Hi Shell,
You sound like a lady who knows what she wants out of life, good on ya!
Welcome to the forum, you definately chose the right one

(ok, biased opinion!)
I've only ever driven through Palmerston North, and it was also dark at the time so I'm afraid I'm not much help on that score! The city looked quite nice though.
Hopefully I'll be of more use with any other questions you have
