Am a kiwi, bin in oz since 1986, so had formative years there, and still have family and visit there quite often...I remember buying stienlager in Kununarra cheaper than down the road from the brewery (go figure) ...i see my mates there now, most of them caught up in the "P epidemic" it works for some of them, for others, not so well...I find the place has evolved so much in the last twenty years, when I left, you couldn't buy alcohol on a sunday...I recall telling folks that I would not return till they start sunday tradiing. In many ways, i feel that they have become much more progressive than australia, in as much as cosmopolitism in especially Auckland. My favorite part of the country is Whitianga northward, in fact i consider it "my" country and despise the sealed roads they have put in there... (I come from the Franklin region) All in all I have excellent ppl there, they are staunch and true, and whilst I have had mates like that in Oz, not so much as there...just my cuppla shillings worth, Kia Kaha