What do you know about New Zealand, or think you know about New Zealand?

It’s supposed to be beautiful and on many bucket lists to visit. I have yet to hear much negative about it.

A beautiful island nation with peace loving people living in it!!

The people there really love their sheep?

I think of it as beautiful scenery and friendly people. I only have positive thoughts in that realm.

I picture the people in casual clothing, very laid back, and like to eat foods that don’t have a lot of sauce, foods that are light.

I imagine a lot of food and goods are expensive. I think that because I think that about most island living.

Lots of devastating earthquakes.
Remote as hell. A long distance from anywhere.
Not as politically conservative as Australia

I was there about 10 years ago. Beautiful and varied scenery, friendly people. Far advanced of the US in terms of alternative energy sources, health care and education. I thought the cities had an English influence aesthetically but many of the small towns looked as jerry-built as our old Western towns.

Lots of adventure sports – most of which I didn’t try but I was sailing for a week in the Bay of Islands.

You are a kiwi

Was going to answer but you only want stuff from yooessayans, shame that.

@Adagio

I bet you’re usually the first Flutheronian to celebrate New Year’s.

@ucme ???

Your details are quite specific

“I’m interested to know what sort of reputation we have in the US”

Implies only people who are American can answer

A stipulation just begging to be ignored.

I think that they key difference between New Zealand and the US is that our toilets drain in the opposite direction from yours.

@SergeantQueen Just that, coulda just steamed in & ignored it but it sounded so specific.

Answer it anyways. fuck the system

Ah, well no, not now…not unless he apologises & begs asks nicely ;-}
Also, “fuck the system”…who me? Imagine!!

@ucme I mean we are supposed to respect OPs wishes when they only want certain people giving their opinions. it was a joke

Which is exactly what I am doing
Go back to jail, do not pass GO, do not collect £200

@ucme speak now or forever hold your peace, please :) The question is for anybody, despite my clumsy wording. I always think of most people on here as coming from the US but I do know that several of you are from GB and one each, at least, from the Netherlands and Germany, to name but a few. Sorry for rolling everybody into a big basket and calling it the US.

And by the way @ucme, you’ll be pleased to know you do get out of jail and collect £200 after all.

@ARE_you_kidding_me & @imrainmaker it is a beautiful country but to stay that way it’s going to need a lot more input from both the government and the general populace regarding environmental pollution.
@ragingloli there are not as many sheep as there was 10 or 20 years ago, for the most part,the bottom has fallen out of the global wool market, although there are lots of farmers adding value to their product by selling wool to enterprising companies producing specialist products, such as clothing, bedding etc. Do we love our sheep? I must say I’m rather partial to them myself, can’t speak for others though :)
@JLeslie I think you’ll find we dress pretty much like anywhere else, when you call us “an island nation”, don’t imagine we are like smaller Pacific nations, we are more developed, more like Australia.
@elbanditoroso I wouldn’t say we have “lots” of devastating earthquakes, I am in my late 50s and only remember a handful in my lifetime, 3 of them in the last 8 years. There are plenty of little quakes happening all the time but we would be unaware of most of these were it not for GeoNet. I guess we are remote but only 3 hours by air to Australia. To me it feels “remote” in a good way. I definitely agree that we are not as politically conservative as Australia. Thanks for telling me about the toilet drainage difference, I’ll file that away in the old grey matter.
@janbb glad you had a good experience when you came. There are problems here with both healthcare and education but nothing that can’t be rectified, the philosophy behind our health system is still a good one but like a lot of other places, those that can afford private health insurance have more options, and faster service. Education is suffering from a drastic shortage of teachers, high salaries would probably help enormously. Yes there are lots of adventure sports, we seem to have quite a reputation in that regard.
@SergeantQueen no, but this is a kiwi
@Brian1946 yes, we were the first to welcome in the new millennium too!

Yes @Adagio The Kiwi bird… They boil them and that’s how we get the fruit. Duh.

Yeah and I know about your rivalry with Aussies.. I’m not sure if there’s any on this site!!

@Adagio I accept your apology, althoug a tad more sincerity woulda been nice :D
So, N. Zealand…it has an almost identical climate to Grand Britannia, which broadly speaking means it pisses down with rain a lot.
Also…sheep, more than Wales which is saying something.
There you go, that was well worth the wait, you only had to ask ;-}

No assumption that the “island nation” wasn’t developed. I imagine there is at least one very large metropolitan city if not more. America’s very own Hawaii has Honolulu, and it’s a string of little islands. I think NZ is more like the size of Japan isn’t it? I do think of it as less commercial and fewer big cities than Japan. I also think of NZ as more beach-like atmosphere than Japan. More like Hawaii or Florida. Maybe that’s incorrect. Mostly, the climate influences that usually. More sandals, more skin showing is ok, Palm trees, sunshine, al fresco eating, more people congregating outside to socialize.