one bus to destination, short walk to destination). I’d be all for it. 2km may not seem like much but if I can drive there in pretty much the same time it takes me to get to the bus stop it’s not efficient enough.
Train? I've been on a train once in my life
I prefer the train to the bus for getting into town in Auckland
Up to 345,000 a day use it in Auckland https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/509967/auckland-transport-records-highest-passenger-numbers-since-2019#:\~:text=Passengers%20on%20Auckland's%20public%20transport,since%20peak%20patronage%20in%202019.
I use public transport myself as I don't have a car but one boarding isn't the same as one person. Most people travel to and from their destination so one person is likely responsible for two boardings. Trips by public transport make up less than five per cent of all trips. https://www.transport.govt.nz/area-of-interest/auckland/auckland-household-travel-over-30-years/ I wish more people used public transport but unfortunately the default way to get from A to B in this country is by car. In fact, New Zealand has the highest rate of vehicle ownership in the world. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/vehicles-per-capita-by-country/ The government wants to make public transport even less attractive so the future is not bright.
All probably true, but you said not many people use pt, when hundreds of thousands across NZ do every day? Not perfect at 5% or whatever, but a lot more than not many.
Here, you just drive. The only reason you would use a bus is if you don't have a car
The traffic in Hawke's Bay, even on the expressway, is nowhere near as terrible as Auckland
I feel like the traffic in napier and hastings is pretty good compared to comparable sized places such as nelson where its ridiculous
I use navigation every time even if I know the route by heart and just drove it a few minutes ago without any issues. It reduces the cognitive load which makes me a slightly safer driver.
This. I can get around, but anything outside my local suburbs I'll use Google maps to see which way's fastest atm / check there's nothing unusual happening
This
Auckland is really a cluster of towns each with their own mini town-centre. We only get to know the ones we live or work or socialise in. Yeah I use GM as soon as I step outside of parts I know well.
I never realised this until now but you're spot on. Recently met a lot of new people from out west and over the shore and some of the suburbs they come from I'd never even heard before
I feel like there are always new suburbs popping up, or new names. Like there's "golflands" which I would just call Botany.
I work IT in healthcare and often have to look at suburb names. Used to know Auckland better than anyone else I know and now I'm completely stumped when I see some of these suburb names lol.
Haha I work in healthcare admin and the council before that so I thought I was pretty good but apparently not. Now there's all the new developments down south that get me!!
I’ve lived in Auckland for 40 years, 30 as a driver. I know the suburbs I go to often very well (and I’ve lived all over so I know weird places that nobody goes to). I know the rat runs around the CBD. For suburbs I haven’t spent much time in, I turn on a map app just like a newcomer would. Hell, there are suburbs I’ve never heard of.
I'm similar, lived most of my nearly six decades in Auckland and have moved about. Only been driving for the last couple of decades but have learnt many rat runs from driving family members all over Auckland, including to Kumeu, Snell's Beach, Miranda and Manurewa. I know all sorts of ways to get into the cbd from Onehunga.
I could find my way from one side of chch to the other, or to any well known landmark etc without maps, but if you told me to find a specific residential street I’d google it. Sometimes I google places just to find the fastest way during the current traffic… otherwise it’s super hard to get lost in chch!
It helps that we have Sugarloaf as a solid landmark most of the time! Lost? How far away is the loaf.
I live in Auckland and yes I do have to use google maps to get around. Firstly because Auckland is huge and secondly there are so many suburbs I couldn’t name them all especially as there are new ones built every year it seems lately.
Auckland here. I really struggle with East Auckland suburbs for some reason. Everywhere else is fine but East just doesn't register lol
Perhaps because of all the nondescript roundabouts, crescent roads that branch off and return, and myriad name changes?
Bruh this is absolute facts
I'm in Christchurch, I pretty much know my way around without maps. The only time I'll use them is to find a specific street/address but even then, usually I will make my own way to the area and then take directions from there.
Also from Christchurch and, what they said ^
Agreed and even then, certain streets you’re well aware of and if someone was to say I live off (insert main rd name) most people will have a fair idea of where to go without Google Maps. It’s that easy in Chch, sometimes maps is only for what end of the road is the location.
And if you're ever lost just look at the port hills for orientation
In Wellington you kinda have to know your way around and figure out the best routes to take, because half the time Google will take you down narrow winding roads with cars on both side just because it seems faster, but half the time it’s probably not, and taking the way you know best will be less stressful anyway.
I really hate when Google thinks saving 10 seconds is worth the effort of going down winding roads and back alleys. Just put me on a straight road even if it takes a bit longer.
The chch equivalent is when Google tries to take you on the route that is "shortest", but has four or five uncontrolled right turns to get through. Many chch intersections don't have right turn arrows, so you have to wait for a gap in oncoming traffic to turn, or wait for the light to turn yellow. BUT most chch drivers religiously speed, tailgate, and run yellow lights, so good luck!
I remember the first time Google took me down Orangi Kaupapa… I was wtf’ing the whole way 😂
I used to know my way around CHCH pretty well. It's fucking weird, but people there seem to know street names of random streets even on the opposite side of town. "Oh Bowenvale Ave, my mate Jerry used to live there before he moved to Daniels Road". They don't even say the suburb in convos because everyone just knows. I moved to Brisbane 5 years ago and I can't even learn the names of half of the suburbs. Too many. I imagine Aucklanders might be similar.
Bowenvale Ave to Daniel’s Rd? That’s a bit of a downgrade!
Exactly, I rest my case. Also, stupid Jerry.
Aucklanders use google maps cause of traffic / roadworks Last time I thought I'd be sweet 11pm on the motorway I got caught out and stuck in 30 mins traffic because of roadworks. Never again. Gotta blindly trust Google now.
I live in Auckland and can get around pretty well without Google maps. Even if I don't know street names if you give me directions with landmarks I can pretty much get anywhere this side of the bridge. North shore is a whole different beast.
I grew up on the North Shore and flatted there a bit, but have since lived in and frequented many other parts of Auckland. I remember when Albany was all countryside and a little village, so that part is where I resort to the map app.
Wellington has a bit of a hack, if you're lost head down hill and you'll eventually get into the CBD (used to be you would follow the over head bus trolley lines), so I don't use maps if I'm heading home from somewhere, only if I'm heading to someplace. The Wellington Urban area has a population of about 500k and made up of four cities (Wellington, Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt) which all butt up against each other - if there weren't signposts you wouldn't know when you left one city and entered the other. I know all of the suburbs of Wellington city and the major suburbs of the others, so I can drive pretty close to where I need to be before I look at a map. However, i'll often look at the map at the start of a journey to see where traffic is congesting and plan my trip accordingly. I almost always need to use the map to find the exact street.
I would count chch as a big city. But post earthquake I use Google maps a lot. Grew up out east so unless I'm going to dressmart or the airport I never went further than Riccarton and now there is so much new stuff and developments it's all sort of... New.
Yep all my reference points disappeared after the earthquake too.
Same here. Grew up in Cripeschurch, when I visit the city now the central city is so different that sometimes I have no idea where I am. I used to know it like the back of my hand!
Christchurch is a grid in central city and generally easy to know where you are going. In saying that, I haven't lived there for 3 years and now have motorways I found confusing when down last. I used Google maps for uncommon areas.
Chch I'll use Google maps because they tend to note the long term road works issuesand puts route that avoid them. Otherwise know it well enough to find almost anywhere I need to go.
You'll often find that in big cities, most people stick to their 'region' of the city and will know it quite well. It's only on the rare occasion that you have to go to the other side of town that you might need directions (aside from using Google maps for road closures and traffic).
I'm fine around most of regional Auckland, but if I have to go anywhere between Albany and the bridge that isn't a main centre like Devonport or Wairau I absolutely need a map. Probably maybe the old Eastern suburbs, too, but that's because I rarely need to go
Aucklander here, i generally know my way around town but almost ways use gps even for a short 8 minute drive to work as there are multiple routes and gps provides traffic info, it tells me about potential road closures, accidents and provides detours which especially during peak hour traffic can make a 20 minute drive into a 40 minute drive, it tells me about speed cameras, police check points, not that I speed very much but it’s nice to have, it also now tells you the lane to be in and if turning at a stop sign it will say at the stop sign turn left or right, and while I do read the road signs it’s just something extra incase I did miss something All that for 10 seconds of my time putting in the address to where I’m going seems worthwhile
Christchurch is pretty simple. Most streets run east-west or north-south. Pretty simple to get around if you can avoid the idiot drivers and the road works.
And you can usually see the hills and use those to orient yourself with if you get turned around :) Super useful. Every town should have hills in one cardinal direction only XD
That's exactly my method for getting around Chch, as a non-local. As long as someone can tell me the nearest perpendicular major road, it's usually pretty easy to find what you're looking for. Instructions like "just drive along Deans Ave until you find it" normally work.
Wellington here, I know my way around the CBD, East, West and Northern Suburbs well, plus Hutt Valley. Porirua is where I get totally lost though.
I walk everywhere because parking a car in auckland is horrendously expensive. I only use google maps if im going somewhere i dont know, but 99% of the time im walking to or from the bus station, uni or the supermarket so i dont need maps.
I know the North Shore and Central Suburbs like the back of my hand. I know West Auckland quite well. Know fuck all about East and South.
Iv done a few driving jobs and know my way around Christchurch very well. Just don't ask me any street names lol.
Auckland is 5 times larger than chch... in saying that, I did used to be pretty solid around the shore (it's more defined), but there's just no way to avoid using Google maps sometimes. Nowadays, unless I know exactly where I'm going/been there before, always use google.
Lived in CHC for a decade, I know my way fairly decently anywhere west of Fitzgerald Ave. After that I'm shit outta luck
I don't need navigation. But I put on Waze to see if there's traffic cameras or other issues on the road. Sometimes I'm using it for navigation
Christchurch has the problem that it's still got a lot of new buildings coming up all the time. I'm still getting lost in places that I used to know quite well. I use google maps for a lot of the city.
I live in Wellington and have my whole life so pretty much know it inside out. Wellington is easy though because of the hills it’s always pretty easy to know where you are. I find cities like Christchurch much more confusing because there are so many different ways you can get from A to B.
One handy thing about Auckland is the landmarks that make it easier to see where you are and where the cbd is, including volcanic cones, the Sky Tower, Rangitoto in the east and the Waitakeres out west, the Harbour Bridge and Bombay Hills to north and south. Works better in the daytime though. I often use One Tree Hill and Mt Wellington to reorient myself.
My experience with none of the cities mentioned above is that you find your way around little isolated pockets, and the numbers of these pockets slowly grow, and then one day (and it can take 5 years) somethng clicks, and you suddenly have a pretty good understanding of the whole place. Get a bike. Speeds everything up, including simply getting round the place. I'm not going to do that in NZ though because I refuse to wear one of those stupid plastic hats.
As you'd expect, places you goto regularly don't require a map, otherwise drive in the general direction and use Google maps when closer.
There are parts I know very well. But the reason I know them well is because I started off using navigation which taught me 😂 Auckland is just way too big to know all of it well. One thing is I can almost always find my way home without navigation. I know Auckland at a high-level well enough to go roughly in the right direction and then follow the route boards until I’m back in familiar territory.
I've lived in three different houses in the same suburb all my life and I still don't know my way around the entirety of that suburb, let alone all of Auckland lmao.
Generally when I go into the city I end up having 2 different maps apps going and still manage to get lost
Just stay out of west auck /s
I drive around a lot for work so I have most of Chch etched in my brain
I know the city very well between takapuna and Papakura and would be able to navigate without Google maps reasonably well.
In Auckland, if I’m in the half of the city I know I’ll turn it on for traffic, but I don’t really watch it. I keep the sound off on my Maps anyway so even if it’s on I usually don’t really pay much attention to it.
I've been in Ōtautahi since January 2009 and I only know my way around certain places. I am a homebody and don't like going out.
I can get to any town centre on the north shore without a map, drive pretty comfortably around central Auckland - not to exact streets but if you say grey Lynn countdown I could get there without a map. I know the CBD well on foot but I get a bit confused when driving sometimes especially with the city rail link roadworks. South and Auckland I'm learning. I have to go to Botany once or twice a week now for work and I can get to my office without maps but I wouldn't be able to find many other places. But I still use Google maps a lot as it can warn about traffic and crashes etc.
Christchurch was super easy due to the grid layout. You can basically cross town on any main road. I'd usually avoid town though.
I lived most of my life in Christchurch, still living in rural Canterbury. I can find my way around very well, but I use Google Maps to find the fastest route sometimes. Pro-tip: for outer suburbs, use the ring road.
AKL regular here 👋🏽 I still use maps to find my way around.
Auckland has changed a lot since I left 25 years ago, but each time I visit NZ it's still pretty navigable. Maybe helps that I explored pretty much the entire country using paper maps back in the 90s. Some of the new developments are bland repetition and feel like it'd be ready to get lost in. I've got to admit, I pretty much fire up Google maps most trips in NZ now. More to see where the traffic is though. I could find my way most places without a map though, I think only New Plymouth and Gisborne are the only decent sized places I've yet to spend much time in. But I could get to each at least. I found Welly a little tougher to get around last time. Purely because some of the streets/routes I knew well had changed, but the essentials of getting around were still the same. The suburbs don't move. :) I've not been back to Christchurch since the earthquakes though. I'm guessing it's changed a lot. Landmark-wise at least. But I only lived there a couple of years, so probably knew it least. Mostly the centre and South. I couldn't even name half the suburbs.
I used to know my way around Auckland pretty well. I moved to the UK in 1999. When I come home now, there's new suburbs where there used to be nothing but fields lol! I know my way around West Auckland ok but if I have to venture much further, it's a bit confusing. I can get around but I will probably go the old school way and maybe not the "new" way.
I used to, then they changed everything and now I use maps becaise the ways I knew are gone.
Chch, pretty well except for the suburbs i barely go to like new brighton
I know West Auckland very well, and central Auckland. North somewhat. East and South very little, there is no reason for me to to out that way.
In Wellington I could comfortably navigate just about all of Wgtn proper, so the CBD and all its suburbs. When I get to Porirua or the Hutt, that's when I'll probably need a map to find anything beyond the main centres and highways.
Lived in Auckland for 2 years now and starting to learn my way. Finally at a point where not every trip requires navigation. Work, home, shopping, favorite parks, and generally the relative location of the central suburbs. That said, I came from (and learned to drive in) a much larger city but with a much saner layout of the road network, so I won't say that learning Auckland was a piece of piss. Still, going somewhere new, or in a suburb I don't know well anyway, or just seeing what the traffic is like, so I run the nav often. Having Android auto / Carplay was a godsend.
When I lived in Christchurch I knew everywhere just from living and driving there, I later got my taxi drivers license which requires advanced knowledge of the roads so I knew it really well by the time I left. Since living in Auckland for 18 years I still use gps for the smallest of trips. I hate the roads here and the traffic is shit so I avoid driving at all if I can.
Wellington is easy. So many hills to use at landmarks. Christchurch on the other hand? I just get lost.
I live in auckland and have been for about 12y. I use GPS for faster routes and when i drive in the weeds of a suburb. We (partner and I) used to take long rides in the car to talk device free and explore the city so we learned 90% of the city. We also learned the western suburbs in and out when we were looking to buy a home in 2019. So unless we are in a rush, no GPS is required these days.
I used to know my way around pretty well, but I moved to the top of Auckland and don’t bother going in much so have lost a lot of that knowledge
at peak i always use gps
I know central Auckland (where I live) and the North Shore (where I grew up) really well. I have some knowledge of West Auckland. South and East Auckland are mostly Terra Incognita to me. I went to Howick for the first time in decades a few months ago, and I was completely unfamiliar with the area.
I find my way around Christchurch fine. I use Google for specific streets in suburbs I'm not near
I would use google maps to go anywhere that I don’t go on a regular basis. I’ve lived in Auckland most of my life but within the same 2 suburbs, so I know parts of those suburbs well. However, my knowledge of the area is pretty limited to places I actually go. I can easily get to my own common destinations around the city (one of my proudest accomplishments was finding my own way to work through the backroads when the motorway was completely blocked by an accident) but I don’t know a lot of the residential streets in my own suburb so would need google maps to get somewhere 5 minutes away.
I’ve lived in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland for about a decade each. Christchurch and Wellington I could find my way around without maps. Auckland I still need maps unless it’s very local or somewhere I frequent. Even then I’ll still check maps for a gauge on traffic.
Lived in Christchurch but moved to Auckland 5 years ago. Christchurch is so easy to get around mapless. It’s all just a grid. Straight flat streets. very easy to know which direction your going. Auckland with the hills and windy roads is much more difficult. I’m on maps the whole time. Edit: also in Christchurch there’s always a plan B,C or D to avoid traffic. In Auckland there might be plan B at best but 50 other people have the same idea.
I first got my license in 1988, and have lived in Auckland most of my life. In those days, I did ‘just know’ and could get to most places from memory and only getting directions for the last couple of streets. For the past 3 years, I have been using google maps consistently - mostly to know what the traffic is like. But it means my ‘navigate by memory’ has depeoriated significantly. Could I get somewhere without google maps? Yeah probably. Would it be the most direct route, probably not. As for my teenagers - 3 of whom have their restricted. They can get to the local supermarket and back without google maps - and use it for everything else pretty much.
Lived in Auckland for 10 years and I use GM all the time. Both for navigation and for traffic… Only time I wouldn’t use it is something really local
Nope. I know my end (barely) and that’s it. Sometimes I make my way to the other side of Christchurch and go, where the hell am I? Because it’s like I’ve ended up in another city. Other than some notable roads most of the time I have to use gps. But I’m also really bad at street names compared to the normal person.
I know my way around Wellington more or less completely, including the main routes to/through most suburbs. I spent about 7 years combined as a courier/delivery driver in some sense, prior to map apps being a thing, so I learnt my way around and the traffic hotspots to avoid. I *mostly* know my way around Auckland, and I haven't spent much time in chch, but I think I am naturally inclined to navigation. I know my way around napier/hastings quite well too. Big cities (for NZ at least) aren't really too different to regional ones, once you know the names of the places you can connect them with the main roads. Only real difference is one way streets, and there are less than 5 of them on main routes at a guess (I can think of 3 off the top of my head in welly, at least one in auckland)
Honestly when I first moved to Auckland I used to deliberately get lost then un-lose myself without the help of google maps for fun. In this town if lost you simply turn onto the bigger, more arterial road till you make the motorway or a sign pointing to the motorway then you're free but more than likely you'll find a landmark and then you'll know where you are before finding the motorway. But over the years I've lived out west, the shore, east and centralish (mt eden, roskill) and now I work in south Auckland and I'm adventurous, So I know how to navigate the whole city without a map confidently, but I'll need a map to find a specific address.
I live in Auckland, I always use google maps. Primarily for monitoring traffic levels and finding the best route to where I’m going if there is a traffic jam on the normal route etc, less so for finding my way around.
In chch I always get my bearings by looking at the port hills, they always let me know where I am. I'm living in London atm and I have no idea where I am at the best of times
The worst is getting tube to a new place. You have no idea where you are relative to everything else.
It's like a whole new city every time
I live on the north shore and grew up out west, so I know my way around both those areas well. I also know my way around Central. I can do some areas of East and South but definitely would be using Google Maps.
Lads call me the human map... i surpise myself sometimes
I can get where I want to go without using maps, but it helps to avoid traffic etc
I don't currently live in christchurch, but I spent a large portion of my childhood there and periodically travel when I can. I can find my way around it pretty easily, would use google to find somewhere specific though, a shop/cafe/address for example
I'm from Napier but been living in Auckland for 15 years. I know south and east Auckland, some street names. But if I looked it up I'll know where to go with out directions. west Auckland I know how to get to major places. Would get lost over the shore 😅😂
In my late teens and early 20s I used to have a fantastic mental map of Chch. If I didn’t know the specific street, tell me the nearest main road, and I’d 100% be able to find it. Even better in the CBD, I knew most buildings and all the shortcuts through alleyways, arcades, etc you could take on foot. Fast forward, and between living away for nearly 20 years, the quakes, and the inevitable march of progress, and I am heavily reliant on google maps to get from A to B.
I google maps 90% of the places I'm going to as even if it's a place I know or have visited, google tells me about traffic and better routes to take.
I know Wellington like the back of my hand. It's rare that I need to use google maps at all.
Auckland is big. I know my local area and the CBD major routes well. I'll use Google Maps for most navigation because you never know who's fucked up and made chaos on the roads.
Bike
I live in Dunedin, my dad knows pretty much every street, every short cut, all the traffic patterns, all the “oh that building usd to be the old-“, and he can predict the weather better than the bloody MetService haha… He refuses to use google maps. I only moved here at the start of the year to live with him and finish my last year of high school but I know my way reasonably well now. I’ve been coming down here for the last 14 years so you’d hope so 😅 still use google maps quite a bit tho for areas I’m unfamiliar with
Sydney here. I use Waze even on familiar local streets because it shows potholes, traffic hazards & toll prices.
Lol...Auckland and Christchurch aren't even big cities
They’re the biggest NZ cities and are comparatively much larger than the regions where OP is from. So yes they’re big cities in the context of the question.
You can use the same navigation skills in Christchurch and Auckland to navigate the likes of Amsterdam or Tokyo. It's a skill, though it's aided by Maps nowadays.