What's the best country in the world?

What's the best country in the world?

Author
Discussion

C70R

17,596 posts

103 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
paua said:
RobDickinson said:
C70R said:
I was only going on what I was told by a few locals when we arrived a few weeks back (having been forced to take the horrendous Inland Road on a misty night, because Highway 1 was closed both North and South of town).
A beautiful part of the world, which will be fantastic when it's finished.
They must have been drunk or having you on.

The kaikoura quake was November 2016, the road will be open again by Christmas this year so just over a year and it's been a major effort.

I don't find getting around nz any problem at all
Rob has it right.
C70 R, I think you may be caught up in language that is a bit too emotive - The Inland Rd is, by no means "horrendous". Pre-quake it was a lot of fun with 2 doors & 6(manual) gears & little traffic. I learned to drive on this road when it was mostly loose shingle. Currently, it has quite heavy traffic, pot holes/ poor surface - no fun at all & certainly not fit for a low-slung sports car. It has always been narrow, but hardly like a rural English road between hedgerows, where you can't pass the village tractor.
The quake caused major infrastructure damage, NZ has challenging terrain, but things are being repaired. We're not a war ravaged, politically unstable banana republic. Hope you enjoy your visit. Cheers
I drove the entire length of it (from the Highway 7 turn-off) at 10pm in thick fog.
I grew up in the countryside, and yet it was one of the worst and most mentally taxing drives of my entire life - terrible surface, blind turns, narrow lanes (punctuated by multiple 'roadworks' lane closures).

Like I said, I absolutely loved the country (the views, the people, the craft ale and the coffee would be worth the trip alone), but the infrastructure is very poor for a developed country.

languagetimothy

1,075 posts

161 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
Mr Roper said:
Junior Bianno said:
Maybe I've missed it, but I'm amazed there have been 9 pages of posts and no mention of Portugal

Number 3 in the Global Peace Index
Low cost of living (for Europe)
Outrageous weather - in the Algarve you can go literally weeks without seeing a single cloud
Close to everywhere important
Great beaches, restaurants, cities
Amazing diversity from the hilly north, the wild west coast and the hot south
Friendly locals
Stable laws and government
You can buy really good wine for €2

Each to their own but I would take it every time over any of the cold, dark Northern European countries mentioned

This article sums it up quite well

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/portugal-trave...
My missus would move there in a heartbeat...She has multiple trips every year to Lisbon and Porto and it's often talked about as our retirement plan.

In fact we're off to Porto in December. smile
I have a similar plan and have an apartment in Alcobaca, (two mins walk from the main square) I may clear off there in a year or two. Nice part of the world and not cut off.


paua

5,649 posts

142 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
C70R said:
paua said:
RobDickinson said:
C70R said:
I was only going on what I was told by a few locals when we arrived a few weeks back (having been forced to take the horrendous Inland Road on a misty night, because Highway 1 was closed both North and South of town).
A beautiful part of the world, which will be fantastic when it's finished.
They must have been drunk or having you on.

The kaikoura quake was November 2016, the road will be open again by Christmas this year so just over a year and it's been a major effort.

I don't find getting around nz any problem at all
Rob has it right.
C70 R, I think you may be caught up in language that is a bit too emotive - The Inland Rd is, by no means "horrendous". Pre-quake it was a lot of fun with 2 doors & 6(manual) gears & little traffic. I learned to drive on this road when it was mostly loose shingle. Currently, it has quite heavy traffic, pot holes/ poor surface - no fun at all & certainly not fit for a low-slung sports car. It has always been narrow, but hardly like a rural English road between hedgerows, where you can't pass the village tractor.
The quake caused major infrastructure damage, NZ has challenging terrain, but things are being repaired. We're not a war ravaged, politically unstable banana republic. Hope you enjoy your visit. Cheers
I drove the entire length of it (from the Highway 7 turn-off) at 10pm in thick fog.
I grew up in the countryside, and yet it was one of the worst and most mentally taxing drives of my entire life - terrible surface, blind turns, narrow lanes (punctuated by multiple 'roadworks' lane closures).

Like I said, I absolutely loved the country (the views, the people, the craft ale and the coffee would be worth the trip alone), but the infrastructure is very poor for a developed country.
Of course it currently has a "terrible surface" & "multiple roadworks lane closures", we had a 7.8 earthquake lasting 2 minutes 20 seconds. Some places have been uplifted up to 6-8 metres.
"infrastructure very poor for a developed country" - we're not Afghanistan! Apologies to anyone from Afghanistan who might be reading this over their high speed internet connection - oh wait...

vsonix

3,858 posts

162 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
paua said:
C70R said:
paua said:
RobDickinson said:
C70R said:
I was only going on what I was told by a few locals when we arrived a few weeks back (having been forced to take the horrendous Inland Road on a misty night, because Highway 1 was closed both North and South of town).
A beautiful part of the world, which will be fantastic when it's finished.
They must have been drunk or having you on.

The kaikoura quake was November 2016, the road will be open again by Christmas this year so just over a year and it's been a major effort.

I don't find getting around nz any problem at all
Rob has it right.
C70 R, I think you may be caught up in language that is a bit too emotive - The Inland Rd is, by no means "horrendous". Pre-quake it was a lot of fun with 2 doors & 6(manual) gears & little traffic. I learned to drive on this road when it was mostly loose shingle. Currently, it has quite heavy traffic, pot holes/ poor surface - no fun at all & certainly not fit for a low-slung sports car. It has always been narrow, but hardly like a rural English road between hedgerows, where you can't pass the village tractor.
The quake caused major infrastructure damage, NZ has challenging terrain, but things are being repaired. We're not a war ravaged, politically unstable banana republic. Hope you enjoy your visit. Cheers
I drove the entire length of it (from the Highway 7 turn-off) at 10pm in thick fog.
I grew up in the countryside, and yet it was one of the worst and most mentally taxing drives of my entire life - terrible surface, blind turns, narrow lanes (punctuated by multiple 'roadworks' lane closures).

Like I said, I absolutely loved the country (the views, the people, the craft ale and the coffee would be worth the trip alone), but the infrastructure is very poor for a developed country.
Of course it currently has a "terrible surface" & "multiple roadworks lane closures", we had a 7.8 earthquake lasting 2 minutes 20 seconds. Some places have been uplifted up to 6-8 metres.
"infrastructure very poor for a developed country" - we're not Afghanistan! Apologies to anyone from Afghanistan who might be reading this over their high speed internet connection - oh wait...
The infrastructure is as good as it needs to be - with the exception of getting a car from North to South Island (or vice versa) - this is really expensive considering the relatively low cost of passenger flights. But once you get there it's easy and relatively cheap to travel the length of the islands by bus.
As I mentioned in a previous post, it's a very rural country, people don't need to commute from the farmlands into the cities like they do in the UK as there is plenty of room in the cities and suburbs for everyone that wants to live there - with maybe the exception of Auckland which does have a bit of a problem with housing being overpriced. You say 'developed' but the truth of the matter is it's not 'developed' like the UK where millions of people live cheek by jowl and towns and villages have been established thousands of years. It's mostly farmland and wilderness outside the cities. Dual carriageways are few and far between, but ask most natives and they'll tell you they're not necessary.

cheddar

4,637 posts

173 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
vsonix said:
Auckland does have a bit of a problem with housing being overpriced.
4th highest prices in the world vs income, London is 12th, New York 21st.

Nudging £600k median but if you want a decent view in a nice area it'll be closer to £1 million


paua

5,649 posts

142 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
^ And traffic woes to rival big cities anywhere in the world.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

253 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
Who wants to live in Auckland anyhow...
If you want the big city life go to Oz or stay in London.

Plenty of places in NZ you can get a 200+ sqm house with 1000m2 section with a decent view/area for half auckland prices or less

paua

5,649 posts

142 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
Lived in Cologne for 4 years - tis a cool city.

Vi16v

53 posts

106 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
Scotland, has to be the best. Especially when we have a nice sunny day. Nothing to bite you, poison you or trying to eat you. Some of the greenest land on gods earth.

Plus theres a reason all the Lidls adverts feature English people questioning their food sourcing, and they all end up in Scotland in beautiful surroundings showing exactly where that lovely food comes from. Then said English person ends up literally eating their words!

Vi16v

53 posts

106 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
In saying that, i really hope there isnt an advert down south showing some doss glaswegian questioning cornish pasties from lidls and getting walked around a factory??

Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
Vi16v said:
Scotland.... ... when we have a nice sunny day. I think it happened once in 1976?

Nothing to bite you, poison you or trying to eat you. except for the midges

....lovely food.... WTF?
EFA. Unless a parrot is squawking overhead?


Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all

Every country comes with three possibilities:

1. Low Tax
2. Nice place to live, clean, everything works
3. Low cost of living

The problem is, you can only have two from that list.

If anyone can think of a place that has all three, please tell me!


Cold

15,207 posts

89 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
Vi16v said:
Scotland, has to be the best. Especially when we have a nice sunny day. Nothing to bite you, poison you or trying to eat you. Some of the greenest land on gods earth.
Midges. Culicoides impunctatus. 68 Billion of them.

Algarve

2,102 posts

80 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
Ayahuasca said:
Every country comes with three possibilities:

1. Low Tax
2. Nice place to live, clean, everything works
3. Low cost of living

The problem is, you can only have two from that list.

If anyone can think of a place that has all three, please tell me!
Earn enough money and number 1 makes number 3 irrelevant.

Robertj21a

16,475 posts

104 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
Ayahuasca said:
Every country comes with three possibilities:

1. Low Tax
2. Nice place to live, clean, everything works
3. Low cost of living

The problem is, you can only have two from that list.

If anyone can think of a place that has all three, please tell me!
I wouldn't consider parts of the UK to be far off achieving that.

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
Robertj21a said:
Ayahuasca said:
Every country comes with three possibilities:

1. Low Tax
2. Nice place to live, clean, everything works
3. Low cost of living

The problem is, you can only have two from that list.

If anyone can think of a place that has all three, please tell me!
I wouldn't consider parts of the UK to be far off achieving that.
I'd prefer to be paying 40% in taxes in a country that provides soild social services (Europe, UK, Canada, NZ, Australia) than 30% and getting very little in return (U.S.)

paua

5,649 posts

142 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
paua said:


Tablet quality pics, but this is the view from my picnic/bbq table. Piece of lamb on the bbq right now & a glass of good Aussie shiraz in hand - just getting dark now.
All countries have their ups 'n' downs, social issues etc. Some, however, have more downs than ups - politics/ conflict, basic services, health etc. I expect most of us reading here, have it better than a large proportion of the world's popn.
Added to what Colonial said above, there are some places where one can't really trust the police ( eg. minorities in the US, never mind some other parts of the world).

King Herald

23,501 posts

215 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
Robertj21a said:
I wouldn't consider parts of the UK to be far off achieving that.
Where I live in the midlands it is not exactly a hell on earth, and prices are fair for what we get. Quite a few things seem expensive compared to where I used to live in the third world, but the average salary is about 25 times higher in England.

And the infrastructure is 50 times better.

Every day I read or view news relating drama and misery and violence in some areas on England, but where I live in blandsville 3 bed semi land we see very little of it.

Mothersruin

8,573 posts

98 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
paua said:
paua said:


Tablet quality pics, but this is the view from my picnic/bbq table. Piece of lamb on the bbq right now & a glass of good Aussie shiraz in hand - just getting dark now.
All countries have their ups 'n' downs, social issues etc. Some, however, have more downs than ups - politics/ conflict, basic services, health etc. I expect most of us reading here, have it better than a large proportion of the world's popn.
Added to what Colonial said above, there are some places where one can't really trust the police ( eg. minorities in the US, never mind some other parts of the world).
You live on the 17th Par 5?

Colonial

13,553 posts

204 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2017
quotequote all
paua said:
Tablet quality pics, but this is the view from my picnic/bbq table. Piece of lamb on the bbq right now & a glass of good Aussie shiraz in hand - just getting dark now.
All countries have their ups 'n' downs, social issues etc. Some, however, have more downs than ups - politics/ conflict, basic services, health etc. I expect most of us reading here, have it better than a large proportion of the world's popn.
Added to what Colonial said above, there are some places where one can't really trust the police ( eg. minorities in the US, never mind some other parts of the world).
Nice.

Where abouts in unzud are you?