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It's bigger and colder, but the deep south is actually quite wealthy because the farming is lucrative and the houses are a quarter of the price.

If I was telling someone how to get ahead in NZ I'd say move to Invercargill (but it's flat and boring) or Dunedin (very cool - like a smaller Wellington).

But nearly half the NZ pop live in Auckland - I hate the place, NZ's version of LA, and everyone has a million $ mortgage

It looks OK in a photo - but the reality is motorways and suburbs - it goes for ever

Gold was a thing in the 1800's but the gold mining industry is small potatoes now - even big mines like this one in the Coromandel I took a photo of in 2010 are not significant to the NZ economy - that's Australia's thing

On the map Invercargill looks like it's at the ends of the earth. NZ definitely has natural beauty.NZ is like America was before it was overrun by the European hoard.
See what you mean by being flat.
proxy.duckduckgo.jpg.Invercargill

Almost 8 million people living just on long island NY. Where I live. Island is only about 110 miles long and 20 miles wide. But still a lot of rural areas on the eastern end.

proxy.duckduckgo.jpg

Cool pic - I've never seen Invercargill from the air.
It seems much bigger when you are in it

You must look at our low population in amazement - but we always compare ourselves to Australia, the sixth largest country by land area but with only 24 million people and think that we are like Japan compared to them

Wellington is hilly and compact with a lot of computer geeks!

This is the view out our window that I'm looking at now (Well not quite because this was taken at sunrise and it's 3pm now) We can't see the south island from our window because there are a couple of hills in the way, but if we walk down to the beach, there it is.

I grew up and worked in NYC but prefer the country side. Moved to the suburbs years ago and commuted 1 1/2 to 2 yours to the filthy city.

You have a great view up high. Looks like you are on a mountain side.
If you swung to the right you must get a fantastic view of the ocean. Cheers ...NYC depends where..

QmSdVyUeZcvrWqCs9F3pAnGezxTy263qpQkMfRWWRwesku.jpg

Yuk!

This is the view from our front door - I just walk up the hill behind for more view

Great view. Just a suggestion but posting a few nature pictures once in awhile could be up-lifting to the rest of us.

Good idea - I'll start posting a few more!