>Terry,
>
>If not a joke then that is interesting, John.
>
>It is a very "English" joke. ;-) The joy and the hurt of New Zealand is that it is the most isolated country in the world geographically.

What? even more so than Easter Island/Christmas Island?

>In the modern world, a tiny distant population will find it difficult to match foreign economies of scale. NZ's economy is fairly agricultural with most produced goods imported, causing a balance of payments issue. Living in NZ is more of a lifestyle choice than an economic choice, though those who arrive with pounds from sale of their UK home will be able to buy something very nice in Auckland or a mansion anywhere else.

... which brings us back onto the "illegal immigrant" thing. How fussy are the NZ govt. about immigration? as fussy as the Aussies, with their points scoring for such as: skills, age, boistrousness, lack of etiquette? :-)

My house, for instance, which I bought for some £61,250 back in the 80's is now worth some £ 1/3 million, I guess. What could I get for that if I were to retire to NZ (better still go now into a VFP job if poss.)?

I recall the pain of the NZers when GB turned her back on you and threw her lot it with "Johnny Foreigner" in the Commom Market->EEC->EC->EU, how sale of NZ lamb (which we all had for Sunday dinner back in the day) went down a backwater.

Anyway, I must say that NZ seems very attractive to the jaundiced UK eye, but I'm not sure if the reality of such isolation would be so enjoyable after a while.

Besides, I'm not sher I could git ewes-ed tuh the iccint :-)