NZ Differences, Part 2.

I know, I know, I should have written this before I left NZ this morning (insert tears here) but time continued to get away on me as it did for the entire 6 and a half weeks I was there.  Fueled by your interest in my last post, here are some more observations on how things are different there than in Canada…..

Big deal I think is that museums, galleries and parks are free.  All government ones anyway.  Private ones can charge what they want and even a publicly owned one might have an exhibit that you have to buy a ticket for but still, access to the masses is much better than in our country.  Especially now with the economy challenging so many people, how cool is it that even a young, financially strapped family could still go and check out art etc?  When I was in a gift shop of a museum in Nelson, two young boys (maybe 12 years of age) came in and let the admissions guy know (for there is still someone manning a front desk, free or not) that they just wanted to go in and look at some “cool things”.  How neat is that??   And every one of the parks we visited, passed through, hiked in – all free. 

Every community you drive through, no matter how small, will have well marked public toilets.  Or at least we didn’t encounter one that didn’t and trust me, with 3 women we made a significant number of pitstops.   They were always clean and adequately stocked- huge bonus.

I have noted more than once how windy and twisty, turny the roads we drove on were; yes, where it’s possible there are passing lanes, but this isn’t an option often due to the lack of the short straight sections.  But what there are, are a lot of are passing bays; a little pull off at the side where you can scoot in, let vehicles behind you go by, then scoot out again. 

Children wear uniforms to school.  I like this idea; always thought it levels the playing field for clothing.

Cafes and bars you often order at the bar, I think I mentioned this before, but you also pay at the bar.  Seldom will you be rushed away with a bill being brought to your table; rather at your own leisure you make your way up and pay when it suits you.

I think that’s it.  Well, I know there must be a lot more but those are the common ones we encountered.  It really is a beautiful, clean, picturesque country with a strong emphasis on activity; if you ever get the chance I would highly encourage you to go and visit New Zealand.  I understand now why my sister has been there four times and I for one, think I will have to do a repeat visit at some point. 

We left our last rental apartment (4 bedrooms, far enough away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Auckland but close enough to walk to and from the CBD- Central Business District, as downtowns are called here).  We had a delicious lunch in a sweet French restaurant the day before we left and an oh so yummy Italian dinner on our final night of the New Zealand leg of our trip.  And in between tried to use up the rest of our groceries.

I can’t believe where the time went to really.  When I look back on photos from some of the places we were at the early part of the trip it seems like it was a lifetime ago.  We saw so much and covered a lot of territory and for a first visit, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

New Caledonia, where we are now until April 1^st, is going to be a different experience and I promise I will write about it.  First impressions are that there is a big disparity between the have nots and the haves, and we distinctly fall into the latter category (take a look at the reel I posted a little while ago showing the home we are renting for the first week and you will see how privileged we are).  And that people are SO FRIENDLY!  Even tolerating my French, this is a French speaking country btw, with no obvious judgement on what I am sure is a mixture of mispronunciations and wrongly conjugated verbs.  Strangers have spoken to us and grocery store clerks eagerly helped us find our first day provisions.  Stay tuned for more as we wander wide eyed through this new to us country.

xo