Big blokes in black shirts with silver ferns on them who are anxious to rip off your nads just to get hold of a funny shaped ball.
Oh they also pull faces, chant and stick their tongues out at you…very rude
Huh. I guess it’s not *all *misconceptions, then!
*Edited to put in appropriate bolding. *
Hey, fun for boys and girls! Thought I’d be nice and donate a straight-line to the Aussies there, 'case they felt a bit missed-out … 
Nup. No heating. It’s a bit nippy, but not really wintry in the den. Never have heating on in here. Dehumidifier tackles the excess moisture (damn that humidity from two harbours!) 
– but nah. This isn’t even hot water bottle weather! It’s a Clayton’s winter.
Well, let’s see:
– Most of the indigenous birds can’t fly, but on the other hand all the indigenous mammals can.
North Island: Equal parts geothermal stuff and shorelines. Tends to be touristy. South Island: Southern Alps, Fjords, Idyllic England circa 1910 transplanted, complete with sheep meadows, etc. Stewart Island: Off the southern tip of South Island, and it’s New Zealand’s Area 51. This is where they really keep the aliens, secret weapons, and such.
English/Maori agreement was the first settler/indigenous group treaty to produce a viable culture which incorporated elements of both contributing cultures. Ennzedders will make an enormous deal about this.
Scad of islands off the coast of North Island, and they’re pretty.
Nobody ever mentions the Kermadec Islands, which are to NZ as NZ is to Australia. But they’re intriguing for a bunch of reasons.
Relaxed, somewhat libertarian culture. Formerly a lot of social regimentation, now mostly gone.
Just for accuracies sake, can I point out to readers that most ‘normal’ Aucklanders are wearing warm clothes, electric blankets or hot water bottles, socks and shoes and using heaters!
Hey, nobody has mentioned Crowded House - are you all assuming they were Australian?
Kiwi Te Kanawa?
Sir Edmund Hilary?
First country where women got the vote?
Kiwi Te Kanawa?
Why you Aussie smart arse…and anyway, Pavlova definitely comes from NZ, not Australia!
I’m a Chills fan. Also I had a huge crush on an adorable boy from Christchurch once. How’s that?
To be fair, half of Crowded House (who have reformed I hear) are Australian. I have seen Split Enz on Best of Australian Music collections :rolleyes:.
Dude, if they wanted to be from NZ, they wouldn’t have called themselves what they did. I know being dumped is never easy but it’s over. They left. Move on. Get used to it.
Half-assed impressions:
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Australia’s Canada, small, relatively wealthy, makes no trouble for anybody, staid, and with a restive recently oppressed native population but not treated as bad as the Aussie Aborigines were.
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Allow foreign Queen on their money with colorful local critters on reverse side.
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The size of a country is determined for an American by Texas if you’re not a Yankee and Connecticut if you are. So for me, NZ is the size of about 19 Connecticuts. Two big islands, and it’s all farther away from Oz than you’d ever think.
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Kiwis frolicking everywhere like squirrels.
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Really like soccer, wear black, even I’ve heard of the All-Blacks and I don’t have the soccer gene. Teammates of all colors will do Maori dances that make this American cringe, since I can only imagine what would happen if an American team tried it with an Indian dance no matter how authentic.
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Spectacular scenery filled with hobbits.
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Earthquake-prone. Extreme skiing, surfing, adventure.
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Party culture for youth that means serious alcoholism; domestic violence problems for older folks; but generally not a high-crime place for outsiders.
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Didn’t allow American nukes or something in the 90s and everybody here thought it was so nice and brave and independent, but ultimately also it didn’t affect us much one way or another.
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Also like Canada, hate being mistaken for citizens of giant neighbor country.
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Had a woman or two as PM, which is great. I’m for some reason remembering the name ‘Helen Douglas’ but I probably have the wrong country again.
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Apparently are handed tens of thousands of dollars (they use dollars, knew that already!) when they graduate from college so they can travel the world, since I’ve run into them in NYC more often than you’d suppose from such a small country.
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Finally, two of them have come here to star in a new series on HBO. The NY Times today says it’s slight but sweet, and quotes a gag by half of the duo, Bret McKenzie:
Finally, I could always find it on a map since I saw the ‘Rough Guide’ edition on it.
Dude.
Soccer: round ball, played only with feet by wiry, fit, agile people, most popular form of football in the world, but only moderately popular in NZ
Rugby Union: oblong ball, played very largely by carrying the ball, by brick shithouses with arms and legs who need to shrug when walking to save gravel rash on their knuckles. Played so intensely in NZ that they sometimes win internationally despite having a population less than a small town in England.
All-Blacks: the usual name of international NZ sports teams. Most famously the NZ Rugby team, but not limited to them.
All Blacks are exclusively the NZ mens Rugby team
Other NZ sporting teams
Black Ferns - NZ womens Rugby team
Black Caps - NZ mens Cricket team
White Ferns - NZ womens Cricket team
Tall Blacks - NZ mens Basketball team
All Whites - NZ mens Soccer team
Silver Ferns - NZ womens Netball team
Team NZ - NZ Americas Cup Sailing team (Emirates Team NZ to keep the sponsors happy)
Si
Without reading the replies of others –
I’m in my sixties and I’ve noticed in the last ten years that suddenly all of the young people – and some older ones too – seem to want to go there!
I think of New Zealand as being fresh and green with lush valleys and fairly low mountains. I hear you have lots of sheep. I know that you are somewhat close to Austrailia and have English as your native tongue. I believe that you are the native country of a fairly well-known mystery writer with a past of her own, although she does not currently reside there.
I suspect that the men tend to be rowdy, funny, and bright. They are home-loving, but adventureous. The women are wholesome, intelligent, healthy and headstrong. I think that men form closer bonds there than they do in the United States. Lifetime loyalty would be important. I’m just talking off the top of my head. That’s not something I know.
I’ve never thought of New Zealand as particularly religious, but I do think of you as nice folks. I assume you like sports and beer. Do you have any sports that are native to your country?
Are there any name, male or female, that you would find in New Zealand that you wouldn’t be likely to find in other countries?
Off the top of me head – only the kiwi, moa, native quail and kakapo are flightless. Most of our indigenous birds did/do fly.
And lots of tourists. Queenstown, in particular, is deeveloping a bit of a seedy reputation along those lines, if you believe recent news reports.
Latest big news there a few weeks ago was when the one and only pub on the island lost its licence. Huge kerfluffle ensued. They’ve got it back, now.
A heck of a lot of normal Aucklanders are still going 'round about in short-sleeve shirts and T-shirts. Some are even in shorts! This just isn’t a normal winter, MelCthefirst. Hey, maybe all the cold’s just headed over your neighbourhood. If so – the rest of Auckland salutes your gallantry and sacrifice.
Yeah, a small minority more than “a lot of” - everyone at my work had coats on today!
I think I’m just going to stop posting for this week. I just can’t seem to get anything right. Sigh.
I had never seen their name that way. I’d always thought of the hair.