She'll Be Right

Kia Ora!!!
Kei te pehea koe?

In New Zealand it is Maori language week, when we celebrate the language of the indegious peeple of New Zealand. In case you were wondering the above says: Hello!!! How are you?

You see this is my last chance to guest blog as Oscar should be back from holiday by now. As such I thought I'd go out in style and tell you all a little bit about my wonderful country,
New Zealand.

You see we are so far away from the rest of world that not a lot of people know about us. In fact many people think we are part of Australia (which is considered an insult as we have these sibling revivalery thing with them).

The good thing about being so far away thuogh is we are so different from anywhere else. For instance, our national bird the Kiwi is a flightless bird. In fact it has wings but the fact that we split of so early in the history of the world means that we didn't have any predators so its wings became useless.

This brings me to a pet peev. People calling kiwifruit 'kiwi'. How could you eat this cute little bird? Remember that next time you are shopping for fruit... in fact take a marker pen and add the word fruit for me :)

New Zealanders call themselves 'Kiwis'. Being a kiwi means you are a true blue New Zealander and being a true blue New Zealander also means identifing with 'Kiwiana'. What is Kiwiana? It could be described as all the weird and wonderful quirky things from years gone by that contribute to our sense of nationhood — our kiwi identity.

BUZZY BEES: The Buzzy Bee is a favourite children's toys resembling a bee with rotating wings that move while the toy is pulled along the ground. First produced in the 1940s, it became popular during the post-war baby boom. Its bright colours and clicking sound call are familiar to many New Zealanders, making it one of the most well-recognised items of Kiwiana.
It received a good deal of "free promotion" with the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1989 with their son, Prince William, who played with a Buzzy Bee.

GUMBOOTS: Considered essential foot wear for farmers. The farming town of Taihape in New Zealand's North Island proclaims itself "Gumboot capital of the World" and has annual competitions such as Gumboot throwing. Most gumboots are black and 'Red Band' gumboots are considered the flash brand.

CHOCOLATE FISH: A chocolate fish is 6 to 8 inches long and made of pink marshmellow covered in a layer of chocolate. The chocolate fish has become recognised tender as a thank you, an apology, or a reward for a good idea. A chocolate fish is also a popular forfeit - among friends someone who makes a small mistake or loses a bet can be asked to give the injured party such a fish. Such is the expression, "Give that man a chocolate fish".

PALOVA:A meringue type of dessert topped with cream and kiwifruit. The Australians claim that they invented it first, but if they really did, then why choose kiwifruit as the topping.

BUNGEE JUMPING: An adrenaline sport created by AJ Hackett inspired by the people of Vanuatu in the Pacific who have been throwing themselves from huge towers for centuries with nothing more than a few vines tied to their feet. After some extensive testing on latex rubber cords a series of extreme jumps were made, first in Tignes, France from a ski area gondola 91 meters above the snow, then the Eiffel tower and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Today there are numerous sites in New Zealand where one can pay to jump.

RUGBY: New Zealand is the greatest Rugby nation in the world and the National team the All Blacks are legends of the game. New Zealand's first tour was to Britain in 1905 when a disallowed try meant the team missed out on a clean sweep. In 1925 the All Blacks got their revenge and were undefeated; this team of All Blacks became known as the 'Invincibles'. One of the greatest periods for All Black Rugby commenced just after New Zealand won the world cup in 1987. The new captain Buck Shelford lead his team undefeated for three and a half years between 1987-90. In 1990 the game of Rugby became professional.

JANDALS: Jandals are a kind of footwear worn on a sunny weekend day. Similar to what you call flip flops.

HOKEY POKEY: Icecream... New Zealand icecream is made with real New Zealand milk and is so creamy. Beautiful. Hokey Pokey is world famous in New Zealand.

FISH & CHIPS: A classic fry up, friday evening meal purchased at a fish and chip shop of all places. Traditionally a very fatty meal, these days the oil used is usually non-fat vegetable oil.

L & P: Stands for Lemon and Paeroa, New Zealand’s most famous soft drink. It was invented in 1904 after its maker tasted some mineral water near the town of Paeroa, and mixed it with lemon to make a particularly refreshing drink. L & P was originally called Paeroa and Lemon, though the name was later reversed, and then shorted to L & P. This drink is still popular throughout New Zealand today.

SHEEP: Today's population of sheep is down from its all time high of 70 million in the 1980's. But New Zealanders are still seriously outnumbered by them (3.5 million New Zealanders). There are countless sheep jokes aimed at New Zealanders, especially from Australians. Ironically Australia has the largest sheep industry in the world, New Zealand comes in at 2nd place. One joke suggests that "there are 50 million sheep in New Zealand, 3.5 million of them think they are people".

Well that is all I have to share. Thank Oscar for this opportunity to Guest Blog for you. It was fun. I hope I haven't bored your audience too badly :)

Ka kite ano! (see ya later) from Aotearoa! (New Zealand - the Land of the Long White Cloud)

PS... Just in case you do make it to New Zealand one day, PLEASE do not say anything about your 'fanny'... believe me it mean something really different here!