Best Zip Code for Perfect Life


Two recent threads have inspired me. One was on persuading the wife for an audio shopping "romantic weekend" and the other on all of your hobbies outside of audio. Given that many of you seem interested in contemplative and creative things, fishing bicycling etc as well as quite a few car nuts, here is the ultimate question: Where can I chuck in the big city rat race and move that would offer: natural beauty, pre war architecture (at least some) and privacy where one could fish, cycle, enjoy nature etc and not worry about neighbors when playing MFSL Dark Side of the Moon at concert levels through subwoofers, drive 30-60 minutes maximum to check out some girls, visit a good audio dealer, book shop, music store and eat some decent Italian food, without spending a zillion bucks on real estate or living in an overpopulated or pre fab "McMansion" atmosphere. Extra Credit: roads ideally would be somewhat rural, bucolic, winding and not ruined by traffic or constant speed traps.(One for the car geeks, of which I am one.)Let's keep this gem to our forum, but WE can all move there and start an audio club and the best dealers will follow. Thanks for the tip and I will hope to see you in the village market and have you over for a drink and a demo!
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New Zealand - and given the low cost of living here (not to mention the low cost of amplifiers - I don't want to upset Peter Thompson, but there are amps here that Plinius cannot..oops) many of you could retire here for what you could sell your expensive houses for. Quiet, clean, great food, great wine, great beer, clean power (no power conditioners required), the list goes on. I live in New Zealand's capital Wellington, it takes a 5 or 10 minute drive to work and I am a five minute walk from a town belt where I can trek more or less around the city in bush/harbour views for hours and maybe bump into three people on a busy weekend. I am a 40 minute drive from my beach front weekend abode where five acres of beach front cost me little more than USD100,000. Three hour drive to ski fields. Four hours drive to the best trout fishing you could imagine. Sure, there are downsides, I wish I could get to France and Spain more often, and I wish there was more high-end gear to try out, but I have a number of American friends here that are not about to go home.
Adelaide, Australia.Awesome beaches , Roads , people and only about 1 million people live here. Traffic is low. From the city centre it is only 10-15 min from beach and 15-25 min from some of the most awesome roads on earth. Good to thrash the old Kwakka ZX6R and Mazda MX6 through the hills. And lets not forget that old South Australian favorite COOPERS BEER and the BAROSSA VALLEY WINERIES. Happy Listening. Tim Warhurst
Redkiwi reading your post remminded me when i travled and lived thrughout n.z.I was in wellington for several months and frequently visited the observitory there.The trout fishing i agree is fantastic.Twin lakes outside Aspen not bad either.
You always have a good point,have you been to that little antique stereo shop in christchurch.
Most of Christchurch is antique, as you know Steven - more British than Britain - but I must confess I have not visited the stereo shop you refer to - I will have to rectify that now you remind me of it. Sounds like you enjoyed Wellington, which I am very pleased to hear. I don't know when you visited but Wellington has actually changed a lot in the last five years, almost entirely for the better, so I hope you can return some day.