Moving To Houston From New Zealand

The home of NASA’s Mission Control Center, Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America, with an estimated population of some 2 million. It’s said there’s no place quite like Houston with its mix of world-class arts, booming business, professional sports teams award-winning cuisine and southern hospitality.

Houston’s development was due to its role as a transport hub through the Port of Houston and the railways for the region’s cotton and timber products. The discovery of oil in 1901 helped transform the identity of the city. From the mid-twentieth century onwards Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Centre (the world’s largest concentration of health-care and research institutions), and the Johnson Space Centre where NASA’s original Apollo Mission Control Centreer is located.

Houston has a seven-mile (11kms) system of air-conditioned tunnels and skywalks linking the downtown shops and restaurants, allowing pedestrians to avoid the intense summer heat and heavy rain. Today Houston is a reflection of its tremendous post-War growth. Older downtown buildings are dwarfed by the modern office towers that define the city skyline.

As one of the few American cities with a professional symphony orchestra and resident professional companies in ballet, opera and theatre, the downtown theatre district is home to arts. The Houston region and 24 surrounding counties possess striking natural beauty, unique biodiversity and globally important ecological resources.

The world’s first ‘domed’ and air-conditioned sports stadium, the Astrodome is in Houston and until 1999 was home to the city’s professional baseball team the ‘Astros.’ This impressive structure is home to the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo — the largest event of its kind in the world. Close to the city are a number of lakes, wildlife refuges and Galveston Island beaches, as well as an arboretum in the city and the Sam Houston National Forest to the north, all of which provide vaired outdoor recreational opportunities. The Armand Bayou Nature Centre preserves the wetlands, prairie, forest, and marsh habitats of the Texas Gulf Coast. The city is also home to the Downtown Aquarium, Houston Zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Museum of Fine Arts and of course, NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Centre, one of the few places on earth you can see moon rocks up close. For more details of the city and its attractions visit the official tourist website at www.visithoustontexas.com.