SpudFiles

every Kiwi wants to go overseas

Yeah, and most you end up over here

I always wanted to try Lusk, Wyoming,"known for being the county seat of the least populated county in the least populated state in the US". Also reasonable commuting distance to my final redoubt

MrCrowley wrote:For close to a decade now I've thought that a life goal of mine would be to live/work in Europe for at least a couple of years. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that we're quite isolated down here and nearly every Kiwi wants to go overseas with Europe being the most popular destination.

Isolated is good. Would you rather live in spectacular LOTR-worthy landscapes or a densely populated crime ridden metropolis?

Are you disillusioned about Europe in general or just where your epoxy bat cave was?

Epoxyland in particular but I've lived elsewhere in Europe for extended periods (Britain and Spain for example) and its not much better there.

I will take again the Dodge Ram as a concrete example.

I currently drive a Landrover tugged along by 2.3 litre naturally aspirated diesel engine. This is more than enough for my needs, and is reasonably economical to run. If I were to chose to buy a new equivalent one (Defender 90 with a 2.4 litre diesel), it would cost me at least 50,000 euro. Along with insurance and licensing costs, that would be enough to purchase a small single bedroom apartment. I would *never* consider doing this here, even if I was earning double what I currently do.

As to purchasing a 5.7 litre Dodge Ram, it's not even sold here. Licensing and running costs would be through the roof.

A brand new basic model from a Canadian retailer costs 20,000 dollars, that's well below half the price and more than affordable - but do I need a 5.7 litre truck the size of a battleship?

No.

Do I want it?

Yes. F*** yes.

Can I get it in my current situation without working a second job and living in a cardboard box?

Certainly not.

Could I afford it in Canada on a minimum wage while renting a modest apartment?

So it would seem!

There is no further argument in my head.

The winters are harsh, but if that's the price I have to pay then I can put up with that.

I guess a lot of it depends on where you spent most of your time growing up.

I cannot imagine someone in my inverse situation would feel the same way, unless they *really* loved summer sun and sea.

The grass is always greener on the other side... except sometimes it is true

Agreed 100%

everything is perfect here, european culture flavor strongly teinted with French roots, but North American way of doing business, and overall happy, kind and polite people...

That's the impression I got, and I loved it.

I'm with Berlusconi here:

I'm leaving this shítty country of which I'm sickened

Would you rather live in spectacular LOTR-worthy landscapes or a densely populated crime ridden metropolis?

I'm at that particular age where getting stabbed in a back-alley in a European city is a better alternative than being bored to death

I'm sure my priorities will change if I ever settled down, NZ is pretty popular with European and American couples starting a new family.

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:The winters are harsh, but if that's the price I have to pay then I can put up with that.

Many Canadians flee Canada in the winter and come here to Arizona. You could always point that Dodge Truck south and trade the winter for warm sun, wide open spaces, long days of consuming Margaritas and spewing brass from FA's.

Despite the fact that I'm 'Strayan, Velocity has it spot on, AZ is the best state going, thousands of miles of desert, decent people, and some of the best gun laws in the US.

And I can understand what you mean by appreciating open space, I'm living on the smallest property I've ever been on, and it's 120 acres. I stayed in town for a night, and despite the distractions of a certain personage, I found it claustrophobic and uncomfortable. Worst of all, we were an hour's walk from a booze shop, so I had to stay sober.

MrCrowley wrote:I'm at that particular age where getting stabbed in a back-alley in a European city is a better alternative than being bored to death

Ah, the folly of youth

The grass always looks greener on the other side, granted. In this case though, I doubt you will find this matches up to reality.

You could always point that Dodge Truck south and trade the winter for warm sun, wide open spaces, long days of consuming Margaritas and spewing brass from FA's.

hehe I was actually working out how much road trips would cost... I got $700 for the round trip to Aberdeen Proving Ground, sounds reasonable

120 acres

Soon, soon!

120 acres

Soon, soon!

The medium shooting range, 900 meters and plenty of wind doping. Taken this evening.



Just making you lust after open spaces, I'm a prick

Edit, 53,000 edits later, it should work

Zeus wrote:Just making you lust after open spaces, I'm a prick

*fap fa... ahem

Finally I will be able to do my own miniboy testing

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:Finally I will be able to do my own miniboy testing

Moving to North America might introduce Magic Powder into your future interests.

Would be very surprised if it didn't. Have a few fellas from the UK and South Africa in our airgun group. All have remarked how EASY it was to obtain a firearms license (PAL/RPAL) here.

Course is easy if you've a dose of common sense.

We were successful in killing our non restricted long gun registry too!

In my current situation I can easily get my hands on any handgun or semi-automatic rifle quite legally, but never gave into temptation. I'll definitely want a 12 bore pump action and 22 rimfire semi auto as part of my settling down though, we have to fill that gun rack on the truck with something right

Looking forward to it. When will you be back?

It mostly centres around keeping my current job until some funds are received, hopefully before the end of this year but likely not before September.

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So, so true.

Try East Texas, mate. I know its in the U.S. but its still lots of fun
Lovely lakes for sailing, fairly cheap land, nice folks, and not unbearable far from large cities.
Course, I may just be prejudiced
Anyway, wherever you move, if you do, I hope you keep up on Spudfiles.
You'd be a huge loss if you ever left. I know I've learned quite a bit from your threads. 8)