Candid confessions of a two-timer

DEAR Whanganui, oh how I hate to write.

Yes, that is a hint - and sorry to do this in a public place - but I'm cheating on you. I have started to fall deeply in love with Taranaki.

I will always love you, Whanganui - funny how it's possible to love two places at once (well, more than two if you count Ohakune, Fremantle, Wellington and Golden Bay, which I guess I do).

Reminds me of when I was pregnant with my second child and wondered how I could love another as much as my firstborn. Of course I did, and I still do, regardless of the 3-year-old power plays regularly endured.

Please remember that Taranaki was, in fact, a first love of mine. My mother was born and bred under that mountain so many Christmas holidays were spent camping in my grandparents' caravan with the old stripey canvas awning at Fitzroy Beach. And it has been more than a year since we left Whanganui - at some point, I had to move on.

It was this weekend past that did it. Waitangi Day always gets me with its celebrations, music and food. This time it was a five-minute walk down the road to a festival at
Oakura Pa, seeing familiar faces from the village and from the previous weekend's environmental event.

The next afternoon, while walking the dog on the beach, I met one of those inspirational people you know are making a real difference in the world.

He works for START Taranaki, a charity supporting today's at-risk teenagers. They take small groups of boys into the bush for weeks of hard-core wilderness experience and personal development. Then they help them transition back into the world with new self-esteem - and the all-important action plan. I will be setting up a small regular donation to support their work.

But what really topped it off was a Saturday night of incredible performances at St Mary's, the Taranaki Cathedral. For a start, it was a fundraiser for a new suicide prevention centre, the Taranaki Retreat, organised by a pastor whose 12-year-old daughter died from cancer. That combined with St Mary's being the place my husband and I got married and where my family funerals have been held meant I was primed for an emotional experience.

The music was outstanding - the acoustics in the church incredible. We had six bands, including a Maori group who'd been at the previous day's fun at Oakura Pa. I was already comparing the informal and welcoming atmosphere, with a hearty dose of entertaining but mildly inappropriate humour, to the Friday nights at the Whanganui Musicians' Club at the Savage Club Hall.

The headline act, The Eastern, a Christchurch alt-country band with a self-disclosed streak of gospel and punk, brought it home at the end and we were all dancing in the aisles, singing along.

I had bravely gone to the concert on my own, unable to persuade my usual partner in crime to join me. I thought I'd pretend I was a stranger in town, passing through. Of course I saw people I knew - quite a few, in fact - and met some fascinating new people who invited me to the next singer-songwriters' night, so more music to come.

And it turns out that music does woo me. To quote Shakespeare: "If music be the food of love, play on."

That's when I realised that I had made connections, I was settling in ... finally putting down roots.

Maybe that was enough to open up my heart to this new love affair.

So sorry, Whanganui, my heart is torn asunder.

I'll be back though - if you'll take me. The Artists' Open Studios - March 20-29 - is in the diary, and I'm looking forward to testing my new Taranaki commitment with a hearty dose of Whanganui love.

Nicola Young, a former DoC manager, works for global consultancy AECOM. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.