The Kiwi Connection

With winter lurking and Seasonal Affective Depression ready to pounce, it might be time to head south to the Land of the Long White Cloud. Maybe spend happy hour with a Kiwi, a New Zealand citizen, not the hairy brown fruit or the flightless, sightless, nocturnal bird that spends most of its time grubbing in the dirt.

Why that far south? New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere. Seasons are reversed. Summer is December to March. Time it right in December and you'll leave on the shortest day of the year and arrive in Auckland, New Zealand the longest day of the year.

New Zealand is clean, green and spectacular. Check out
the Lord of the Rings again if you don't remember the spectacular part. Another plus--no creepy crawly poisonous critters. There is a rarely seen poisonous spider but you can slosh through the mangroves or plunk down in the bush without checking first for an unfriendly resident.

Kiwis speak English--sort of. It's a kind of short-hand that's hard to follow. I'll throw in a few words and phrases as we go to get you warmed up so you can pretend to know what in the world they're talking about.

I've covered the where, when, and why--I'll start on the how. Since I'm not a Kiwi, feel free to jump in with a comment. If you have a question--ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll try to find someone who does. Just don't ask me about hobbit's feet. I've never seen a hobbit. And I have no idea how to find a man. I was too busy watching the road and reading the map when I was alone--and traveling with a husband kind of limits your finding a man.

Lyn