h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

New Zealanders miss:

* Quality beers.
(Hell I've drunk some awful beers overseas. The worst beer I've ever drunk is Coor's from the USA. Aussie beer's not much better. German beer is OK.)
* Real meat pies.
(By law in NZ meat pies must contain at least 75% meat, which is double that of Australia's pies. They are sane cows by the way - we don't feed our cows eachother's brains.)
* Blue skies.
(Only Australia has that same deep blue sky. Poor Europeans with their dull grey.)
* Native birdsong.
(Melodic, trilling tunes ring out in the bush.)
* The Southern Cross.
(It's not on our flag for nothing.)
* Friendly "G'days" from people you've never met before.
(The Irish too have a reputation for being friendly, but tend to say "Top o'the morning" instead.)
* Rugby.
(The topic of discussion from every Kiwi male, all winter. It's really tragic to go to the USA and nobody has any clue about the best kind of football in the world. The game they play in heaven.)
* Wide open spaces.
(Almost everywhere else in the world, whatever you want to do, someone else is doing it too. Crowds have become a way of life in too many places.)
* News about home.
(The rest of the world doesn't consider NZ worth reporting on. It's tough to get the news from home. Internet is the best source.)

As far as what you can take with you in the suitcase goes.... or perhaps if you were receiving a relief parcel from home....

1. Scenic postcards or books, to remind yourself just how amazingly spectacular home is, and to convince doubting foreigners.

2. If food was allowed, you'd take Griffins gingernut biscuits, Tip Top hokey pokey ice cream and a pavlova with kiwifruit topping. A whitebait fritter or two would also go down a treat.

3. Jandals (or thongs) assuming that you could wear them where you were going.

4. A few dozen of Monteiths pale ale and a case of Marlborough chardonnay.

5. A copy of "Men in Black" (the NZ rugby book, not the stupid American movie, doh!)

6. A return airline ticket home!

hello down their

How about a few cans of L&P ?
Vogel's bread would be good, except that it goes mouldy within 36 hours, and it takes forever to travel from NZ to anywhere else.

What about Chocolate Fish?
I only lived in Godzone for a short while some years ago and I still miss them!



Oh yeah, and Vegemite (the real stuff not that pale imitation that's obtainable in English supermarkets)

john

Oh, I forgot to ask for Toffee Pops!
They have to be the best chocolate biscuit ever invented. Worthy of an entire article on their own.

Vogel’s bread! My God, yes! I loved it when I was in NZ the summer past. God, I miss so much about it anyway… Vogel’s made for good toast with butter, with the toast still really, really hot.

And Tim Tams. Don't forget them. And the lovely buns with the pink icing and the jam in the middle. Gorgeous. For those wondering, I spent 6 weeks in Dunedin.