heehee, I guess you can say we live in the country although the townies in Whangarei would bristle at that. It is the largest city in the Northland and they pride themselves on their Cosmo lifestyle. In the City Centre there are tonnes of sidewalk cafes, pubs, clubs, and designer clothing shops. All the ladies wear black and everyone is really into looking good. We also have the newest and best library around and a great cultural arts centre with suprisingly good events almost 7 days a week. Plus a great Artisians fair and farmers market every saturday. And they just were chosen to host the Pasifika Cultural Fair next year which is a HUGE deal here. All of the Pacific islands send groups of dancers, singers, craftsman, etc..over for week long festival. It looks pretty awesome and they have always held it in Auckland so Whangarei is moving up in the world..haha.. I remember you asking how far away from Auckland we are, now that I think about it..lol..(can you tell I got some new green??) we are about 2 1/2 hours away. It would be a quicker drive but the roads here are way dangerous. They are mostly two lanes with sheer cliffs on both sides. It seems like you can always count on a monsoon to go along with your drive too..and the natives all thinking that they are in some kind of road rally doesn't help either..lol..so I will stick  to enjoying nature for a long time, with the occaisional trip to Auckland..