[karlbridges]

Hi Guys,
Have been in NZ for just about 6 months. No regrest and happy to be away from old Blighty.

I have a question regarding Palmie North. Wew are currently living on the Kapiti Coast (Raumati Sth) and today we had a day trip to Palmie Nth - much to the surprise of work colleagues. Comment such as "why do you want to go there", "there is nothing there" and even the rough guide to NZ states "there is nothing there".

Anyway as we arrived in Palmie, expecting the worst, we were pleasantly surprised. Sorry to say this but it seemed really nice. The central square was well kept, people were polite (unlike some other areas), traffic was light and shops were in abundance. North of the city seemed upper market and south seemed to be a little untidy but I expect this in any town. We arrived in the pouring rain and it did not dampen (pardon the pun) our impressions of the place.

On the basis of all this, can anyone tell me why so many Kiwis have a downer on Palmie North?

Many thanks.

[Xaviera]

Palmy has always had a rep of being being a provincial, unsophisticated, conservative, boring farming centre. But it has changed quite a lot as people who live there attest. I think another reason kiwis aren't ( or weren't) so keen is because it is, like Hamilton, an inland city and we mostly like coastal towns.
But it is attracting new interest. :)

[marcia]

Could also be the weather - Been here since 15th Nov and we have seen it all, rained all of xmas day, yet friendswho we had seen for breakfast left to go home at lunchtime to Martinborough (Below Masterton) and the weather was lovely down there! Think its got something to do with the ranges, the clouds seem to hang over them!

- Oh and the wind farms perhaps if they turned the flippin fans off every now and again it might not be so windy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Seriously, I like Palmy, not the most beautiful place in NZ, but it has everything we need, and if we want beauty we'll set off on a weekend to find it! We went up to Napier the other Saturday and to be honest I couldn't live there, ok for a visit, but it was too hot for me, I wouldn't be able to do any work - hmmmm now that might be a good move!!!! :p

I like driving in Palmy, the roads are wide, not much traffic, and I like the grid system makes it easy to find places and if you do get lost easy to get back to where you started!

[felix]

Hi Guys,
Have been in NZ for just about 6 months. No regrest and happy to be away from old Blighty.

I have a question regarding Palmie North. Wew are currently living on the Kapiti Coast (Raumati Sth) and today we had a day trip to Palmie Nth - much to the surprise of work colleagues. Comment such as "why do you want to go there", "there is nothing there" and even the rough guide to NZ states "there is nothing there".

Anyway as we arrived in Palmie, expecting the worst, we were pleasantly surprised. Sorry to say this but it seemed really nice. The central square was well kept, people were polite (unlike some other areas), traffic was light and shops were in abundance. North of the city seemed upper market and south seemed to be a little untidy but I expect this in any town. We arrived in the pouring rain and it did not dampen (pardon the pun) our impressions of the place.

On the basis of all this, can anyone tell me why so many Kiwis have a downer on Palmie North?

Many thanks.

Dear Karl, next time you are in palmy let me know before you come and I'll have the coffee on or the beer chilled. Thanks for your kind words. Poor old Palmy, but the old dog will have the last laugh and things are on the up!! Been here for almost 2 years and we love it..have done from the word go!! Okay the one bit missing from my NZ dream is living by the beach..however if our house was beach side it would be twicw the price. We feel we have the house of our dreams because we chose to live in Palmy where houses are more affordable. we think Palmy is perfect!! We have evrything from great career prospects right down to endless things for our 3 under 6's to do. We are also spoilt for choice and can choose from real proper go karting to jet boating in our amazing, ginormous gorge....and everything in betwixt!!!!!!! We rarely go anywhere (apart form the Kapiti Coast !!) because there is just soooooooooooooooo much to do here!!! Here's a snap shot, we bought a world class siamese cat here (in laws breed them in the UK and researched the cats background) and I had a nigh on 300 year old clock repaired by a local clock mender!! That's how diverese the facilities are here!! We have scores of restaurants, a superb 1930's theatre, 10 or more cinemas, white water rafting, 3 or more golf courses, an art gallery, 25 parksand reserves, loads of walkways, some that are riverside (yes we have a big river too!!), a rugger museum, a general museum, the most amazing affordable indoor outdoor swim complex I have ever visited, beauty of an unimaginable degree in the interior of the ranges that hug our city....and the list goes on. We found Palmy by accident...how lucky were we!!!! We look forward to your next visit Karl...don't forget to PM us !!!!

[katandbob]

Dear Karl, next time you are in palmy let me know before you come and I'll have the coffee on or the beer chilled. Thanks for your kind words. Poor old Palmy, but the old dog will have the last laugh and things are on the up!! Been here for almost 2 years and we love it..have done from the word go!! Okay the one bit missing from my NZ dream is living by the beach..however if our house was beach side it would be twicw the price. We feel we have the house of our dreams because we chose to live in Palmy where houses are more affordable. we think Palmy is perfect!! We have evrything from great career prospects right down to endless things for our 3 under 6's to do. We are also spoilt for choice and can choose from real proper go karting to jet boating in our amazing, ginormous gorge....and everything in betwixt!!!!!!! We rarely go anywhere (apart form the Kapiti Coast !!) because there is just soooooooooooooooo much to do here!!! Here's a snap shot, we bought a world class siamese cat here (in laws breed them in the UK and researched the cats background) and I had a nigh on 300 year old clock repaired by a local clock mender!! That's how diverese the facilities are here!! We have scores of restaurants, a superb 1930's theatre, 10 or more cinemas, white water rafting, 3 or more golf courses, an art gallery, 25 parksand reserves, loads of walkways, some that are riverside (yes we have a big river too!!), a rugger museum, a general museum, the most amazing affordable indoor outdoor swim complex I have ever visited, beauty of an unimaginable degree in the interior of the ranges that hug our city....and the list goes on. We found Palmy by accident...how lucky were we!!!! We look forward to your next visit Karl...don't forget to PM us !!!!

Well Palmy sounds like the souths version of Invercargill - Kiwis slate this place but I could write all of the above about it - well with the addition of coastline and rivers!

I am of the opinion that you have to go see these places and make your own minds up about them - like we did.

it rained here xmas day - but cleared up at teatime in time for a BBQ ;) , then the rain came back again at around 10pm.

Kat (PS Marcia - grid systems are great arn't they - I haven't got lost in Ingill - but Chch was a nightmare to navigate!)

[Anita & Marco]

Hi Kat,

Recently just visited Invercargill - and think I know what you mean.
I would not be able to get lost there, but I must say that I was very happy to leave again.

What are you doing there?
It seems like a place where nothing happens and nothing ever will happen.
How do you keep alive there?

Cheers,
Anita

[wiki]

Hi Guys,
On the basis of all this, can anyone tell me why so many Kiwis have a downer on Palmie North?

Many thanks.

Some places just get a tag and get stuck with it... no matter what.

It's the same in any country - if you're in London and say you're going to Hull or Leicester or Aberdeen for a holiday people will either assume you have family there or are off your trolley (for the record, I hated Leicester, but loved Aberdeen and Hull is only a 30min drive for me and has a lot going for it, especially The Deep)

Palmerston North was always seen as a bit of a cow-cockie city. Not a lot of class, more of a service town. But with more money in property and rates etc funding the city centre redevelopment, I've heard only good things about Palmy of late.

As Kat said, Invercargill was much the same (except perhaps painted worse because at least Palmy is on the way to somewhere else)

Personally, I love Invercargill - it's one of NZ's best kept secrets, and I figure the more people who just listen to the negative-hype and ignore it means there is more of it to go around for those who love it :)

[StevieD]

The thing about living near the coast, waves come along and ruin things!
And we live near the sea at the moment, and we arean't at the beach every weekend, but it is nice to have the option. Sure Palmy is fine, just horses for courses, we each have our own needs.

As for Invercargill, apart from it being at the bottom of the islands, seems nice enough to me from what I have seen on TV/videos.

[bob_the_engineer]

I don’t like Palmy much!

It isn’t an awful place, my experience is that it’s really unfriendly. Not the place, but the people!

I found both Welley folk and Auckland’ers to be more helpful and basically friendlier than Palmy folk. Palmy reminds me of the UK, if your coming from the UK and your looking for the same old same old then Palmy is a great place.

Just my observation, Bob :no

[Diny]

I live 12km outside Palmy - I have to agree with most of the above in as much as it offers everything one could possibly need, it's very clean, rural and has some wonderful facilities. The outlying countryside is fab and the property prices are amazing. We own 3 properties - couldn't imagaine being able to do that in the more 'popular' locations.

I also agree with Bob - I find the people around here unfriendly. Of course you get the robotic morons in the shops asking how your day has been but I can't say people are falling over themselves to be welcoming.

I guess the 'downer' people have regarding Palmy is 'bandwagon mentality' ...... being told it's a rubbish place instead of actually going and having a look for themselves.

Diny

[karlbridges]

Hi Guys,
Hope you all had a good christmas. Many thanks for the replies. The christmas break has given us a chance to recharge our batteries before we decide where we are going to live. At the moment it is very much dictated by jobs but who knows in the future. I think (Diny) you are right that many people's opinions are very much what "they say" rather than being their own opinions. I am a bit concerned about what "bob" said about the people as this was one of the main reasons for us leaving the UK. In fact a friend of mine who is in the UK (and hates it) sent me a newspaper article and appareently 10% of the UK population have left the country. The last thing I want to do is go to a town where the people are not so different from the majority in the UK.

[Diny]

Karl, don't get too concerned. I guess the way you will percieve NZ all depends on how you percieve the UK. I've never been able to understand the hatred for the UK that seems to thrive on this forum, I guess this is why I don't look upon NZ as some kind of 'Valhalla'.

I'm holidaying back home in the UK at the moment and I'm just LOVING the way everybody is so friendly, chatty and genuine. Believe me, that's something that has been seriously lacking over the last year and a half. But that's just my experience, we're all different and have different 'scenarios'.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

Diny

[karlbridges]

I just want to say many thanks for all the comments and advice before signing off this thread.

Cheers.

[zatexmom]

I know you "signed off" on this thread, but we have been looking at different places (via internet), and my husband has a liking for Palmerston North and is looking for an IT job there. I'm not sure myself whether it's where I want to live. In 2003 we visited NZ and I have a sister in Auckland and one in Hastings. As a tourist one experiences a place very differently . We never saw palmy on our visit... so this thread has given me some insight... thnx

[marcia]

Palmy is in a fairly central location too - only a couple of hours to most places and has the airport with realatively cheap internal flights!

If you want to know anything specific ask away - will be happy to try and find out for you! :nice1

[Lupin]

I think Palmerston North has many factors that make it attractive and pleasant to live in, even though it isn't perhaps a fantastic tourist destination because those factors are less relevant to the tourist.

[suebeenz]

I do like a lot of things about Palmy. The square is quite pleasant, the park is great. My main complaint about the town, is the likelyhood of sideways rain while you're there.

I remember being in Auckland in a tshirt and feeling quite warm outside the airport. Once we landed in Palmy and we begun shuffling outside, several passengers started dropping fbombs. "[bleep] it's cold here!"

Seems like the summers can be quite nice there though.

[incredible hulse]

My own impression of Palmy when visiting is that it is pleasant enough but a bit dull. Reminded me a bit of Welwyn Garden City with a bit more fields to be honest. If you like that sort of town I guess it's a nice enough place to live

[zatexmom]

Thanks so much for the answers!
Marcia, what is your opinion or knowledge on job openings in the IT field there?
My hubby is very keen on a "dull" town... pretty tired of the rat race. I'm still trying to make my mind up... it's hard to choose if one has never been there. As the opinions differ on this thread, so I know they would differ about any other city! :) I have two kids, 8 and 6. So I'd like them to be happy there too.

[marcia]

To be honest - I've no idea about the IT industry here in Palmy. But my thoughts on matter are that surely these days with the 'importance' of computers in every day life - jobs in IT are surely available everywhere? Sorry i can't be any real help - have you tried contacting any agencies here?

If there is anything specific I can help with let me know - we have 3 boys, aged 11, 9 and 3 years!

[suebeenz]

John Cleese has an opinion about Palmerston. "Cleese famously described the Manawatu city as a great place for anyone intending to commit suicide."

Palmerston shot back recently:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NationalNews/tabid/184/Default.aspx?ArticleID=27447

[speckythecky]

Just heard on Radio 2 in UK (sarah kennedy) that Palmerston have renamed their rubbish dump after John Cleese following his comments

[StevieD]

Yup, everyone having a laugh about it on the local radio today too. Called Cleese a jumped up, toffee nosed university type or words to that effect, couldn't repeat what they actually said :eek: