OPINION: Righto, Dunedin, I have a bone to pick with you.

Hamilton is bigger than you, yet I keep hearing about New Zealand's four largest cities being Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and yourself, the Edinburgh of the South.

The most recent was in a press release from Quotable Value New Zealand, the company that does all the house valuations for New Zealand. You would think people there knew a thing or two about city size.

MARTIN HUNTER/SUNDAY STAR-TIMES This is what summer looks like in Dunedin, New Zealand's fifth-largest city.

But judging by this sentence, obviously not: "It also allows QV to track the long-term trends in the cost of building homes in New Zealand's four largest cities, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin."

I'm not quite sure why this piece of misinformation keeps floating about.

Dunedin, your population is 127,500, whilst up here in dairy country, we can claim 150,200.

AUDREY MALONE/FAIRFAX NZ Hamilton's show-stopping fog over the lake.

In my books, that's 22,700 MORE people in Hamilton.

But you continue to let this myth be perpetuated. Why? Is it because you have an inferiority complex? Probably.

Let's be honest, you and I both know you think you are something special, so it must be a bit heartbreaking when you realise the Tron has eclipsed you. And not just in population numbers.

REBEKAH PARSONS-KING/Fairfax NZ The river that runs through New Zealand's fourth-largest city, Hamilton.

I can prove to you that good old Hams has it over you Dunners.

1. Summer. Only one of the two places experiences it. Yes, that's right, Hamilton. Dunedin has the grey, cold season and the grey, cold, frosty and snowy season. The sun peeks out for a short look sometime in February, before it goes into hiding again. Whereas Hamilton basks in the sunshine and heat. Of course, it gets up to five frosts in a winter, so it still has its moments of being cold. The only difference is that it's not for 360 days of the year.

2. Students. We both have them. Ours create a prosthetic hand that can be completely controlled by the brain and make the news. Yours burn couches and make the news.

3. Eats. Dunedin people go on about Jimmy's Pies like it's the second coming. Don't get me wrong, something you can buy from your local Countdown for $2.89 has its place in society. Whereas Hamilton eateries Chim Choo Ree, Victoria Street Bistro and Palate have all taken out a number of awards. Like, actual awards by people who know food, not drunken plaudits from a poor student.

4. We have our own vibe going on. We didn't steal it from Scotland. But if you want to keep using your association with that country to give you an excuse to eat a pudding made out of sheep's heart, liver and lungs, be my guest.

5. I can hear people crying out about what great beaches there are down there. On the same merits, you could argue for the beaches in Antarctica. Universally, people consider a good day at the beach somehow involving sun. Raglan is a good beach. People from across the world travel to the town, a 40-minute drive from Hamilton, to surf and enjoy the sand and sun.

6. Marc Ellis, possibly your biggest campaigner, talks about how great Dunedin is. We all know he means how great it was to spend four years drinking, playing rugby and chatting up the ladies while pretending to study. He could have been at any university and had an epic time. And let's be honest, it's not as though he lives there now and hasn't since he finished uni, so it can't be that great. Hams, on the other hand, has a housing crisis because so many people want to live here.

7. When people first came to New Zealand, they rushed to Dunedin. And early on, farmers left the Waikato because they thought the ground was no good. How things have changed as people have come to understand dirt. The farmland here is amongst the most expensive in the country. And, well, Dunedin keeps pushing out campaigns to get people to move there.

8. The fog in Hamilton is spectacular. Sure, it gets a bit foggy in Dunedin. But if you are going to do something, do it well or not at all. And Hamilton fog is a real show stopper.

9. Dunedin has a whole heap of historical buildings. You know the ones: crumbling, no insulation, damp, drafty, make you sick. Hamilton City Council just keeps rolling out the building consents for those new builds. You know the ones: help you maintain good health, insulated, warm.

10. Do you know that Maori is an official language? Because here in Hamilton we do. We're so bilingual, it's even on signs at The Base.

*Comments are now closed on this story