Top 10 Random New Zealandisms

I still have a solid two weeks to write about, but believe me, I’m working on it (just writing up my own notes about each day and sorting all the pictures takes a ton of time, and that’s before I even start the blog writing). The current entry has been a work in progress for about a week now, but I keep getting distracted by meeting new people or movie marathons during bad weather. Since I doubt I’ll be able to finish that one tonight, and since it is my last night in New Zealand (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN??), I’ll leave you with a Top 10 Random Things list from my month in this country.

10. Nutritional information panels don’t say “calories”, they say “energy”. That makes me feel a lot more badass when looking at the back of my chocolate bar and seeing that I’m getting tons of energy with my snack!

9. It’s totally normal for people to sit in the front seat of taxis and leave the back seat empty. It’s also incredibly weird because I’m sitting in what I think should be the driver’s seat. For some reason the lack of steering wheel and pedals is not the strangest part, but rather looking up at the rear view mirror and it not showing me what’s behind me because it’s angled the other way.

8. I had a conversation with some people while on Stewart Island (still to come in the main blog), and they told me that that area was famous for two things: kiwis and great white pointers. I just stared at them because I couldn’t figure out what a pointer was. Was it a bird I didn’t know? You probably guessed it – great white SHARK. Apparently they call it a pointer because you point and get all excited when you see one… (granted I was told this by some Tasmanians, so maybe this isn't a New Zealand thing)

7. The one movie theater I went to only opened the doors to the theater five minutes before the movie was scheduled to start. Ten minutes before the people from the previous movie were piling out. I guess this allows them to play movies back to back if everyone just queues in the hallway until the last minute, but then you are awkwardly standing there eating popcorn in the hall (or in my case, debating about whether to step out of my queue to get some water and if I’d get my spot back… traveling alone is kind of nice, until you need someone to watch your spot!) In other news, The Martian was awesome.

6. Traffic signs are all a bit different. Most are more vague than the ones that I’m used to (speed limit signs are just numbers in a circle; that could refer to the route or the speed or something else if you don’t say “speed limit”!) They also say “give way” instead of “yield”. One sign that is marginally more specific than ours is the merge sign. Instead of just saying “merge”, it says “merge like a zip”. We all get mad at those people who can zipper merge in traffic, so the New Zealanders make sure to be explicit. It’s also just kind of funny to see that on a sign.

5. I only noticed this in the last grocery store I went to, but when checking out the cashier put all my food back in the cart and asked how many bags I wanted (one). She put one bag on top of my groceries and then… that was that. Right before the exit there was a long counter with the sign “packing benches” over it. That’s where people were supposed to then go to pack their own groceries! I guess it prevents as much of a backup in the checkout aisles.

4. I’ve been wondering about the gas pumps for the last month, and today I was dumbfounded to discover that here people pay for gas AFTER they’ve filled up their tank. How do gas stations not get ripped off left and right?!? Oh yeah, because New Zealanders are awesome people.

3. We all think of kiwis as the little fuzzy brown fruit with delicious green stuff in the middle, right? Well New Zealanders have been holding out on everyone! They have golden kiwis, which are NOT fuzzy on the outside, they are golden on the inside, and they are absolutely delicious. I’ve eaten like 50 of them. Though, I’m told they’ve finally made it over to the US, so maybe I’ll have a new delicious treat to look forward to when I’m home.

2. There is one road sign that makes me laugh every time I see it – the “when frosty” signs, which are supposed to suggest that the roads are slippery when frosty. I just see some weird physics going on, or a magically adjustable axel, or a car doing a dance, or something strange because those skid marks are not lining up right!

1. Getting ready to go to the beach so you throw some drinks and some ice in your cooler, right? WRONG! You put drinks in your CHILLY BIN. Yes, that’s right – coolers are called “chilly bins”. That’s probably my favorite New Zealandism. It’s ridiculous and cute.

So there are some very random things from New Zealand! Tomorrow I fly to Australia, and Monday I start my new job. Oh boy… jumping right into work after this month? Gonna be brutal, but also cool because Australia has so many DIFFERENT creatures and things to discover! I’ll still work on catching up on this month, and then segway into my work in Australia, so hopefully I’ll be caught up in the next several weeks.