,,, it depends on what sort of lifestyle you want. If you're talking $US, I'd survive on that much, no problem at all. I don't play the casinos or anything like that. My wife and I eat out most nights during the business week though and that's not cheap. We have friends who come around with venison once in a while and we know where to go for the best firewood. Once you're down here everything falls into place if it's where you want to be. The isolation that put so many off the place is now it's biggest advantage. The only downside really is sitting on a plane for twelve hours to get anywhere. Like you, we're caught with high petrol prices at present and this is where your jaw will drop... there's about four litres to a gallon. Our gallon is bigger than a US gallon, BUT... a litre of regular is $NZ1,24 right now. A $NZ buys around $US0,62+/- There's the shock. However, we don't have to drive too far for anything and we don't run V8s all that much. There's a strong predominance of Japanese and European four cylinder vehicles here.
thanks for the reply....