Ok, so after look at all the cities in AU and NZ, I have landed on ChristChurch (ironic being that I'm an atheist).

Anyway, seems like an awesome place to live. Anyone been there, and if so, anything you can tell me about it?

Thanks! :)

Hayley Westenra from the Celtic Woman fame was born in Christchurch. Yet she's currently living in England for recording her music and touring around Europe. Who is she? She sings the music from the Nintendo Wii game, Endless Ocean Her family still lives in Christchurch.

One thing I CAN tell you (and Hayley has said this herself) is that in Christchurch, you can go skiing/snowboarding in the mountains to the west, and to the east you can go to the beach to go swimming It's a PERFECT place if you want snow and also going swimming, and surprisingly the ocean water is warm there, too. Well, during late spring and summer.

Good, one less America-hater around.

Is ChristChurch a big town?

yea, that's one of the reasons I like it:

The right size 330,000.
Technology savvy (in fact there is a perfect job for me posted).
Skiing/Snowboarding
Ocean
Weather

Seems like no downside to that place :)

Just out of curiosity...

Let's say you were mildy wealthy, and had a son. He turns 18, runs up his credit cards to the point he can't pay them. So, you pay them off and work with him to improve his finance skills.

He then runs them up again. If you chose to not pay them off and let him learn from his mistake the hard way, does that mean you hate your son? Of course not.

The US government has no clue how to handle it's finances. I am tired to helping them try and fix there problems. I love my country, but I will not pay for there mistakes.

When our leaders learn to govern, I will return to the country I love and live under there governance.

Of course you know this, you just think that somehow calling me an American-hater will irritate me, or somehow convince my that my views on other peoples stances like Akuma need to be adjusted. Sorry, it's not going to do either.

Oh, and thanks for the wall post Montana :)

Let's say you were a staunch, obsessive middle income lawyer. You insist on keeping the house very clean, but your irresponsible, free-spirited son doesn't like your atmosphere, and leaves trash around the house. He's unsatisfied with the way the house is. So one day, the father comes in the gaming room and complains to his son that he doesn't like the trash being left around the house. The son remarks back that he'd rather live in the house next door anyways. The father then claims that the son hates his house.

After the father and son continue to live in the house for a while longer, the son continues his habits, while the father complains more and more about the situation. Eventually, the father leaves the house entirely, and moves to an apartment about a mile away. The son stays in the house. But who really hated living in the house, the son, or the father?

And where am I going with this analogy exactly?

I don't know man, just calm down. I'm having a little jab at you. It obviously irritated you if you chose to write all that out.

Regarding your second post, you're most welcome. I respect you a lot, it's just that some of your past posts seemed kind of annoying and I'm trying to bust your chops before you finally leave the U.S. Don't take it the wrong way.

Thanks! :)

And the main reason I posted that was for anyone reading this who might be new to this site. if these threads were just the regulars, I would not have felt obligated to respond to the comment :p.

Oh, and the difference with your analogy, is the father has all the power. With respect to how this country is run, I have none. Well, I have 1/300,000,000. That's not 'none', but it's close.

My friend lived near Christchurch during his gap year, he absolutely fell in love with the place. However, it is far away from the other large towns like Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin, so you should know that if you move there you will probably be spending the vast majority of your time in the town.

You should ask Binary Solo as well. Hes older and hes probably seen more of the country than me, I haven't traveled that far south yet as im in the North Island which is an uberly creative name I might add.

Ok some general things I know about the place.

• Hot/dry in summer, cold and snows in winter.
• Its a beautiful city in that its got a lot of gardens, and its flat.
• Its quite close to some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
• Property taxes aren't too high and the city is generally well run as far as I know.
• Population consists mainly of Europeans and you get a lot of people with Scottish ancestry down there.
• Its quite a friendly city, its friendlier than up north and the further north you go the less friendly the people are. Though im not saying that anywhere is unfriendly.
• Some traffic issues but nothing like in the U.S.A.
• Tends to get a little smog in winter due to the use of coal for heating although its being phased out.

Oh yeah the country is generally left wing compared to what you're used to, though the type of democracy we have is more participative and you can have your say if you're passionate about an issue enough.