WRITTEN ON March 24th, 2009 BY kiwivera AND STORED IN bucklame, kiwiland

a couple of anonymous aussie bloggers decided to create a guide for australians living and working in new zealand. in their personal (i would make the word personal bold but i take that my readers are fairly intelligent people) blog, they make some jokes about kiwis and kiwiland, talking about auckland as being a “soulless” city and how rotorua stinks, amongst other opinions (another word that could be in bold).

kiwis got very upset about having aussies rubbishing their country. unsurprisingly upset, since, like many other neighbouring nations in the world, kiwis can’t stand aussies making fun of them (since aussies are normally the subject of kiwi jokes) but also surprisingly upset since kiwis are known as being very laid back people, with a real “sweet as, bro” attitude and, most importantly, a sense of humour.

so where was that sense of humour yesterday when even government authorities came out to talk about the aussie blog?

i love new zealand (and here’s something else that could be in bold). i really, really do.  i wouldn’t live my life so far away from my family & friends if i didn’t really love this country. i love the people, i love the lifestyle, i love pretty much everything about it. but lets face it: no country is perfect. as far as i’m concerned, new zealand is as close to being perfect as a country can be.

But.

Lets face it: Auckland is not a fantastic city, vibrant and full of soul. It’s not like there’s nothing to do around here. There is. But one has to really look around to find it and that is not how it should be. Plus, people live really spread out so that “big city” feeling doesn’t really exist.

When it comes to natural landscapes, New Zealand is the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen in my life and certainly one of the most beautiful countries anyone can visit. But it doesn’t really do cities very well. And that’s ok. Just don’t take offense when someone points it out.

Plus, Rotorua does smell. And that’s cool. We still visit it and we still think it’s beautiful. But why take offense when someone points out the fact that it absolutely stinks?

I know, I know… they’re aussies and you won’t tolerate the people you make fun of making fun of you as well. Alright then, shall we talk about all the stuff that goes on in that city full of life that goes by the name of Adelaide, for example?

…

Ok, we’re done.