Dialogue: Aotearoa, land of bare feet, keas and tall poppies

By SIMON VINCENT*

Recently a friend, hearing I had spent more than a year in the country, asked me what I most enjoyed about New Zealand. The question was difficult because there are so many attractions to recommend Aotearoa.

I tried not to look at it from merely a tourist's point of view, but you cannot help but be impressed by the sights that Tourism New Zealand is eager to show you. The magnificent scenery, the captivating Maori culture and the huge range of activities available - tramping in rainforests or climbing volcanic peaks, skiing and snowboarding on glaciers, swimming with dolphins, sailing, surfing and fishing - the list is endless.

All of these things I have enjoyed but they are only part of the story, so here are just some, in my opinion, of the alternative attractions of New Zealand, things that tell me that New Zealand is the place (Immigration willing) I want to call home. I list them in no particular order.

* The kea. Yes, the fun-loving alpine parrot has left a marked impression on me. Normally, when we think of parrots, we picture a garishly coloured bird with a dodgy cockney accent good only for minor roles in pirate movies - but not the kea. This staunch bird, coloured an un-parrot-like drab green, has adapted to live in the high alpine regions, not afraid of the snow.

This is a bird capable of passing SAS selection. Always ready for a bit of entertainment, performing aerobatics in the swirling winds or messing about with the possessions of humans, but, above all, appearing content to live in a beautiful part of the world - surely a more potent symbol for New Zealand than some night-crawling worm-muncher.

* Bare feet. New Zealand is a country free and at ease with itself and this is nowhere more evident than on the streets among the footloose.

Being able to walk down a city street and pop into the dairy with feet unclad is one of my great joys.

Elsewhere in the world, a shoeless city-dweller would be regarded as a down-and-out, but here you could be anyone. Being able to wander barefoot by choice is one of the joys we tend to leave behind with childhood, but here I can indulge myself.

In an increasingly uniform world New Zealand chooses not to conform.

* "Thank you, driver." It may seem a small thing, and I'm sure a lot of passengers pay it little attention, but I'm always heartened when I hear a New Zealander of any age, creed or colour paying this small compliment as they alight the bus.

I am from the north of England, an area proud of its friendly folk, but even we seem to have caught the London syndrome, in which it is almost deemed a crime to even make eye contact with fellow passengers on public transport.

Not only is saying "thank you" good manners, it also helps to retain a sense of community - in an increasingly faceless world it is a way to acknowledge another person's presence. If we all help to foster a community spirit, we will all benefit from a friendly society.

* The tall poppy syndrome. Obviously not an attitude looked on favourably by all New Zealanders, but something I enjoy as a healthy and welcome change.

I don't believe New Zealanders fail to show respect or support to your high achievers. I've never been to a country with so many of its parks, roads and buildings named after people, many of whom are still living. Any New Zealand success on the world stage is greeted with a media fanfare, and rightly so, but the public can still remind the successful not to get too full of themselves.

After all, to succeed in your chosen field does not give you the right to lord it over others who have chosen a different path. In Britain celebrities feel they deserve preferential treatment at all times. Those terrible words, "Do you know who I am?" come from the mouths of football players, soap actors and politicians with boring regularity.

How would the New Zealand public react if a Shortland Street actor called for Smith and Caughey to be opened early, for their exclusive shopping trip, unencumbered by the bothersome hoi polloi?

By all means give support to your greats but help them to keep their feet, preferably shoeless, on the ground.

* Hokey-pokey. When I first experienced this wonderful ice cream I was reminded of a familiar taste. Then came the crunch - something which at first I couldn't place but which my senses eventually dragged from my memory.

This ice cream will remain an important part of my New Zealand experience - familiar but different and a joy.

* Simon Vincent is an Englishman abroad.