There's plenty to be thankful for in our beautiful country, however is an outsider's view seen through rose tinted glasses?
A few weeks ago I read a story written by an American expat in which she chronicled the things she loves about this country.
I have been thinking aboutit and feel it is worth commenting on as our own view from within can become somewhat jaded.
I'm afraid I'm not with her on her first one, jumping off things. I don't do heights to start with, let alone leaping from them. I can cope inside an aeroplane but put me on a swing bridge over a canyon and I'm very swiftly, urgently, turning back in search of the nearest bar.
I'm with her on her second one, though, because I too love the drastically changing landscape. Trouble is you tend to lose sight of that when you're stuck in one place working.
She also loves our honesty system but I think she needs to know it may be falling apart. When I was a kid your payment for a bag of pine cones or pony poo could be left in an unattended screwtop jar.
Today's honesty systems appear to involve padlocked, armoured moneyboxes being watched over by security cameras.
The writer also appreciates that it is easy to find solitude even though the country is so small.
I'm all for solitude from time to time and, while there are quiet places close at hand, it would probably take a 5-hour drive to get me where I'd really like to be.
The next one is a bit iffy. The writer enjoys the ability to hitch-hike and seems to claim we have an excellent safety record in this regard. Historically this may be incorrect.
I know that one of the main reasons I might pick up a respectable-looking hitch-hiker is so he or she won't get picked up by someone unsavoury. Definitely iffy.
Number 6 is "water that's neon blue and often drinkable". Yeah, right! When I was a kid, I used to swim in the Tukituki almost daily through the summer. Today, I'm sad to say, I won't even let my dog in it.
Campervan travel is the writer's number 7 but there are a few communities around the country who might offer a different perspective, particularly when it comes to freedom camping. "Waste" is a key word here.
The quality of our coffee, even in the smallest places, earns praise from the writer. I agree on this one and wonder how New Zealand and Australia seem to have become the world's coffee capitals.
Travel around the US a little and you might see why. It's far from easy to find a decent coffee and one that's not flavoured with caramel, chocolate, hazelnut or some sort of organic seaweed sprinkles with added vitamins.
And finally the correspondent loves the ease of domestic flying. Yes, it's very casual though it may have to tighten up over time.
Wyn Drabble
If you've ever boarded or disembarked at LAX you'll know just how lax our system is.
Inching your way up a long queue, clutching shoes, socks, belt and personal items and then being photographed by the giant eyeball on a swivel arm is not conducive to a relaxing holiday.
I'd like to close with some cons and pros of my own.
Foreign tampering with our aquifers and reduced plastic recycling options are unacceptable. And the high cost of food and property.
But we do have hokey pokey ice cream, not all of it foreign-owned, and we have the finest prime minister in the world.
In short, to borrow the words of a gum-booted bloke from the agrarian sector, "We don't know how lucky we are."
Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.
