Chester Borrows: Taste life beyond Bombay Hills

OVER IT: The simple answer to Auckland's housing shortage? Don't buy a house there - move to Whanganui.

The big issue is back on the front page of the country's biggest newspapers again ... Wait for it - "Auckland has a housing shortage".

I don't know about you, but I am getting sick of hearing about this so-called crisis.

Not buying a house in Auckland would solve somebody's "housing crisis"; moving somewhere else and buying a cheaper house or building a new house in another town would solve their "housing crisis".

I am always chuffed to meet people who have moved from Auckland to live in Whanganui or Stratford or Hawera because they are so excited about their discovery of life beyond the Bombay Hills.

They are like born-again Christians who enthusiastically evangelise the message of hope and new discovery.

My secretary recently sold her mother's house to an Auckland couple.

As a result of that single transaction - and witnessing the bargain house prices, the lifestyle, the weather, the friendliness of the locals - four other families have relocated here from Auckland.

We have opportunities in the regions for growth and employment, and a bigger domestic population to sell to and buy from adds to the viability of provincial towns. Locals don't see newcomers as a problem, they see it as a compliment that validates their town or city.

Our family have moved five or six times for work or lifestyle ... so did my father's family and his father's family.

They moved and discovered all that their new home towns had to offer.

We had a chap move to town about 10 years ago called Chris.

He and his wife moved to be closer to his son and grandchildren who had shifted from Auckland to work in the public service. Chris taught maths and physics, so got a job at the high school.

He was also a musician and composer, just when the brass band had a vacancy for a musical director - so he did that.

He got involved with a local church and went on the roster to play the organ on Sunday mornings.

He could preach too and did that.

He helped organise community events such Christmas Carol services.

People who choose to move to our towns grow the place and some by more than just what they buy or rent or sell or do for a living. The whole of a community is greater than the sum of its inhabitants.

I had an appointment in town on Tuesday so left home earlier than I needed to.

I drove to the end of Mokoia Rd and walked down to the mouth of the Tongahoe.

I took some photographs and stood on the cliff getting blown about a bit.

There was nobody on the beach as far as the eye could see in either direction, but I stopped and shot the breeze with a farmer driving some beefies down the road on my way out. Then I went to work.

People in metro areas have a choice.

I don't feel sorry for them - I just get sick of their droning. They over-consume, over-pollute, over-demand in terms of public spending and take up too much space.

Existing in a city is a pale and boring lot compared to really living in the provinces. And if they can't see that, more fool them.

~Chester Borrows is the MP for Whanganui.