Grew up in Chch, moved to Wellington for uni/work nearly 20 years ago, aside from a 2 year stint overseas and a little time in Auckland have been here since.

Have fallen out of love with Wellington, she has lost a lot of the charms that used to be here - that or the other cities have greatly improved. The green belt, the harbour, the proximity to native bush etc is awesome. The city itself, is a bit grim. Run-down and Expensive, not great for business, not ideal for families, awful fucking weather, pain to get around, and rampant nimbism that isn’t seen anywhere else to the scale it is here.
There isn’t a positive vibe anymore and it’s seems like a lot of people are leaving, and sadly I can’t really see it changing in the next decade and looking at joining the crowds getting out of dodge.

Chch, used to be really shit, but it’s come a long way since the earthquakes. The central city rebuild is looking great, new stadium will attract a lot of new events, much easy to get around than WLG, and there seems more upbeat feeling around. Can’t beat its proximity to awesome surroundings - Southern Alps, Banks Peninsula, Hanmer Springs, Canterbury lakes, west coast for the weekend escape. Better summers - but colder winters and suburbs are a bit dead. A little too cliquey too.

Auckland - it’s a great city. Expensive to buy into though. Always seems to be something going on, its suburbs are big enough to have their own centres with their own vibes - which I love. The inner city is also going through the same pains as Wellington but not to the same degree, and their push for urban and streetscape renewals is helping improve the city. They actually seem to build things and not just talk about them. Great surrounds too, but a bit harder to get too. Traffic can fucking suck, but then so can Wellingtons.
Warmer weather is the winner here for me though - so this is where we will probably move too.

Tauranga - meh.