KEY POINTS:
From Aotearoa to Zeeland with mud pools in between, New Zealand Post has come up with 26 national icons to lick and stick.
The series of colourful stamps released this week, called the A to Z of New Zealand, features a different picture for each letter - from cultural icons such as the tiki and the haka, to messages from our history like the Vote stamp bearing the image of suffragette Kate Sheppard from the $10 note and the Zeeland stamp with a picture of Dutchman explorer Abel Tasman, from whom our nation received its name.
Then there are the more comical stamps such as the "D is for Dog" picture of the loveable canine from the popular comic strip Footrot Flats, about life on Wal's farm.
New Zealand's love of sports is evident with the Log o' Wood - a nickname for the Ranfurly Shield, the most prestigious trophy in the country's rugby competition.
The X stamp shows our love of eXtreme sports and the P seal celebrates rugby legend Colin "Pinetree" Meads' run as an All Black in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
The stamps also pay homage to other famous Kiwis such as Charles Upham, the only combatant soldier to receive the Victoria Cross twice, and Lord Ernest Rutherford, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908.
"Each of the 26 stamps ... is a slice of New Zealand that will resonate with many Kiwis," said NZ Post general manager of stamps, Ivor Masters.
The tiki on the T stamp was especially carved for the series by Rotorua carver Lewis Tamihana Gardiner and the Weta on the W stamp was designed by the film and television effects company Weta Workshops.
