Showing posts with label cleanest countries in the world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleanest countries in the world. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Cheapest Place to Live in New Zealand

New Zealand picked up spot#5 as the Best Place to Live according to International Livings 2010 Quality of Life Index. Besides beautiful weather, the country’s wide ranging topography — snow capped mountains, rain forests, crystal clear lakes and rivers offering some of the best trout fishing in the world, bays filled with forested islands, vineyards, fruit plantations, and other amazing scenery are attractive to just about anybody!Ask an Avocado!Gardeners know that avocados like it warm and sunny in order to grow. So if that's your idea of a perfect climate than know this - Avocados grow very well in northern New Zealand!

Auckland New Zealand

The majority of immigrants who move to New Zealand end up living and working in and around Auckland. But if you're looking for the Cheapest Place to Live in New Zealand you may want to check in with the local. A New Zealander will tell you that Auckland is actually one of their least favourite places to live. This is due to  high real estate prices, a higher cost of living, higher crime rates and also due to the influx of international migrants moving to Auckland!

The four best places to live in New Zealand

According to New Zealanders it’s clear that the most attractive places for lifestyle reasons are:

1. Christchurch in Canterbury

2. The Bay of Plenty and in particular Tauranga

3. Waikato and,

4. Otago. 

When it comes to New Zealand in general most people like the fact it is small, has a very literate population, friendly people, and the fact that the country is, for the most part, quite clean and uncluttered. Ranked one of the cleanest countries in the world. New Zealanders love the outdoors  and enjoy camping, sailing, barbecuing, swimming, and gardening.

New Zealanders on the Move

New Zealanders have been on the move during the last few years. Most of the movement has been focussed on better weather, better prospects or lower house prices. In other words they've been searching for the Cheapest Places to Live in their own country.

The 3 areas New Zealanders have been keenest to leave are: Auckland, North Island Manawatu-Wanganui and North Island Southland. South Island Auckland's house prices have jumped extraordinarily heigh in recent years. Although falling prices and falling interest rates from he 2008 crash have improved affordability. Most people do find they benefit from leaving Auckland, provided they don't experience too much of a wage cut. Retired people can often release a large capital sum by leaving Auckland and moving to a cheaper location. Many retirees move to the Waikato, a region to the south of Auckland, or Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. Otaki, Levin - this is near Palmerston.

For those retirees with extra cash looking for one of the best places to retire New Zealand waterfront is very cheap by U.S. standards. Although not necessarily the Cheapest Place to Live in New Zealand.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Cleanest Places in the World

I've been blogging about International Living's Quality of Life Index which highlights the Best Places to Live in the world. This years guide is a terrific read with lots of little interesting tid-bits of informaiton. This week I'm going to share in more detail some specifics about each country which made the Top 10 list of the Best Places to Live. Today I thought I would just share a little of my leisurly Sunday morning read. This headline caught my eye -


The World's Cleanest Countries



Hum, now reading all about the best countries for living it certainly fits to get one thinking about cleanliness. Afterall, I think most of us would agree cleanliness is a pretty important factor when it comes to Quality of Life - at least I would hope so!

Much to my surprise some of the cleanest countries in the world are in Latin America. Yup, Costa Rica ranked 5th cleanest and Columbia go the #7 spot. So, where does the good ole' U.S.A. end up - sorry to say the U.S. is 39th on the list. Pretty sad comment really and I'm sure by now you are thinking, enough already who got spot #1? And the award for the cleanest country in the world goes to...

It's probably no big surprsie that Switzerland is the cleanest country in the world.