I'm in Paraparaumu, about 45 minutes north of Wellington. State Highway 1 passes through Paekakariki, Pukerua, Paremata, Papakowhai, Porirura, Paparangi and Ngauranga before reaching Wellington harbour. Those are all transliterations of Maori names, so they sound (more or less) like the look, except Paekakariki is pronounced "pie-cock-a-riki." Also, "wh" is prnounced "f" most of the time. But not always.
New Zealand is about the same size as Colorado, but only has 4.2 million people, and more than a third of them live in Auckland. (Colorado has 5.3 million people, and only 12% live in Denver.) About 500,000 live in Wellington (the capitol city) and 400,000 in Christchurch (on the south island). Outside those three cities, the population density is less than 19 people per square mile, as you can see from this map.
The UK, by contrast, is slightly smaller than New Zealand (94,000 square miles compared to 106,000 square miles) but has 15 times as many people, with an average population density of 675 people per square mile!
New Zealand is a weird conglomeration of British and American culture, with a bit of Maori thrown in for flavour. They use English spelling, they drive on the left and the second floor is still the first floor. "Stop" signs aren't as common as"Give way" signs (with predicatbly hilarious results) and intersections are as common as roundabouts. (They also appear to be experimenting with X-shaped intersections, which just shows that civil engineers really do have a sense of humour.) Courgettes are back to zucchini, and aubergines are back to eggplants, but yams are called "kumera" and bell peppers are called "capsicums."
New Zealand is about the same size as Colorado, but only has 4.2 million people, and more than a third of them live in Auckland. (Colorado has 5.3 million people, and only 12% live in Denver.) About 500,000 live in Wellington (the capitol city) and 400,000 in Christchurch (on the south island). Outside those three cities, the population density is less than 19 people per square mile, as you can see from this map.
The UK, by contrast, is slightly smaller than New Zealand (94,000 square miles compared to 106,000 square miles) but has 15 times as many people, with an average population density of 675 people per square mile!
New Zealand is a weird conglomeration of British and American culture, with a bit of Maori thrown in for flavour. They use English spelling, they drive on the left and the second floor is still the first floor. "Stop" signs aren't as common as"Give way" signs (with predicatbly hilarious results) and intersections are as common as roundabouts. (They also appear to be experimenting with X-shaped intersections, which just shows that civil engineers really do have a sense of humour.) Courgettes are back to zucchini, and aubergines are back to eggplants, but yams are called "kumera" and bell peppers are called "capsicums."
Despite a very large dairy industry (both cows and sheep), the variety and quality of cheese is appalling. Generally, they sell mild cheeses in large, one kilogram blocks. You can't even find a sharp cheddar, never mind a decent mozzarella. Locally grown produce is quite reasonable, but anything imported is astronomical. There are only three national supermarket chains -- Countdown, New World, Pak'nSave -- and two of those are owned by the same company. There is a large chain called "Commonsense Organics" which sells specialty foods at eye-watering prices.
The main petrol chain is called "Z" and instead of Nectar points you collect "Fly Buys" (which you can no longer use to fly). Unlike the US, which couldn't handle the metric system, or the UK, which bastardized the metric system, New Zealand is purely on the metric system, so at 44 I'm finally having to figure out what a kilometer is. This old dog does not like learning new tricks.
The weather is highly variable, unless you're in Wellington, in which case it's always windy. Where I am gets about 3 times as much rain as Los Angeles, but evenly spread over the year. (It's about the same amount as Glasgow.) Christmas is the longest day of the year, and most people spend it at the beach. No matter where you are in New Zealand, you're never more than 80 miles from the ocean.
Because it's below the equator, of course drains spin in the opposite direction, and the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
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