Dialogue: Visitors don't want to see our spitting image

By ELEANOR BLACK

When tourists land at Auckland Airport their first task - after they have fussed over the sniffer dogs at immigration - is often crossing to the domestic terminal and checking in for a connecting flight to Rotorua.

This is the most popular tourist destination in the country, and for good reason. There are attractions here that you won't find elsewhere in New Zealand. The region presents a series of postcard vistas and it's close to other points of interest.

Rotorua is a city which generally leaves a good impression. But a determinedly visible minority of residents don't give a toss about appearances. They spit in public (barely missing the dancing toes of anxious passersby), gaily toss their food wrappers on to the footpath and seem to have forgotten basic manners.

And they dress in such an aggressively sloppy fashion that they look as though they are challenging the tidy people to a duel.

Hemlines drag on the ground, shirts missing buttons swirl wildly around midriffs, and shoes with the heels crushed inwards flap unhappily down the footpath.

The first taste a lot of visitors get of the New Zealand lifestyle - its natural beauty, food, culture and people - is marred by a couple of misplaced spitballs and the bedraggled attire of a handful of slobs whose mothers surely taught them better - or did they?

When I moved to Rotorua from Gisborne eight months ago, several features of my new home struck me - the convenient layout, the rotten-egg aroma that hit me like a slap in the face every time I walked out my front door, and the number of people who spit in public.

Spitting has long been one of my major peeves, but I had never seen so much of it - even when I was travelling in Russia, where it's perfectly acceptable.

The Russians I can forgive. Life weighs heavily on their shoulders and exercising the digestive canal probably clears the mind.

But the Rotorua lifestyle, although sometimes unfulfilling for those who don't own mountain bikes, is pretty good. There is no excuse for offensive behaviour in the street.

The city has undergone a multimillion-dollar makeover and new specialty shops and cafes have popped up like mushrooms.

Rotorua was named New Zealand's most beautiful city in 1999 and last year and is a model which other provincial cities are using for their own makeovers.

But you can be sure that the grungy look and attitude adopted by so many in this city will not be similarly copied, although it will leave a lingering impression on the people spending big bucks to come here - much like the sulphur stench that rises from the ground.

It's funny in a way. Walk down Tutanekai St any day and watch the Asian, American and European visitors (T-shirts tucked firmly into shorts with colour coordinated belts, regardless of gender) as they gingerly avoid stepping in the path of the slushy spitters.

See how their eyes widen in disbelief and their mouths open with horror as a teenage girl cleans her nose without using a tissue.

Then, notice their discussion (a couple of decibels too loud and accompanied by much pointing) about how their own young people would be humiliated if anyone caught them doing the same.

And then ask yourself: can't we do better?