NZ Hit Parade

On the prompting of a friend (thanks Steve) I would like to set the record straight to all my friends who may think otherwise

I LOVE NEW ZEALAND!

One of our weird British characteristics is that we tend to take a 45 degree angle look at the things / people / situations and find the humorous slant. In fact, if you are teased by someone you don't know, it is 99% certain they do it because they really like you!

So here goes. Just a dozen things I love about NZ (otherwise I will ramble on forever)

1) The scenery. Nowhere on earth comes anywhere close - and let's just say, I've visited quite a few places.
2) The green. I think God practiced on NZ first, to get greens for other countries, and he used his practice colours - the entire pallette, on NZ. In fact, I suspect we should have been called New Greenland, but another slice of land got the name first (and it didn't deserve it!)
3) The bird life. The tuneful tui, the heavy weight parrot the Kakapo, the windscreen wiper eating Kea, the kiwi (haven't seen one yet, but they are rather shy), the pukeko (cheeky, handsome and 200% cute), the weka, the flirty fantail, to name a few.
4) The coffee. NZ has produced the best baristas on the planet. The coffee is 100% good roasting, 100% good making and 100% good milk
5) The milk. Cows eat grass here, not pellets, not fodder, GRASS. And the milk in the coffee varies according to what part of the year it is and the quality of the grass.
6) The wine. Roll over Napa Valley and Burgundy - NZ vines rule.
7) People sail here. So many people have boats, little ones, big ones and they dot the harbour at every opportunity - beautiful.
8) The farmers markets
9) The community spirit in the small towns.
10) The Pacific Islanders - lovely folk. Friendly, warm and with a delightful sense of humour
11) The trains - they are rickety and slow and unreliable, but such a great place to chat to people, watch folk interacting. No stony Underground Tube silences in NZ!
12) Bees and honey. The honey has so many varieties, depending on which native plants the bees are having a party on. I once visited a vineyard surrounded by a lavender farm which was in turn surrounded by bee hives. You could sit and drink tea in the lavender farm gardens and listen to a low decible hum as the bees went about their business. Oh, and if you're interested, it is in the Esk Valley, just north of Napier.

When I have drunk my first cup of NZ roasted coffee for the day, I am likely to come up with another dozen or so things I love about my adopted country. But please don't go telling everyone, we'd kind of like to keep the place to ourselves:-)