Kai Iwi Beach

 

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Hamish, Julie, Felix, 4, and Ethan, 7, Lampp are relaxing into Whanganui life – barefoot at Kai Iwi Beach.

OPINION: “So, are you glad to be out of Auckland?”

Three years after I left, this is still not an uncommon question in Whanganui.

It’s the wrong question, though, I’m not glad to be out of Auckland. I still love the city. But I am happy to be in Whanganui and I’m finally willing to admit it.

There’s no shortage of contented former big-city dwellers here. It seems everyone I meet has recently moved, or returned, from somewhere else.

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The region’s growth, at 1.6 per cent, matches that of nearby Palmerston North, which has just launched a slick campaign to get more people through its gates.

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