Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Kiwi Psyche
New Zealand is like that little guy at school when they're picking rugby
teams - quietly waiting to be noticed, desperately wanting to be liked. Then,
when he does get the nod, his sheer determination to prove himself propels
him to score a completely unexpected try. When his teammates come to
congratulate him he stares at the ground and mumbles, 'It was nothing, ay'.
Ironically, the person responsible for the nuclear age was a New Zealander. In 1917 Ern-
est Rutherford was the first to split the nucleus of an atom. His face appears on the $100
note.
What Makes Kiwis Tick?
While NZ is a proud little nation, Kiwis traditionally don't have time for show-offs. Jingo-
istic flag-waving is generally frowned upon. People who make an impression on the inter-
national stage are respected and admired, but flashy tall poppies have traditionally had
their heads lopped off. This is perhaps a legacy of NZ's early egalitarian ideals - the ones
that sought to avoid the worst injustices of the 'mother country' (Britain) by breaking up
large landholdings and enthusiastically adopting a 'cradle to grave' welfare state. 'Just be-
cause someone's got a bigger car than me, or bigger guns, doesn't make them better' is the
general Kiwi attitude.
NZ has rarely let its size get in the way of making a point on the international stage. A
founding member of the League of Nations (the precursor to the UN), it ruffled feathers
between the world wars by failing to blindly follow Britain's position. It was in the 1980s,
however, that things got really interesting.
'SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NEW ZEALAND?'
That, by tradition, is the question that visitors are asked within an hour of disem-
barking in NZ. Sometimes they might be granted an entire day's research before be-
ing asked to pronounce, but asked they are. The question - composed equally of
great pride and creeping doubt - is symbolic of the national consciousness.
When George Bernard Shaw visited for four weeks in 1934, he was deluged with
what-do-you-think-of questions from newspaper reporters the length of the coun-
try. Although he never saw fit to write a word about NZ, his answers to those news-
paper questions were collected and reprinted as What I Saw in New Zealand: The
