People<\/p>\n
The people are very friendly and erm, helpful.\u00a0 Well, they think they are but do things like give you completely inane directions because they want to talk to you and couldn\u00b4t possibly consider telling you that they don\u00b4t know or can\u00b4t help you.\u00a0 The Maori people also seemed to be a very friendly bunch.\u00a0 There is of course one exception to the nice people thing, infact there are probably a few, but enough has been noted on that already.\u00a0 Actually, whilst I\u00b4m on the subject here\u00b4s the anonymised Court result for anyone who\u00b4s interested:<\/p>\n
“…\u00a0has been convicted and ordered to pay court costs of $130.00. He has been ordered
\nto pay you reparation of $40.00 and has been placed on a good behaviour
\nbond for 12 months.”<\/p>\n
Although it\u00b4s good that he got convicted it says something that Lance was charged more by the New Zealand government for failing to Stop at a Stop sign than Paul was for attacking me…oh well….!<\/p>\n
Generally in New Zealand I found that the males of the species were less brash and “in yer face” than their Australian counterparts.\u00a0 One way that the people seem to differ little is in their liking a good time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Food<\/p>\n
The food, as in Australia, is invariably very good and fresh in new Zealand.\u00a0 Akin to Australia it seemed hard to eat healthily on a budget though.\u00a0 As in Australia, no-one in New Zealand actually drinks Fosters, describing it as “r&ts\u00b4 piss” and the like – don\u00b4t believe the ads!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
North vs South Island<\/p>\n
Like many places, there is a divide between the North and South of New Zealand, a fact which is perhaps reinforced due to the two being on separate land masses.\u00a0 On North island the locals will tell you that South islanders are a bit slow (often in stronger terms) and locals in South island will tell you how much better it is and how there is no point visiting North island.\u00a0 Infact, a lot of travelers I met shared the latter view.\u00a0 Although South island is absolutely stunning, I had a huge amount of time for the North island with it\u00b4s beautiful beaches, goethermal sites and hotter weather.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Highlights<\/p>\n
One of the main highlights for me in New Zealand was simply the scenery.\u00a0 Driving around a country which goes from beaches to snow-capped mountains so quickly was out of this World.\u00a0 The drive down the coast of South island passed Kaikoura was truly amazing.\u00a0 Places like Wanaka were also stunning with its huge lake and mountains behind.\u00a0 Unfortunately Wanaka was probably one of the low-lights of New Zealand for me due to the events that happened there but that\u00b4s not the places\u00b4 fault and I would highly recommend it.\u00a0 On the North Island I liked Wellington for its arty, cafe atmosphere and the nightlife.\u00a0 In the North West ninety mile beach and, in the North East, the Bay of Islands were both spectacular.\u00a0 Sand surfing was a great thing to do, although don\u00b4t take your camera!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People The people are very friendly and erm, helpful.\u00a0 Well, they think they are but do things like give you completely inane directions because they want to talk to you and couldn\u00b4t possibly consider telling you that they don\u00b4t know or can\u00b4t help you.\u00a0 The Maori people also seemed to be a very friendly bunch.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}