The Best Suburb Is, Of Course, Miramar [updated]

And I said so in the Weekend Dominion Post, "Coastal cool: embracing the lifestyle" by @brontorrie.

To be honest I think Meg is stealing the limelight in the photo :-)

Here's the Miramar section of the article - I've added links as newspapers don't seem to grasp that links are good! And get your very own "Proud to be a Miramarian" t-shirt from Worser Bay School.

Coastal cool: embracing the lifestyle - BRONWYN TORRIE

Wellington likes to celebrate its status as the coolest little capital, but there's more to the metropolis than the hubbub of the inner-city. In a three-part series, Bronwyn Torrie finds out why Wellingtonians are proud to live in the coolest little suburbs. Part One: The South Coast.

Wellington's South Coast has been dubbed the new "Nappy Valley" as young families flock to the area bringing elements of cool with them. It also helps that many celebrities call the area home. So how do the suburbs on the wild coastline rate?

MIRAMAR

Miramar is Mira-marvellous, according to many a Miramarian.

The once-shabby suburb, which was home to a gasworks and booming manufacturing industry, has been evolving into a classy creative hub since Sir Peter Jackson and his movies began pouring money into the area a decade ago.

The remnants of its industrial past are a stark contrast to the rich and famous and new young families who have injected life into the former ghost town.

The newbies have been quick to latch on to Miramar's cool factor. In fact, they are so proud of their patch on the peninsula that T-shirts emblazoned with "Proud to be a Miramarian" were circulated this year at the Worser Bay School fair.

Welshman Mike Riversdale, who has adopted the alias Miramar Mike, moved to the suburb nine years ago with his wife.

"It was a place that the worker ants of the world came and lived. It was cheap, it was cheerful. The film industry kicked things off ... it's got a lot of colour, it's not beige and boring any more. It's certainly becoming a very cool and trendy place to live."

The "gravitational pull" of the glammed-up Roxy Cinema has kept the momentum going, "dragging it up from `hey, we've got a pet shop' to `we've got some really cool restaurants and bars'," Mr Riversdale says.

Allan Probert is also proud of what has become the capital's cog of creativity. Weta minions have boosted the need for hip foodie places like Mexican restaurant La Boca Loca and The Larder.

By day Mr Probert is a vet but by night he becomes Enterprise Miramar Peninsula Trust chairman, championing everything good about Miramar.

And it's all good, according to him. Stunning beaches and mountain bike tracks, and much of Wellington's military and Maori history are there.

"You name it, we've just about got it," Mr Probert says. "People here are quite parochial, quite proud, and it reflects on the community. The morale of the place at the moment is at an all-time high."

Miramar

Did you know: The peninsula's Maori name, Te Motu Kairangi, means Precious Island. A huge earthquake in 1460 closed the channel called Te Awa-a-Taia, which separated the island from the mainland.

House values: Average house value $487,111.

Go: Summerfest – boutique, family-friendly food and beer festival at Worser Bay Boating Club on February 26.

See: The Weta Cave – just so you know, there are no rude bits under Gollum's loin cloth.

Taste: Alamir Bakery's legendary lebanese bread – time it for baking day.

[Updated] Added link / snippet from DomPost online article by @brontorrie