Tag: New Zealand

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NZ North Island Grog Files

New Zealand – North Island

Soft Drinks

L & P

Type: Soft Drink

Rating: 3 sheets to the wind

Website: http://www.cokecareers.co.nz/products
(yeah, Coke bought ‘em.  That’s globozation for ya.)

Notes: It would be wrong to have a page about the drinks of New Zealand and not mention Lemon & Paeroa.  It’s the New Zealand soft drink and we’re really not sure why it hasn’t become a world-wide sensation!  Like you’ll see in other places on this page, New Zealand does not save their best efforts for “the good stuff” because even their widely distributed common drinks are just excellent.  Continue reading “NZ North Island Grog Files”

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Lazy Birds

Dunedin, NZ

The Kiwi Roadtrip continues!

As long as you don’t mind the pressing need to bundle up in order to explore a land listed as “one of the closest to Antarctica” it’s sometimes hard to decide which is more magnificent, the countryside around Dunedin or the immaculate buildings in the city itself:

Continue reading “Lazy Birds”

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Where the Scots ended up

Dunedin, NZ

Often when writing a blog entry we look back on the last few articles in order to remind ourselves where we left off.  This time we reviewed the road trip video and, well, frankly… Wow, that was a terrible resolution.  Not to mention a terribly long video.  Since we are writing these trip entries for ourselves as much as you all and since there is no way we’re going to leave that on the site we redid the road trip.  Each entry from then until now just got a new and different 1 minute clip of our adventures driving down the coast.  Because road trips are all about the little things like cows stopping traffic and “ocean golf.”  So if you wanted to see all the little things like Tiffany dancing in a kiwi hat and Greg’s adventures with roundabouts, that’s where they are.

The Kiwi road trip continues!

Continue reading “Where the Scots ended up”

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Penguins and Wine

Marlborough, NZ

The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!

Stepping off the Interislander Ferry had us stepping into one of the major wine regions of New Zealand: Marlborough.  Where sheep, kittens, vineyards and Kiwis all seem to have figured out a way to coexist:

Continue reading “Penguins and Wine”

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New Zealand Interstate

Enroute Dunedin, NZ

The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!


We make it a habit of reporting things to the highway patrol.  This mostly started when Tiffany and Greg’s Mom teamed up on him and forced him to quit stopping for motorists on the side of the highway.  If someone looks like they are broken down but not in immediate danger, they reasoned, it is much safer simply to use a cell phone to report it to the highway patrol than to stop in the middle of nowhere and put yourself at the potential mercy of a carjacker.

The reason we bring this up is when we called in a broken down car to the NZ police, they asked us where it was.  To which Tiffany replied that it was on the interstate southbound a few kilometers from whatever exit we had just passed.

Tiffany was very proud of herself, incidentally.  Using kilometers in conversation.

The police operator chucked and immediately asked if Tiffany was from the States.  A bit confused, (she’d used kilometers!) she replied, “Why, yes.  Did you guess that from my accent?”

New Zealand give way sign

“No, this is New Zealand.  We don’t have interstates here.”

Continue reading “New Zealand Interstate”

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Silly Kiwis

On the Road, NZ

We sometimes think that travel does, in fact, broaden one’s horizons.  Gives perspective, understanding if you will, of persons individually and peoples as a whole.

For example, we now understand that, as a people, Kiwis are pretty dang witty.

the cure for veganism is baconBillboard ad in Auckland – dude, true that.

As we wander down the length of this great country we should take a moment, if only a moment, to admire the brilliance of the Kiwi advertising agencies…

Continue reading “Silly Kiwis”

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Burritos are not square…

Wellington, NZ

interislander ferry new zealand 1The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!

The Interislander Ferry is located in Wellington, the national capital of New Zealand which is situated on the southernmost tip of the North Island.  No, we hadn’t ever heard of it either.  Mostly because, aside from being conveniently located in the geographic center of the country to make it as accessible as possible to all citizens (see, again, Kiwis are just nice people, even to each other) and being the seat of the national government, Auckland trumps Wellington as the international city of New Zealand.  Simply put, there’s no rude nickname for Wellington-ers, like there is for the JAFAs up north.

It’s in the interest of education and making you look important that we use the slur, bro.  Don’t get mad.

Remember when we discussed how sailors spend their 90 days in French Polynesia?  If you wanted to spend a month each on 3 of the islands or spread out to more remote places to spend a week here and a week there?  Though we joked about it at the time, we never flat out asked the question, “What if a week in French Polynesia is all you got?”

Continue reading “Burritos are not square…”

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Yeah, That Mount DOOM!

Mt. DOOM, New Zealand

20101212-NZ-road-trip-w-Ronni-27 - mount doom

(oh yes, there.  Right freaking there!  Life Achievement unlocked: Entered Mordor!!!)

The Great Kiwi Roadtrip continues!!

When you tell your friends back home that you’re in New Zealand, there is one reaction you’re almost sure to receive (especially if said friends are big fans of Science Fiction movies and some are actually known to posses the one ring) and question is, “Are you going to Hobbiton?”

Continue reading “Yeah, That Mount DOOM!”

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In Search of Castle Kiwi

Auckland, NZ

Mount Eden and the Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand

Us: “No, mom, really what do you want to do while we’re in New Zealand?”

Mom: “Oh I’ll just do whatever you’re doing”

We’ve been down this road before with Greg’s mom.  She doesn’t want to intrude.  But we didn’t really think that getting eaten by a Sharktopus (Sharktopi?), canoe drag racing, or crawling up volcanoes were much her thing.  As we’ve said before, this “normal tourist” routine is a bit difficult for us to grasp without the aid of a 20 sided die. So this time we insisted.

Continue reading “In Search of Castle Kiwi”

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The Power of “Go”

Auckland, NZ

We decided to buy vs. rent because the cost of second-hand cars was really cheap and we figured out that by renting we stood to probably spend more than outright buying and the cost of insurance was very low (finally, an upside to being over 30!!).  Most importantly, owning the car we gave us the power of go, which was critical if we were playing host in a foreign country.

20101206 (5) - NZ license plate - dimwit

Really?  Really!? 

Dude, there’s a reason this vanity plate was available.

The power of go was discovered by Greg several years ago.  As Greg never owned a car before his senior year in college, he spent his high school and university years dependent on someone else (friends, buses, and the ever-loyal Cal train) for transportation.  Upon getting a car Greg realized that he no longer needed to have a plan when he wanted to do something, which is what the “power of go” is:

Continue reading “The Power of “Go””

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