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Best Zip Code for Perfect Life

Two recent threads have inspired me. One was on persuading the wife for an audio shopping "romantic weekend" and the other on all of your hobbies outside of audio. Given that many of you seem interested in contemplative and creative things, fishing bicycling etc as well as quite a few car nuts, here is the ultimate question: Where can I chuck in the big city rat race and move that would offer: natural beauty, pre war architecture (at least some) and privacy where one could fish, cycle, enjoy nature etc and not worry about neighbors when playing MFSL Dark Side of the Moon at concert levels through subwoofers, drive 30-60 minutes maximum to check out some girls, visit a good audio dealer, book shop, music store and eat some decent Italian food, without spending a zillion bucks on real estate or living in an overpopulated or pre fab "McMansion" atmosphere. Extra Credit: roads ideally would be somewhat rural, bucolic, winding and not ruined by traffic or constant speed traps.(One for the car geeks, of which I am one.)Let's keep this gem to our forum, but WE can all move there and start an audio club and the best dealers will follow. Thanks for the tip and I will hope to see you in the village market and have you over for a drink and a demo!
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Showing 3 responses by redkiwi

redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
New Zealand - and given the low cost of living here (not to mention the low cost of amplifiers - I don't want to upset Peter Thompson, but there are amps here that Plinius cannot..oops) many of you could retire here for what you could sell your expensive houses for. Quiet, clean, great food, great wine, great beer, clean power (no power conditioners required), the list goes on. I live in New Zealand's capital Wellington, it takes a 5 or 10 minute drive to work and I am a five minute walk from a town belt where I can trek more or less around the city in bush/harbour views for hours and maybe bump into three people on a busy weekend. I am a 40 minute drive from my beach front weekend abode where five acres of beach front cost me little more than USD100,000. Three hour drive to ski fields. Four hours drive to the best trout fishing you could imagine. Sure, there are downsides, I wish I could get to France and Spain more often, and I wish there was more high-end gear to try out, but I have a number of American friends here that are not about to go home.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
Most of Christchurch is antique, as you know Steven - more British than Britain - but I must confess I have not visited the stereo shop you refer to - I will have to rectify that now you remind me of it. Sounds like you enjoyed Wellington, which I am very pleased to hear. I don't know when you visited but Wellington has actually changed a lot in the last five years, almost entirely for the better, so I hope you can return some day.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
Christchurch is half-way down the right-hand side of the South Island Of New Zealand. Lots of Scots there in particular, lots of old black stone buildings, about a million people. Flat, surrounded by miles of plains, and the Southern Alps in the distance. Has a major airport and is the main gateway for international tourists to get to the most scenic parts of New Zealand, which are south and west of Christchurch. As for the girls - they are quieter than the American variety, probably a bit more "girl next door" too, but we are more recently a pioneer land than even the US and so people are still pretty individualist here. I don't have any complaints about the women, except perhaps that being an isolated country, the ones that have travelled a bit are somewhat more interesting than the rest if you get my drift.
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