Well I like it! But then I've never lived anywhere else. The scenery is fab and being small, if you wanted to, you could ski and then go surfing all on the same day. No one does though that I know of!
There are lots of lovely places in NZ to live and also plenty worth avoiding. House prices in the big cities are ridiculous but cheap in smaller towns.
I live on the edge of a big city near the beach (so many awesome beaches), and it's pretty friendly. Everyone says hi when you walk down to the beach. You get to know the shopkeepers and they're friendly and chatty. The kids always seem to have bare feet and there are no poisonous snakes or spiders.
We still have our share of low lifes, bad neighbors, drug dealers etc, but on the whole we don't see that much of it here and life is pretty calm and pleasant.
There are other parts of the country where there are a lot of social problems - poverty, generations of dysfunctional families, drugs, drink and lots of crime.
The are plenty of opportunities here (the great debate is whether its really better in Australia or not. For some yes. For others no.)and you can have a really nice lifestyle. We have some great designers, stunning food, you can be seriously urban or go completely off the grid and herbal. The scenery is amazing and you'll find our accents really cute.
