The secret's out - and now the rest of the country knows something that New Plymouth people have kept to themselves for years. North & South magazine has just named New Plymouth as the best city in New Zealand. The magazine's Top Town special issue - due out on Monday - names the Taranaki centre as the best place to live, love, work, and raise a family. It says New Plymouth's booming dairy and oil and gas industries, plentiful job opportunities, affordable housing, superb recreational facilities, civic pride, and real sense of "can do" have seen it climb quickly to the No 1 spot. Even better, New Plymouth beat Christchurch into second spot. And even better still, it left Auckland and Wellington fighting for equal third.