[Moonliner]

I don't know about the bugs but in researching my home-to-be I did run across an interesting travelog. Here are a few pithy quotes from it:

Originally Posted by Bob

Before this trip, I confess I had Australia and New Zealand mentally blurred together, and thus, I now realize, half-expected to deplane in Auckland as if I'd simply taken an extended subway from Sydney.

That notion didn't even last through the Sydney airport.

The moment you board an Air New Zealand jet, you enter complete immersion in Tolkien mythology, since the in-flight magazine, video programs, and (often) even the plane's exterior design are well and truly consumed by the company's surely-profitable determination to be the "Airline To Middle Earth."

Originally Posted by Bob

I don't know how to convey the depth of public disdain for Bush down here. It's casual; it's assumed; it's like being against poverty, ignorance, intestinal worms, or potato blight.

And while I have yet to see even a hint of anti-Americanism directed at myself -- most folks everywhere seem to understand intuitively that I am not my government, a consideration I suspect the people of Iraq might have appreciated from us -- this next is fairly mind-blowing.

A recent study published in the Sunday Star-Times asked Australians and New Zealanders which country they would like to visit, but would not, because they consider it too dangerous. Here are the results:

1. United States (14%)
2. Iraq (13%)
3. Indonesia (11%)
4. Israel (7%)

Originally Posted by Bob

New Zealand feels quite remarkably like rural America.

First, there's the visual aspect. Rolling hills like western Iowa lead to rainy volcanic regions like chunks of Oregon. A winding road with cattle looks almost exactly like the way to my Grandpa's house in western Virginia, and the midsize town of Hamilton could be Akron, Ohio, if it wasn't for the Mississippi-style riverboat in the water below. It's like the prettiest bits of rural America, exacto-ed out, pureed, and presented as a highlight show.