Graaaagh

[WarBlade]

I don't know too much about NZ, other than they have quite a bit of wilderness and beautiful scenery, and lots, and lots of sheep.  I would imagine that you might feel a bit remote.

*grins*

Let's see now . . .

- There's world class Rugby.
- The yachting is cutting edge and as a sport NZ is often ranking at the top.
- Lord of the Rings? :D
- Walking barefoot to the dairy is quite normal.
- It takes less than a day to walk from the East Coast to the West coast through NZ's largest city (the North - South motorway drive can be a couple of hours though).
- Tectonic plate boundaries mean geothermal hotspots, extinct and dormant volcanoes, some mountains and occasional earthquakes in some areas. All pretty much within a couple of day's drive too. Rotorua (Rotovegas to the locals) is geothermally active to the point the entire city smells of sulphur and graves appear as concrete slabs above ground (digging them in might be a little iffy what with the possibility of steam coming up through a grave and all). Volcanoes . . . I can think of four lifeless cones I've walked through personally, three of which are in the heart of Auckland.
- Lord of the Rings. :P
- Water sports/recreation. Things like being able to sail out into the Hauraki gulf and having dolphins zipping along a couple of metres away below the bow is an unusual experience for many, but I've done that too locally. My nearest beach is five minutes walk down the hill.
- Beer. White wine (kiwis still have a way to go to get the reds better than the imports).
- Comfortable climate with no predators to worry about when traipsing around in it.
- Bunji jumping and other assorted 'fling the tourist on the tether' money making schemes.
- And of course, Lord of the Rings, plus a zillion other notes that escape me at the moment.

Remote? :huh: How so? As a nation in relation to other nations?