Before going to NZ I assumed that it would not be to dissimilar to Australia – how wrong I was, comparing the two is a bit like comparing England to Italy – thinking they would be similar just because they are close to each other. Here are the main differences that I have seen so far. Firstly NZ is very small and has a tiny population (1/3 of all NZ live in and around Aukland and that is the same amount of people as live in Bristol, roughly). As a result you can drive for miles without hitting a town and when you do it’s invariably pretty small. In Australia you drive along the coastal road and come across small town after small town, with lots of houses and people. The roads themselves are also very different. Australia has the Pacific Highway, a straight motorway which leads up the coast and has off shoots to various white sandy beaches. In New Zealand the roads are windy, actually really really windy and also run along the coast, scattered with mainly black sand beaches.
In New Zealand we didn’t see any homeless people, no litter and very few police cars. The small population on an isolated island leads to a great deal of intimacy and trust between the people and as a result I guess they are better able to care for each other and the environment. Australia seems equally as proud of it’s environment but it’s probably harder to police with a larger population. Then of course there’s the wildlife. I believe that NZ had no mammals originally and the mammals that live there now have been introduced over the years. As a result there are nice animals like cows and sheep and dogs and cats... Australia however has its own animals and all of them seem to be bloody deadly, spiders, snakes, sharks, etc... I had a shower yesterday with a small cockroach climbing up my leg and didn't scream, just flicked it off!!
We spent the last couple of days in Port Maquarie, a small town by the sea and finally got used to our new van. The van is actually ok, it's bigger than the other one and we can stand up in it and of course it has the fridge and cooker etc which is luxury. The only problem is that because it's a 'budget' van it's a bit grubby. The catches on things are broken and the table doesn't connect peoperly, which are things that you can live with (but would rather not). But what I don't understand is why they don't clean the van!! The van has had a superficial wipe over but once you start opening the cupboards you realise they are a bit sticky and the whole thing is a bit greasy yeugh!! But we have armed ourselves with cleaning fluid and wipes, bought new pillows and sheets and it all feels a bit cleaner now.
We are now in Coughs Harbour and may head up to Jeff and Linzi's tomorrow, I say may because in true 'us' travelling style we forgot to get the address of the house oops...
A Sam update now, he has had his hair cut which is nice because you can actually see his eyes, he got stung by a wasp a few days ago, which has now gone down and is fine and he did his French schooling in McDonalds today. He actually did really well and his French is coming on a treat (I think!!)
So that's all for now, hi to you all and lots of love
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