In a few short years Albany’s raison d’etre has evolved from pasture and crops to high- class suburban streets. So many suburban streets have been recently built, or newly marked out in the scraped clay, that it’s hard to imagine where all the intended residents will come from! The quaint main street shops with their signature flock of friendly chickens have been somewhat overtaken by the giant scale of development going on in every direction. Once sleepy Greenhithe, a waterfront backwater, is seeing dramatic change. Fortunately new residences are being sensitively inserted into green areas, including lots of native bush, and the result is far less brash than you’d expect. Paremoremo is still largely rural and has some substantial lifestyle properties… oh, and a maximum security prison.