You heard of New Zealand?

[Magicmad5511]

Yes I have heard of New Zealand. I've watched quite a few nature documentaries and it commonly comes up. It's not far from Australia. It's national bird s the Kiwi. Lord ofthe Rings was filmed there. I have friend who moved there called Chris.

As for my country I live in England. I think that's obvious.

 

[Rogue 9]

Know of it? I've been there. Of course, it's not too far to go from Australia.

Favourite things about New Zealand? Footrot Flats, Salmonella Dub, Fat Freddy's Drop, Concord Dawn, my little cousins who live over there (my older cousin married a Kiwi) and of course Peter Jackson and Weta Studios.

My family and I did our share of Lord of the Rings site seeing when we were over there in '06, including a guided tour of filming locations out of Queenstown. It was pretty amazing

Oh, and lastly that Possums are considered a pest in NZ. In Australia, no matter how obnoxious they are all night and no matter how many of them decide to live in your roof, all you're allowed to do is cage them temporarily while you plug the hole in your roof. They're a protected species.

I was totally stoked to get a possum fur/merino wool beanie when I visited NZ. Serves the fuzzy little nuisances right xD

 

[maxmanrules]

Yup, I know. Huge world map taped to my ceiling and I like history anyway.
Edit: Guess P.C gaming is big assuming the price increase doesn't affect steam and do any Australian spiders cross the small bit of ocean separating you two and try to colonize your land as there own?

P.C. gaming is of a reasonable size. And no, Steam prices don't increase. Picked up Magika for like 2 bucks on some sale a few weeks ago

Also, thank god you damn scary spiders and snakes don't get across. They would fuck our wetas UP.

 

[Alade]

I just came to a sudden realization that I always considered New Zeland and Thailand the same thing for some reason. I'll have to get better informed about New Zeland, and no, not American so this geographical error is purely my fault.

 

[NinjaOnXTC]

New Zealand may look puuurdy, but it's a toxic, stagnant and radioactive dump.
The government is stupid, the education system out of line, the culture is shocking (child abuse, drink driving, dub-step, 'racism' (White boys being Kool), Rugby, etc.). That's not even all of my complaints, just a smattering of the ones most recently affecting me.
As soon as I can, I'm moving to Switzerland.

 

[Mugen]

Staunch friends, and allies in our darkest times, are what i think of. I don't think any two country's in the world share the camaraderie that Australia and New Zealand enjoy.

Of course this leads too many good nature d jokes regarding each others sexual preferences....usually involving sheep.


Side-note - it is downright appalling the number of people who can only attribute LotR to New Zealand, and nothing else. I'm looking at you, Americans. I know loads about the founding of YOUR country, and plenty of others besides.....what did they they teach you all in school?

 

[ShindoL Shill]

the all-blacks!
my friend Kath...
my mum too!

i'm from scotland. ist that just the same as NZ only without the silly accent?

Actually, the taniwha sounds a damn lot like the Loch Ness monster...
And you're calling our accent silly?

aye i am. ye got a proablem wi' tha'.

...

what, i didnae say mine wisnae.

 

[maxmanrules]

So I was on skype, and a friend and I were wondering how well my country, New Zealand, is known around the world? Its really hard to tell. For all I know, noone in the world knows what New Zealand is.

Also, if you are wondering the same about your own country, i encourage you post here for us to comment on.

So, what comes to mind, or have ya'll never heard of nz!

Off and on... some random things about random people in random places around nz because I've met some randomosities (YES IT'S A WORD!!! -.- ) in my day either through Battlefield (apparently a popular game down there) or because I know someone who knows someone.

New Zealanders think American money is weird and awkward to use (what the fuck kind of money do you use then? just coins? just credit cards? HOW DO YOU LIVE ?!)
That Google Chrome doesn't consider "Zealand" a word... well apparently anyways, as everytime I type it there's a red squiggly line under it.
that ya'll must have really small houses because EVERY FUCKING TIME I PLAY WITH ONE OF YA'LL THERE'S SO MUCH NOISE IN THE BACK GROUND!
That ya'll are very peaceful. One of the Playstation Network buddies was telling us Americans in our clan that there was this big celebration in some big city square that in NZ. Apparently, there were enough cops and "facilities" for around 300,000 people but ONE MILLION people showed up. It was totally, TOTALLY peaceful and apparently like a gargantuan party with a bunch of friends - no crime reported whatsoever. Us Americans agreed that if that had happened ANYWHERE in America, it would have turned into a riot.
That ya'll are very homely - and by that there's nothing particularly extravagant about you. This is a good and bad thing, as the good thing is there's nothing infamous attached to your name. But the bad part about it is that there's nothing particularly extraordinary either.
Rugby.

GOOD GOD RUGBY!

Oh, and when I explain to some New Zealanders that my girlfriends Canadian and I'm American, and that it's a 12 hour drive to her house, they're flabergasted. Not by the long distance relationship, but by the fact you could actually take 12 hours to drive somewhere! I guess in most places that would put you in the middle of an ocean should you try

That's all I can think of now...

OH and giant penis' in the ground... http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/865692-student-penis-art-captured-by-google-earth

A) Oh my god, so much stereotyping. We have our fair share of arseholes. Trust me, I'm one of them.
B) Your money is awkward, cause you have lots of coins not actually worth having (I've been to your country, and there are machine for grinding up fucking pennies and making little pictures on them. Seriously, wtf?) and you call you numerical value coins things like "nickle." We call em goddamned coins. We only have sensible coins, and get rid of the smaller ones as they become obsolete. We have 10c 20c 50c $1 $2 coins. Much easier than having sheafs of one dollar bills, which I ended up with in America. Our notes are 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. No-one uses anything larger than that cause carrying that much cash around is dumb. Also, our notes have colours, and are sized slightly differently, so they are immediately obvious what they are. Unlike the greenness of US notes.
C)And yeah, a 12 hours drive would probably get you from the top of the North Island (we're pretty smart with our name system, considering there is also South Island, and then a really small island, which is directly south of that (and no-one gives a flying fuck about the Chatham islands)) to the bottom of the North Island, just in time for the ferry.

calling it a nickel makes perfect sense! It's made out of nickel! lol.

As for the why we don't have more coins (such as $1 coins)... well, we actually DO... but the notes are more popular to make in America because our coin is made out of cotton (a major US export) because cotton in America is so dirt cheap. So it's the concept of, why use expensive precious metals to make larger coins?

And if you WERE an American, you'd realize there is a color/texture difference. 1's are dark green, 5's are purplish, 10's are gold, 20's are whitish, and 50's and one hundreds are each a unique blend of all the above. They're instantly recognizable to, say, a cashier (which I am... woohoo for part time jobs during college! lol).

My gf's Canadian and I HATE they're notes, which are paper and all sorts of colors of the rainbow. They're too small and have the distinct feel and look of expensive confetti. I imagine that's what NZ's is like.

Aside from that, how's this stereotyping when I pretty much am basing this off of my own experiences with new zealanders and no influence from a third party (such as a website or news)? I'm not saying this because I'm upset you called it stereotyping... I'm saying it because I've never heard of a "stereotypical NZ" and I'd like to hear what a stereotypical NZ person is like, ahahha.

I feel as though if these "stereotypes" are what I gathered from a few friends on my friggen PSN account, their must be some notion of truth to it, lol

Well there are so few of us a stereotype probably DOES fit us all. Fuck.
Trying to look at colours so google "American bills" Third result is a complete set of Canadian bills. Look kinda like our, but ours have birds on them
Your notes do just appear to be varying shades of green on differing shades of white though.
Our notes are similar, barring the colour thing. Also, your note thing makes sense, I remember that the American cotton industry is heavily subsidized (so you can buy enough material to cover all the fat Americans stereotyping!)
Our notes range from 135mmx66mm to 155x74 Yours are 156x66

 

[maxmanrules]

New Zealand may look puuurdy, but it's a toxic, stagnant and radioactive dump.
The government is stupid, the education system out of line, the culture is shocking (child abuse, drink driving, dub-step, 'racism' (White boys being Kool), Rugby, etc.). That's not even all of my complaints, just a smattering of the ones most recently affecting me.
As soon as I can, I'm moving to Switzerland.

I can agree with large parts of this, barring the radioactive thing. And maybe dub-step being a problem. Our education system is, unfortunately, one of the worlds best. Which depresses me.

 

[maxmanrules]

I just came to a sudden realization that I always considered New Zeland and Thailand the same thing for some reason. I'll have to get better informed about New Zeland, and no, not American so this geographical error is purely my fault.

Thailand? Motherfucking THAILAND???

W T F ? ? ?

Edit
You spelt New Zealand wrong too. Twice.

 

[mParadox]

Well I know of New Zealand because of...

• Fun fact of sheep being more in population than the people residing there.
  
  Kiwi bird!
  
  Lord of the Rings.
  
  It's rather scenic hills.
  
  My very good friend, was born there.

In that order.

 

[Trivun]

So I was on skype, and a friend and I were wondering how well my country, New Zealand, is known around the world? Its really hard to tell. For all I know, noone in the world knows what New Zealand is.

Also, if you are wondering the same about your own country, i encourage you post here for us to comment on.

So, what comes to mind, or have ya'll never heard of nz!

My aunt married a man from NZ and emigrated there donkey's years ago. My three cousins were raised there and still live there, and though I've never been myself I would love to visit the country sometime. They lived in Auckland originally, and my cousins still do, but my aunt and her new husband and stepkids kids live in Christchurch now (which was a bit of a worry when the earthquake hit, but fortunately they were all okay, living away from the main city...). Personally I'm from the UK, which is a bit far away from NZ xD.

Also, the obvious reasons for hearing of the place. Sheep and LOTR ;D. And rugby. Rugby Union is one of the greatest sports around, so much better than football (which is a load of crap anyway), and American Football, where the athletes are a bunch of pussies (considering the armour and pads and stuff they have to wear, while rugby players are tough enough to duke it out without any protection except for their teeth...).

 

[dickywebster]

One of my best friends comes from there, but I'm also a big fan of the history of the british empire so that where i originally knew about NZ.

 

[Bvenged]

Lord of the Rings, sheep, hills, valleys, sheep, rugby, rugby, and more rugby. And unfortunate recent natural disasters, which were truly horrific. All that, and the kiwi bird. I assume I have the right country?

Oh, and Flight of the Conchords.

This; and this: Volcanic islands east of Australia. Dialect sounds like an altered Australian accent. Takes 12-14 hours to fly from Heathrow to Auckland airport, mid-flight stop required for refulling.

Honestly, most people have heard of New Zealand and most of them are aware of its culture and location.

 

[idodo35]

well i know of new zeland but i dont know much about it... asways thought about it as an extenshion of australia...

 

[Argtee]

Lord of the Rings, Flight of the Conchords...
...sheep.

That's all I think about when I think of New Zealand.

 

[Bvenged]

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Well it was called the imperial system because it was the dominate form used throughout the British empire - Great Britain actually still uses it in combination with the metric system, but they've added things (or I should say they still have things we subtracted in America) such as a stone and other odd things that sound as weird to us as it would to you.

Yeah, here in the UK we use imperial feet when chatting about distances ("put the goal a couple of feet from the wall"), but when taking actual measurements we use the metric system for its accuracy, easily dividable units and it's universal recognition ("We need 6 holes drilled in the metre long plank, 50cm apart, where each hole is 10mm in diameter").

Imperial makes more sense to use informality whilst metric is more formal. I have to admit, though, I don't fully know acres. deriving one system to another is a pain though.

 

[Shadowsafter]

You should be asking two things. One, if Americans actually know that New Zealand is different from Australia (most don't) and Two what the smarter peoples of the world know about New Zealand.
I am Welsh, and I happen to have learned a lot about you since our two nations were favorites to win the last Rugby world cup and we literally had psyche evaluations of opposing nations on TV, that we might better crush your baby bones on the Rugby field or something.