Originally Posted by
DirtBag
Hi Papu,
We are moving from southwest England. Do post your impressions of Palmy after you go to look at the houses, etc.
Best wishes
Hi Dirtbag,
We just got back from 4 days in Palmy, and it was... surprisingly nice.
Palmy gets a lot of bad rep from the rest of NZ, but that is really just because of the location, not the city. The drawback is that it is not on a beach or next to a skifield - but that's pretty much it. The town itself is a lot better than other NZ places. For example Tauranga, where the local council is dictated to by retirees who will not spend any money on livening up the place. So while Tauranga might have a beautiful location, the city itself is pretty much dead.
In contrast, Palmy seemed vibrant enough (for a NZ city). It had a lot of things that are important to us (we have small kids): Parks, affordable housing, no traffic jams, cycle-lanes, the university and all that that brings with it. There's a nice museum, an art gallery, a cool library, lots of cafes and.... really nice people.
We were just wandering around town talking to everyone we saw (about the town, neighbourhoods, schools, etc) and we found people really nice. We were invited for tea twice (just off the street). Unlikely to happen to you in Auckland. Also the schools are excellent. It brands itself as an education town, and that's definitively right.
As for the location: It's not as flat as we feared. You can see the ranges, and there's some good hiking/cycling tracks in the ranges close by
So we're looking forward to Palmy: I think a family with kids could do a lot worse. Nothing jumps out at you and makes you go WOW!, but the overall feeling is of a pleasant, friendly place.
Cheers,
Papu