Hi Shell,
Welcome to the forum...wow you certainly dont like living the quiet life and by the sounds of it are up for a bit of a challenge ot two...good on ya!
I am so impressed and admire you for adopting your wee boy. That must have been an amazing feeling.
I also think you will have a wonderful life for you and your son in NZ if you decide to go ahead with things after your initial visit.
As for Palmy North, I've only visited twice. The first time in 2005 when we did a nights stop over and recently when we stopped in for a few hours on our travels.
I must admit that we weren't taken by Palmy North. For us it was quite 'industrial' feeling if that's the right word for it and lacked a bit of character. Although saying that it was very easy to get around with us not knowing the area so that was a plus and the people we met when we were there were all lovely (but I think that's NZ as a whole).
When we stayed over night we had a lovely meal there and there were lots of places to eat out in so you weren't short on that front and the prices were very reasonable.
It's very hard asking people their opinions on places as everyone has different lifestyles and thoughts and opinions so please dont take mine too negatively. We just didnt think Palmy North was for us. I hope you enjoy your visit out here and if you need any more advice on things just holler. We're all here to help
