Some reflections about NZ...

...on a rainy Auckland day.

- sensible money. NZers have adopted one and two dollar coins - like the Canadians. I like this. But even better than that, there doesnt seem to be tax, and all things are priced in multiples of 20 or 50 cents. So nobody uses pennies (I dont know if they even exist) and 10c coins are somewhat rare to get. So no pockets full of confusing unfamiliar coins. Excellent.

- we've seen a few forts, and they all seem to have cannons with signs next to them that say "never fired in anger". They are quite proud of this, which is sweet.

- tipping. It's not expected, but always appreciated. What the heck does that mean? I need a rule to follow.

- Milo. It's an Ovaltine-type thing, and you see it everywhere. It's not bad.

- Food. I had heard NZ food called 'just like British food, but with a better view'. (that's not really a compliment). However, we've had some quite good meals here (the accompanying picture notwithstanding). nothing fancy, but everything is served with very fresh veggies or fruit, which is locally abundant, even in winter. Auckland has great cafes all over with excellent espresso and hearty sandwiches.

- Mallomars. Well, not really, but chocolate covered marshmallow (sometimes pink marshmallow) in the shape of fish seem to be somewhat of a national treasure. Curious.

- Cleanliness. The streets are impeccably clean here - clean enough to eat a choco-marshmello-fish off of.

- Driving. I adjusted to left-side driving quicker than expected...which was quite easy. The NZers are as polite in their driving as they are in real life. I've jumped a few curbs, but that't it.


- Place names. The Maori-influenced town names are quite cool. Whangarei, Otahuhu, Takapuna, Hapuku, and Rotorua all sound a lot better to my ears than say, Piscataway, Weehawken, or Mahwah.