I used to live in NZ when I was very young. Me and my sister had a great time as my father worked for the local hospital in a very small rural town in central North Island and we had lots of freedom. We lived at one end of a field and we each had horses.

I used to go to Google and try to locate the town every so often but usually there was no satellite images at any good resolution. Yesterday I tried again and Google must have updated their maps because there is very high resolution of my little town.

And you know what? Nothing has changed. In 30+ years I can see the three little houses the hospital gave to its doctors at one end of a field. I see my school yard and the field where we played rugby.

There used to be an abandoned tennis court that was overgrown with vegetation. And it is still there!

I can't see any new buildings or any ones that are missing. It's like stepping back into your childhood as if it had not changed.

Now I live in a very busy city where every week there is a new highrise coming up. It's not the same.

I agree that NZ is a more socialist country than OZ and people would do better to move to OZ. But there is something about NZ and I have to get back to see it again very soon.