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[Eden]

My mother and step-dad were joking about New Zealand as well, but from what I've heard it is very hard to get more than a tourist permit to go there and the cost of living is very high. I have no first-hand experience, but it sure looks like a gorgeous spot, though!

Really? I just heard the exact opposite - granted it was from a teen - 20 something that we just bumped into on a bus in San Francisco, but we were talking (he was shocked at how crowded the bus was - he said in NZ public transportation is usually mostly empty) and he said they've a lot of unoccupied space and are looking for immigrants. He said Christchurch has been rebuilt since the quake, but that people have been reluctant to move back and that one of the islands (south?) is quite desolate. We know someone who moved there around a decade ago. He was simply sick of it here. Moving there seemed fairly simple for him, but he was still young and is an electrical engineer (I think, or a programmer) and highly skilled people are often given preference. I'm not sure what his wife does.