Not one to be left off the bandwagon, I think it’s only fair to offer my services as a New Zealander, born and bred, and try answering any questions on the subject of Aotearoa New Zealand.
So if wanted to know anything about the other Down Under, ask away!
Hey, mac, I’ve been trying for years to get a copy of “The Quiet Earth” by Craig Harrison, which has been out of print of about 15 years.
If ya find one, lemme know.
Must admit I’m not familiar with the book. I have seen the movie, directed by Geoff Murphy and starring the late Bruno Lawrence, quite a few times.
Worth looking out for, if you haven’t seen it.
I read in “Travels with Samantha” that it is very difficult to find more than one kind of cheese in New Zealand. Is this true?
Well, I can’t imagine where Samantha was looking, but I’ve always been able to find a wide selection of cheeses at the local supermarket, even Monterey.
But if she’s talking about cheese made from different non-bovine milk or unpasteurised cheeses, then that may be a different story. But with gourmet items like that, it’s only natural to expect that they’re a little more difficult to find.
New Zealand’s dairy produce is one of its biggest export markets, so producers are always looking for new things to try with the stuff.
I was reading about the massive eruption of Tuapo.
When is the next real biggie due?
Well, the dormant volcano I live next to, Mt Taranaki, last erupted in the 1500s-1600s and is supposed to work on a 400 yr cycle.
Mt Ruapehu, on the other hand, erupted in 1995 and 1996 spewing ash all over the ski fields This site has pictures of that period of activity.
The city of Auckland is actually situated on about 100 dead volcanoes, and a small offshore island is still reasonably active.
If you look at this map of our fair nation, and find New Plymouth (my hometown BTW), you can see a small mountain peak beside it.
Click on New Plymouth to get a better view of Taranaki.
But probably the biggest fear is not from the Big Eruption. Like Los Angeles, we’re watching out for the Big Earthquake.
Dear Kiwi Bloke,
How do you pronounce “fish and chips”? Is it different from how an Okker would pronounce it?
Zarathustra
The Kiwi accent is different from our Ozzie neighbours.
The key, as with a number of spoken English accents, is in the vowels.
New Zealanders tend to shorten and flatten vowels, so a short ‘i’ as in ‘fish’, tends to sound like a short ‘u’.
So in NZ, you would hear fish and chips pronounced ‘fush and chups’, or as the Ozzies like to believe, ‘fashion shops’.
In Australian (or ‘Strayan’), the vowels are narrowed and lengthened. The same short ‘i’ sounds a bit like a long ‘e’, not a very long ‘e’, but a long one nonetheless.
Thus in an Ozzie chippy, you are likely to hear 'feeshin cheeps.
here’s one for ya.
got some friends in Taupo Bay.
i wanna visit.
they offered me a place to stay, even want me to move down and live there.
how hard is it for an american to get citizenship there?
how large is the tech industry there, and are they hiring a lot?
what’s the rock climbing like on North Island?
Seeing as you Kiwis have been living with GST for several years now, what do you really think of it? Do you hate it? What is your day-to-day experience of it? Did it’s introduction turn your world upside down?
Many of us in Australia will never forgive the current federal government for imposing GST upon us, despite their minority of the vote at the last election. Hence you can understand my aprehension as to the consequences.
I’ve got a question:
Why is there a hole in the lid of some Kiwi shoe polish cans?
Hi, Soulsling! Actually I have family in that part of the country.
There are several requirements for an immigrant to become a NZ citizen as set out in the Citizenship Act of 1977:
Citizenship as opposed to residency is handled by a separate government department, the Department of Internal Affairs
The waiting period can be reduced if the Minister of Internal Affairs decides that the age or special conditions of the applicant would cause undue hardship were they to wait the full 3 years.
They must be able to speak English and have sufficient knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of a NZ Citizen.
Must be of good character.
Must intend to reside here.
Usual exceptions apply ie marriage to a NZ citizen, NZ descent, born here while parents on holiday, or extreme hardship.
An oath of allegiance doesn’t seem to be mandatory as it’s spelled out in the Act, but can be required if the Minister says so.
On the subject of employment, I’ll assume you’re referring to IT tech. Recent reports seemed to suggest while our IT industry is growing rapidly, we are losing IT people overseas where they can command higher salaries. So there may be jobs aplenty, just not very highly paid ones.
And while Taupo is a major tourist destination, it’s not one of the major centres. Hamilton and Auckland are major, and just a few hours drive from Taupo.
Rock climbing? Ok, well NZ is fairly mountainous in places so their are plenty of things to climb up and down on, but for a bit more specific information, I’ll refer you to a NZ climbing website, http://www.climb.co.nz/
How many sheep do you personally own?
Y’know, it’s not something I or possibly any other Kiwi consumer gives a second thought to.
It’s been 15 years since GST was introduced in NZ, and there was some kerfuffle over the amount, initially 10% later bumped up to 12.5%. The Opposition jumped up and down about it, but then that’s what Oppositions are supposed to do - it’s their raison d’etre.
In NZ GST is simply a 12.5% charge applied to most goods and services. Such taxable activities are defined in the GST Act 1985 as:
(a) Any activity which is carried on continuously or regularly by any person, whether or not for a pecuniary profit, and involves or is intended to involve, in whole or in part, the supply of goods and services to any other person for a consideration; and includes any such activity carried on in the form of a business, trade, manufacture, profession, vocation, association, or club:
(b) [Without limiting the generality of paragraph (a) of this subsection,] the activities of any public authority or any local authority.
Exemptions include:
Financial services and fine metals are classified Zero-Rated or Zero %.
The supplier must be GST-registered if their turnover exceeds NZ$30,000 (in Oz the threshold is Aus$50,0000 or $100,000 for Non-Profits Orgs), or if less then $30,000, can choose to be registered.
GST-registered businesses charge GST on their sales and income, and claim back the GST on their purchases and expenses (called input tax credit in Oz). They pay the difference to Inland Revenue.
It’s not beyond the abilities of any half-decent accountant. My father, who’s not an accountant, was taught how to do it in a couple of weeks.
I believe Australia’s problems are largely due to what it considers GST-free (which is a much greater list than the one I’ve supplied for NZ), and the rather vague and frequent use of the word ‘most’ (or ‘some’) in front of those exemptions.
Most foods?
Most health services?
Most educational supplies?
Most child services?
I admit I got more confused reading your government’s “Guide to GST” than reading the legal pedantry of my own government’s GST Act!
Can’t catch me out like that, DrMatrix!
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mkiwi.html
A more interesting question is how a non-NZ company gets away with using our national icon.
As usual, an Australian appears to be the culprit. William Ramsay who founded the company, named it in honour of his NZ born wife.
This goes onto an evergrowing list of people and things the Aussies claim as their own: Jane Campion, Russell Crowe, John Clarke, Phar Lap, the Pavlova, Crowded House, etc, etc…
Mind you, we do it too. Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Bruno Lawrence, all born somewhere else…
I don’t personally own any sheep. I consider all my sheep to be equal partners. 
Hey Mustapha Kiwi boot polish is where the name Kiwi comes from.
When New Zealand troops were stationed overseas during the First World War non-NZ troops identified New Zealanders with the only New Zealand thing they were familiar with, the kiwi on their tins of boot polish and started calling them Kiwis.
At the end of the day its a bloody stupid national symbol.
Also on the cheese question there was a time not so long ago when it was chedder cheese and that was it. But man have we come a long way in twenty years in the food and wine department.
The fact that William Ramsay named it after his NZ wife in 1906, would seem to dispute this.
He could hardly name his company from a nickname for a New Zealander derived from his own as-yet-unnamed company.
It is true that WWI and its sequel WWII boosted the profile of both the company and the icon.
This info comes directly from the company’s own website:
http://www.kiwicare.com/whoweare.htm
And as for national symbols, well, we haven’t really got a lot of choice. Moas were big powerful things but they’re all dead. Apart from the silver fern (which I wouldn’t mind seing a flag of), what would you like to see as our national icon?
BTW what part of the country are you from?
Well thats another urban myth gone.
I quite like the silver fern idea too.