Looking for some suggestions on where to live for 6 months in New Zealand. My wife and I are thinking of trying to spend 6 months every year in NZ as part of our retirement, I have been there 3 times and my wife once. This November we are spending the whole month in NZ researching towns that might work for us. We ‘average’ mid-50’s and are pretty active – runners, swimmers, go to the gym. Currently we live at the beach and are not looking to live in a city (Auckland, Wellington), we would like though restaurants, bars, etc. Possibly towns no bigger than 40,000. Budget for rental up to 3000NZD?
I realize this is a fairly broad subject. I have researched the Visa requirements and know this info.
Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated.