We ❤️ Palmy

“If you wish to kill yourself but lack the courage to do so, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.”  John Cleese

 

“Residents [in North Palmerston] fed up with burnouts, speeding and crime on their street are asking local authorities to step up and help before someone is killed.”  stuff.co.nz news

 

“And then my Hinge date never came back from the bathroom.” Jared, local teen, overheard at the Johnny Bigg store, Plaza Mall

 

That’s it, reviews are in, least liked city in New Zealand.  And here we are to see for ourselves.  On a “cross country” trip from west coast to east coast, we’re spending a night in Palmy, as the locals say. 

We woke up in Opunake in our modular at the campground.  No wind.  Not much surf.  A good deal of sun.  We had a short walk on the beach then packed up and hit the road.  We drove a couple of hours, ending up at Whanganui around noon, which, with a population over 40,000, was much bigger than we anticipated.  We also stopped here because it’s a UNESCO designated City of Design.  Seriously.

We grabbed some rather sensational fresh salads at a place called Honest Kitchen and ate them on a park bench; it wasn’t hot, around 20, but was really lovely.  Soon enough we were back on the road: Destination Palmerston North. Will it be as dire as Basil Fawlty claimed?

 

Au contraire I say, it’s full of joie de vivre and big city spectacle.  See my portfolio below.

But I jest.  We checked into a simple hotel for the night, were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite (!), which included a washer and dryer (!!) and parked our bags.  Then we headed outside the city centre for dinner.  We hit upon The Fat Farmer, in an upmarket neighbourhood about five minutes drive from the hotel, where the food was excellent and the streets were safe!