KEY POINTS:
Sweeping sandy beaches, rolling green pastures and majestic mountains - these are the things we love about New Zealand.
As we celebrate our national day, we asked nzherald.co.nz readers to pinpoint the things they most love about being Kiwi.
Time and again they referred to the natural beauty of the landscape, but also to a prevailing sense of decency and honesty among New Zealanders.
Peter Mumby of Mt Eden highlighted "Unspoiled green pastures, wonderful beaches, the Kiwi holiday with every camping accessory on the planet, the bach, the backyard barbie ... moving over to Aussie - yeah right."
A Dunedin reader said: "The best things are: NZ's many natural settings, its native flora and fauna; its relative remoteness and relatively low human population; and that the majority of decent law-abiding people are still capable of calling a spade a spade, rejecting the insidious evil of political correctness and its adolescent lackeys."
Contemplating the best things about being Kiwi, it's hard not to think of a great Kiwi summer. We're spending lazy days on sun-drenched beaches, cramming the family into the car for a jaunt to our favourite resorts, or enjoying long evening barbecues and icecreams while our feet are covered in sand.
But let's not forget those less pleasant aspects of this Kiwi summer - the sharks, the nasty sunburn and the exorbitant price of sunscreen, and this year, a wave of violent crime that brought us all back down to earth.
New Zealand has its share of negatives - crime, poverty, high house prices, high interest rates, low wages and long working hours.
But all it takes is a visitor to point out a beautiful ocean view, the chilled-out nature of the people or the wide expanses of land to remember why we love it - like the readers of an international travel magazine, Wanderlust, who recently voted New Zealand their favourite worldwide destination.
Christchurch-based travel writer Amelia Norman said: "We've got everything we could possibly want - the land, the people and the way of life all set in such a stunning, welcoming and compact space."
She said the iconic Buzzy Bee toy was a great example of Kiwi pride.
"Kiwis are so proud to be Kiwis, and of quirky things like the Buzzy Bee. It's something we all know and being a small population, we feel we can share it."
She said the multicultural, diverse nature of the people works because New Zealanders are a tolerant bunch, and "there's that shared New Zealandness".
A Whakatane contributor described a simple approach to life that was unique to New Zealand.
"If you are hungry you can catch a fish or shoot a deer all year round.
"We can grown pretty much anything, anywhere and when we have too much of something, there are bound to be others who will trade.
"You don't need a degree to be taken seriously and if you are entrepreneurial, you are celebrated and encouraged to be successful. We still care about our neighbours (in Whakatane anyway), and we are still community minded. New Zealand is a paradise!"
A dozen delights that make our country unique
* THE GREAT OUTDOORS Camping, fishing, skiing, surfing, tramping, bungy-jumping, white-water rafting, and the rest make us a nation of adventurers keen to explore our country and the world outside.
* THE BACH The quintessential Kiwi accessory - the house by the beach we all aspire to own, giving us time away from the stresses and strains of everyday life, where children are barefoot and carefree and life is simple.
* BACKYARD GENIUSES It's not just the number eight fencing wire mentality, but cars that float, treatments for blindness and disease on a global scale, tranquilliser guns, spreadable butter - oh, and chocolate fish.
* THE BEACH They've been voted some of the best in the world, and everyone's got their favourite, whether it's Piha, Cathedral Cove or Kaiteriteri. Beautiful white sand, rolling surf or clear, sparkling turquoise waters, and rocks to jump off - where else would you be?
* GOOD AS GOLD Generally speaking, Kiwis are so laid-back they could be horizontal. We're optimistic that everything will turn out fine in the end, we can laugh at ourselves and visitors love our friendly, welcoming nature.
* TOLERANCE New Zealand has an easygoing approach to multiculturalism - there's still a feeling that we're neighbours and we're there to help each other, and we're still good at celebrating our differences and the stuff we have in common.
* BUZZY BEES They're a national icon, a shared memory of our youth. Most of us had one - Prince William still has his - and many of us now send them to friends and family overseas to evoke a little of that classic Kiwi childhood.
* ICECREAM Hokey pokey, goodie gumdrops - the best icecream in the world. No plain vanilla, chocolate and strawberry for us. Kids and grown-ups alike hunker after an icecream on a hot day, and the bigger the better.
* JANDALS Not thongs, not flipflops - jandals. The original Japanese Sandals, they were invented here and made for the beach, the backyard, a quick trip to the shops and even work.
* SEAFOOD The freshest and most plentiful of anywhere in the world - succulent prawns, mussels and oysters, whitebait fritters and just-caught fish, which brings us to ...
* ... FISH & CHIPS The best holiday food ever, a guilty pleasure for some, but you can't go past fresh seafood, a nicely-battered piece of fish, handfuls of hot chips and oodles of tomato sauce.
* WINE And not just some world-beating wines, but fabulous wineries. Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, Waiheke Island, Central Otago - they're full of wineries set in breathtaking locations, serving food to die for, and let's not forget summer's food and wine festivals!
