Coast Drive hosts Mel Homer and Jason 'JT' Tikao: The best place to grow up in New Zealand

Coast Drive Show hosts, Mel Homer, left, and Jason "JT" Tikao go head to head over the burning question of town vs city. Photo / Northern Advocate

Opinion

Is a small-town upbringing best? Or is city life the greatest for kids? Coast Drive hosts Mel Homer and Jason 'JT' Tikao go head to head.

Jason 'JT' Tikao: Small-town romance

I grew up in Whanganui and wouldn't have it any other way.

We may not have had the cool, exciting things with flashing lights that we assumed the kids in Auckland got and took for granted. But I have no complaints.

Auckland was big, Whanganui small, but that's just it. It was the little things that made growing up in Wangas such a great experience.

I lived at the bottom of Bastia Hill; there was a huge zig-zag walkway that led all the way up the hill, and that was the best front yard playground ever. So many adventures were had on that walkway. From finding out the hard way whether the brakes on my bike could handle that slope, to walking to the top of that hill to my mate Steph's house to listen to Violent Femmes in her basement. This was all right outside my front door.

And then, of course, there was the world-famous Kowhai Park. Like a small-town version of Disneyland, with its dinosaur-shaped slides, a pirate ship, a flying fox, a maze, and a merry-go-round just to name a few of the attractions. It also had the compulsory miniature train that really showed you meant business as an attraction. Then later came the mini-golf course, with bumper cars and go-karts too. What more could you want?

Many memories were made at world-famous Kowhai Park. Photo / NZME

This was where the local kids would meet and play. And we absolutely loved it. Even when we were older and a bit too cool for school, we'd hang out there. As a pimple-faced teenager, even I managed to hold a girl's hand, and where? At Kowhai Park of course. On the (decidedly suspicious urine smelling) pirate ship. So romantic.

One of my favourite memories of growing up in Whanganui was that you could bike around the entire city. You had a mate over the other side of town? You biked there. You wanted to meet up in the CBD? You biked there. Everything was a simple piece of pedal power away. Can't do that in Auckland traffic, it's like playing a real-life version of Frogger on a bike.

I grew up playing football, and almost everyone that I came up against in age-grade footy would go on to join me at Whanganui High School. I became best friends with one of my enemies on the field. That school experience I wouldn't change for anything…well, maybe I'd improve my test scores because they were awful, but some of the best people I have ever met came from that experience.

We laughed our way through those years. We put on concerts, performed skits, and did a Priscilla-inspired choreographed dance in full drag. You know, the normal school experience. We had a ball.

But you get that with small-town New Zealand. A beautiful innocence. We had to use our imaginations so much more than big city kids. And it shows.

Mel Homer: City slicker

Homer says there's nothing better than growing up in the city. Photo / Supplied

It wasn't until I was in my 20s, and went to live in smaller-town New Zealand, that I realised just how much the rest of the country thought we Aucklanders were arseholes.

Seriously. I had no idea. The rest of the country seemed to have this ginormous chip on its shoulder about my hometown, and I was completely oblivious.

And that's the thing about growing up in Auckland – not only did we have our own isthmus-y microclimate, but we also had everything we could possibly want this side of the Bombays, so we looked inward, rather than outward.

But why wouldn't we? That's what kids do.

I grew up in West Auckland, in the wilds of Titirangi, at a time when riding your Cruiser 3-speed to meet your boyfriend on his Chopper with the flag on Expedition Drive for a "bush walk" was excepted behavior.

The Auckland I grew up in once saw me having to quickly scale a tree while hut building with my friends down in the bush across from my house because a wild boar was going on a bit of a rampage. Everybody's Auckland is just that little bit different.

School trips were always exciting and included Motat. Photo / File

And that's why growing up in a big city is great. The diversity. So much diversity. Different people, different foods, different ideas, they're all right here. Didn't someone say variety is the spice of life?

Our school trips were always exciting, and never the same. Want to go and see Michael Hurst as Macbeth at the Mercury? Don't mind if I do. Shall we try an outing to Motat? Why, yes, thanks, that's a tremendous idea. (Although I'm still sad that they ditched Ye Olde Sweet Shop.) Shall we corral three classes of 8-year-olds for a trip to check out the Old Street at Auckland Museum? Yes.

The access to cultural activities in the big smoke is outstanding.

Plus, growing up in a big city, we got the cool stuff first. We got the big stuff. We got the international stuff.

I managed to see so many great concerts because all of the big acts always came to Auckland. David Bowie at Western Springs? Mind-blowing. Tom Petty at the Supertop? Wow. I also met Dire Straits on the beach at Karekare once, but that's a story for another time.

After stints living in Tauranga, Germany, Sweden and Hong Kong, I now live in my home town with my three sons. And I love it. Sure, the traffic is pants (how could I possibly write a story about Auckland without mentioning that? Merge like a zip, people. Like a zip.) But having so much choice in everything, from leisure activities to education, far outweighs a slow trip home down Dominion Rd. Mmmm Dominion Rd. Maybe I'll pick up dumplings for dinner tonight.

• Listen to Mel and JT on The Coast Drive, 3-7pm weekdays.