One Of Terry's Corners Of the Online World

It's dead easy to think of New Zealand as Australia Lite, a weird pair of shaky islands where the people speak like us except for the vowels and have the most ferocious acting Rugby team in the World. But that's a little simplistic. We're more of a New Zealand Lite in some ways. Our nation and culture have been diluted, and possibly part of that is due to American influences. While the US influence exists in NZ,the strong local culture and sense of history diminish it. There are lessons for Australia there.

So here's a list of things I like about NZ and its' people.

One: This

Two: The lack of a glass ceiling in politics and other male-dominated careers. The PM is a woman, the tour boat we took to Cape Brett was skippered and crewed by all women and there's more of a feeling that anything is possible for a woman, something less tangible in Australia over the last decade or so.

Three: The landscape. There's something freakishly wonderful about geysers, bubbling mud pools, natural jacuzzis (at 80 degrees centigrade) and fumaroles in an inhabited area. Rotorua has a local park that exploded into a thermal wonderland five years ago. Then there's the view down the length of Lake Taupo to Mount Ruapehu, the Hole In The Rock, the drive up Highway One towards Whangarei... and that's just the North Island.

Four: The fact that the Maori word for genealogy is whakapapa, pronounced fuckapapa.

Five: The friendliness of the people, and their dogs.

More later