When I was a kid, back in the 60s, you could drive a long way and scarcely see another car. We had one short stretch like that yesterday on our drive from WhangÄrei to Waikawa Beach.
NZâs population could hit 5 million by end of [2019]. ⌠The population hit 3 million in 1973.
@Miraz I cannot even imagine places with low population :) I come from India so there were people everywhere. Even now, in the U.S., I live in Austin where the population is a million+
@pratik Not like my parents in law, from their house the closest neighbor was some 600 m in direction, 7km in the opposite direction, in the third you could see light from the neighbors during nighttime ... if you used binoculars, and in the fourth I never seen a house (despite walking around in the surrounding quite a bit)
@jemostrom Ha! I've seen homes like that in the movies or heard about it. I'm not sure how I would even feel in such a house.
@pratik My tolerance for cities has plummeted as I age. Where I live now has about 200 houses, most occupied only part-time. Suits me very well. The nearest town is a 20 minute drive.
@the Yup. Unfortunately these days New Zealand roads are very much busier, and some are just ridiculously congested. We timed our travel yesterday to pass through Auckland at off-peak so we could drive and not stop and start.
@Miraz the area where I live consists of 4 villages (about 8x3 km area) and about 150-230 households, 20-30 minutes to the city (abt 90000-100000 people), sounds like we are in similar situations
@Miraz I grew up in a rural area in a remote part of UK and also remember the lack of traffic when I was a kid. Iâm staggered at the constant flow down little country lanes now that we have become a âdestinationâ
