Nelson is a good option, also has the benefit of being near Marlborough which is a large wine producing region, has plenty of beaches around, and is in a good location for exploring the south island, also a 20 minute flight to Wellington.
And also everyone mentioning the skiing in Taranaki, its a pretty crappy hill, if they ever do the long planned ski field by the shark tooth it would be good but as it is its icy, rocky and barely open. It's a club field and definitely not what someone from Canada is use to.