@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!