New Zealand’s Bottom…

Beautiful Curio Bay

I’m writing from Curio Bay, just a few kilometers short of the bottom of South Island. It is an amazing place: there is a fossilized Jurassic forest on one side of the bay which is home to a colony of very rare yellow eyed penguins and the other side of the bay is home to a pod of Hectors dolphins, also very rare and this is the only place in the world where they come so close to shore, so regularly. On arriving here we went for a walk on the stunning beach (at least a couple of miles long) only to be met by another of the rare marine life, a New Zealand sea lion, which know no fear of people and let us know that we were visitors to her beach and that she was the one who was in charge: she was friendly and good tempered though; which was a relief to us all.

We’ve finished our tour of university cities (barring Auckland, which we’ll get acquainted with once we live there) and have moved on to the rural south of South Island. Its been great meeting more students and supporters in and around Christchurch, Lincoln and Dunedin. The visit to the different student groups has been a great help in getting the understanding of studentdom in NZ and how TSCF functions in each of these places.

The last couple of weeks has not been without its attacks of homesickness and I’m told that it is better to celebrate differences rather than to dwell on them negatively: so here are some differences that have made me smile:

MANCHESTER: not the name of a northern city but the common designation of bed linen here in NZ – so it the isles in ‘The Warehouse’ (see previous blogs) read ‘Electrical Goods’ ‘Housewares’ ‘Manchester’.

‘Igs’: the kiwi accent place emphasis and vowel sounds in some of the most unlikely places (to the English ear). A recent piece of research has asserted that kiwi women speak with a more pronounced accent than kiwi men: anecdotal evidence would seem to back this up. ‘igs’ are ‘eggs’ and that’s where the fun begins…

Road rules: [warning – if you are from the UK this might hurt your brain thinking about this] here in NZ, if you are turning left off a road and someone is wanting to turn from oncoming traffic into the same road/exit they have right of way: this means you stop to let them turn in HOWEVER if you are behind someone who is indicating left and see someone indicating to turn in right and you are wanting to continue straight ahead, you have right of way. So the person turning left has to stop, wait for the driver behind him/her to overtake and continue straight ahead only for the person who was indicating right to then pull into the road ahead of them. As yet I have only one near miss to report from confusion in my head arising from this situation.

Strangers: when someone you don’t know says hello, they do not want something from you, they are not trying to sell anything, canvas your opinion or get you to sign a petition; they are simply saying hello – this might blossom into a meaningful conversation or stop at the simple greeting. Either way – they are being friendly, genuinely nice and wanting to say hello. It is amazing!

Class: There is no class system here, at least not one that is based on your accent, style of dress, sense of fashion, level of education, employment status or career: people judge you by who you are, rather than where you were born or which accent you speak with. This is a revolution as the class system is so ingrained into British society that it is only getting out of the system that makes you aware of it’s strength! Maybe more on this in another blog…