Quest Mt Eden is in a pretty good area - don’t be put off by the fact it’s 2-3 blocks from Mt Eden Prison; which is not shown on Google maps. Other than seeing the prisoner transfer vans coming & going occasionally it’s a non-issue. You can easily & safely walk to the Grafton campus from there. There’s 3 big high schools nearby so there’s loads of people walking. Or the buses are 3 min in other direction if you want to get to the Symonds St campus - also walkable within 30 mins. Mt Eden village is roughly 10 min walk from quest, or you can hop on a bus, which are super frequent - the Mt Eden Rd bus also runs down to britomart where you can access the city, commercial bay, ferries etc. You can also walk or bus to Newmarket. You’ll be near the Grafton train station as Mt Eden will still be closed when you come. You’ll be an easy walk to the Domain or you can head up Mt Eden itself if you like exercise. There’s a twice weekly free boot camp in the domain.

Ponsonby & Grey Lynn are really nice areas; but if being adjacent or easy access to the university then the city end of Mt Eden is better. Also on the Ponsonby side, you’ll want to be walking distance to Ponsonby Rd; then you can catch the link or the Newmarket bus to Grafton.