"WHAT WE'RE REALLY LIKE"

Wellington, New Zealand

Dear Mereway, We are not connected to Australia at all. We are our own independent country and Australia is one of our neighbours. Australians have a differemt accent to us. Kangaroos are native to Australia and the only ones found in New Zealand are in our zoos. Alana, Geoffrey, Rachael, Scott, Stacey and Susan Our hills are definitely not plain or bleak. To tell you the truth most of the hills in New Zealand are bush covered. We have many National Parks to protect our native forests and they are walked through by thousands of people - Kiwis and tourists. Our bush is quite unique and many tourists come especially to visit our National Parks. Jeremy, Jonathan and Matthew Heaps of birds live in our forests that are unique to New Zealand. As we do not have snakes or anything like that some of our birds are flightless. Wetas, an ugly, creepy insect of six legs and a brown body, live in rotting wood piles in forests or amongst firewood piles. Some giant wetas live in caves. Annabelle, Jennifer and Lindy Summer is quite hot here and we swim in the sea or rivers to cool off. It is often cooler in summer near the sea and very hot inland. In winter we have many storms especially in Wellington where the wind is funnelled through the Cook Strait. Sam You said New Zealanders would be very sun tanned and it is true that many of us are sun tanned as we like to be outdoors when it is sunny. But there are many races in New Zealand such as Europeans, Asians, Polynesians and Maori some of whom are naturally tanned, and some whose skin is very sensitive to sunburn. Kathryn, Kristina, Jessie and Nita The main food served at restaurants is not fish but fish would be on most menus. Some of our unusual foods include squid and huhu grubs - huhu grubs taste like chicken. We have some special vegetables too such as kumera and taro but taro is imported from places like Samoa. Jason, Michael and Ryan The "cute little war dance" mentioned is the Haka and it is performed at the beginning of rugby matches to challenge and scare the opposing team. The haka is an item of pride and mana (power), and it is complex to perform as it is made up of chanting and actions. Adam, Andrew, Jason and John We have two official languages - English and Maori (not Mowri). The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and were here before the Europeans arrived. They adapted the English ways to their own ways. Not all New Zealanders speak Maori but Maori is taught in most schools. Adam, Andrew, Jason and John