New Zealand Culture Blog

Last week we took our 2 and 4-year-old girls to see the Tamaki Māori Village Experience in Rotorua.

The experience from our perspective was a good one. Once home, like a good little tourist, I logged onto Trip Advisor to air my thoughts and contribute to the so called "reviews you can trust" I came across a review that at first glance looked deliberately malicious (a false review) but on further inspection it became apparent that the reviewer had little or no understanding of contemporary Maori or held a totally unrealistic expectation to what he was letting himself in for.

Australian English is also referred to as "Strine". The word derives from saying the word "Australian" through clenched teeth - a local accent that some scholars claim arose from the need to try and keep ones mouth closed when speaking, in order to keep the flies out…….  

True Aussie “Strine” can be quite difficult to understand, especially if you are in rural or outback Australia. To confuse things further, some Australians join several words together as one - like 'waddayareckon' (what do you reckon?) or owyagoin (how are you going?) and so on.

Bret McKenzie, half of New Zealand’s fourth-most-popular folk duo Flight of the Conchords, has won an Oscar for the song Man or Muppet. Bret McKenzie has carved his name alongside Sir Peter Jackson and Sir Richard Taylor as a Kiwi Oscar-winner. The Flight Of The Conchords star won best original song for Man or Muppet, from The Muppets film, at the star-studded ceremony this afternoon. He beat out the only other nominated tune, Real in Rio, from animated film Rio.

McKenzie started his acceptance speech by recalling his New Zealand upbringing.

One good thing about heading our way for the festive season. We never have a white Christmas and the majority of our New Years Eve Parties are on a beach! 

Firstly an apology.... For those who visited our fine land during September and October you probably experienced something  rather unusual - MASS HYSTERIA, GROWN MEN CRYING, TRIBES OF PEOPLE WITH PAINTED HEADS - you are probably looking for an explanation.

Well, New Zealand has just hosted the seventh Rugby World Cup and this was the largest sporting event ever to be held in New Zealand, attracting over 85,000 international visitors and WE WON!!!!