New Zealand Quirks

Several quirky things about New Zealand have caught my attention in the past week or so, and being a slow news day it is time to share them.

1. New Zealand abolished their provincial governments in 1876, but each province still takes a provincial "anniversary day" holiday.  Wellington's holiday was two Mondays ago, Auckland was last Monday, and Nelson is this coming Monday.  If Canada replaced our provincial governments with a holiday, imagine the tax dollars we would save.

2. Stores don't advertise that they accept debit cards, but they do advertise that they do EFTPOS, which is actually the same thing - Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale. So bring those debit cards and spend, spend, spend.

3. No airport security when flying on most routes within the country.  Flying to Nelson was just like the old days in Canada - check in, and show up at the gate for boarding, and your loved ones can walk right to the gate to see you off or to meet you.  At Nelson airport the checked luggage arrives on a cart outside the front door of the airport, and you just help yourself.  Remember the days when people could be trusted?

4. Pennies are long gone and so are the two cent coin and the 5 cent coin.  Total bills are rounded to the nearest 10 cents and nobody cares.  I guess that Kiwis understand the math better than Canadians....or maybe having gone through the process 3 times now it doesn't bother them.

5. New Zealanders like to dress up in their fancy duds and also in whacky costumes.  Last week was Wellington Cup day (horse racing) and everybody going to the races was dressed to the nines (we saw a few while having a quiet coffee in a cafe near the race track, dressed in our shorts and t-shirts).  Apparently the crowds are all trying to win prizes for the best dressed men and women, including cruises.  This weekend it is "the sevens" (rugby seven a side tournament) in Wellington and everybody is dressed in whacky costumes...it seems that a high proportion of Wellington men like to dress up in women's clothes.  Hmmmmm.