P is for Poi E

Poi E is sung by the Patea Maori Club, a very classic Kiwi song with great footage of New Zealand fashion in 1982!

O is for Oz

Australia, affectionately called Oz by its citizens, is the greatest country in the world.  I feel comfortable saying that without causing others offence because everyone feels the equivalent amount of pride about our home countries……don’t we? Anyhow, my positive impression of Australia has only been intensified since landing here in Aoteroa for no reason other than it is a big part of who I am.  I have mused before about what I miss from my homeland so will spare you the dribbles once more, but it really warms my soul when I think of these things.  How about another cliché – absence makes the heart grow fonder-lame but something definitely resonates for me from those words.  So it is with great excitement mixed with a slightly heavy heart that I can share that my time in New Zealand is drawing to an end.  A decision was made recently by my other half and I that it is time to head back to Australia to live.  This decision was nothing at all to do with being dissatisfied with New Zealand as I can not seriously fault my adopted country in any way, shape or form.  It’s a very simple case of longing for that part of me that remains in Oz.  But rather than trying to go back to exactly the same place and time that I left, we are heading to Darwin.  Not sure what to do or how it is going to work out, we don’t have jobs to go to or anywhere to live.  We sold almost everything to move to New Zealand, so it is going to be another real adventure in change.  On the move….again……

N is for New Zealand

Kind of an obvious one really.  It is where I am and what has shaped me for the past 3 years.  It's what started this blog in the first place and gave it momentum as time journeyed on.  It is everything and everyone that I see around me and it is all very beautiful and inspirational.  New Zealand is too much to put in to words and means too much to me to be able to express it sufficiently to give it justice.  Put simply, N is for New Zealand and I love you.

M is for Marcus Lush

How coincidental – L was for Lush and now M is for a fellow called Marcus…..Lush!  A lame joke aside, Marcus Lush is a well-known NZ journalist.  He currently has a prime time slot on the national radio station talk back session, but also pops up in newspapers and magazine editorials from time to time.  He has presented a range of documentaries over the years that he is passionate about especially travels and the regions in New Zealand.  He is a straight talker with enough eloquence to not overtly offend yet still share his personal opinions with the world.  He is loved by some, despised by others and characters like him are usually at the bottom of my Xmas card list of favourites.  But there is something undeniably charming about Marcus Lush.  He is absolutely a Kiwi through to the core and passionate yet positively critical about the shortfalls of life today.  Not to mention, he is a bit of a spunk. 

L is for Lushness

Not the ‘harlot’ type of a girl who would hang around salubrious establishments in the 1940’s looking for their next heart to break either.  Lush as in the word that describes copious amounts of thick vegetation – green, dense, abundant, verdant and luxurious.  With a big degree in variation between the wettest and the driest locations in New Zealand and humans unquenchable craving  to clear yet more forests,  the word cannot be used to describe every square inch of the country.  Lush can however be used linguistically correct to still describe the majority of this land, from its lush green pastures to its lush mountain slopes to its lush coastal forests.  You get the picture.  Thanks to a rainfall that falls relatively evenly over the cycle of the seasons, rich soils signifying a volcanic history as well as vast alluvial flood zones, New Zealand was cloaked in this lushness for most of its existence until the arrival of mankind.  What remains however, is mosaic of greens, forever lovely and lush. 

K is for Killing

A great topic to start the New Year on but it’s time to create some controversy.  There is a general acceptance in New Zealand that hunting is a perfectly normal activity that the entire family can enjoy.  I am well learned to hunting being one of the basic skills man developed which advanced civilisation.  To this day it is still a means of support and survival in many areas of the world.  But I can’t move beyond the fact that for most of us, we have moved on from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to agriculture and urbanisation.  Hunting is now termed as a ‘sport’ and a ‘leisure’ activity, no longer a requirement for daily survival.   This is what is evident in New Zealand.  The government contributes huge financial resources to the production and protection of introduced species such as dear, trout, pigs and pheasants.  The same government is spending millions trying to counteract the negative impact these same animals are having on the environment by replanting forests, cleaning streams and protecting what little native birds are left.  This makes as much sense to me as providing weapons to a country to fight in a war against your own.  Furthermore if the prey is getting limited, more get released in to the environment so that hunters are always satisfied.  If the hunters still don’t manage to kill anything, they can pay for someone else to round up animals up on a cliff or run it down with exhaustion, so the hunter can enjoy the moment of the kill.  Excuses such as keeping feral numbers down or helping protecting the environment are simply that, excuses.  Here’s to some change in legislation in the future………