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

From Noisyland???

Actually yes it must be a rare specimin!

I'm in Hamilton; officially the most boring city in the country. No, really. Also unofficial chlamydia capital of the world, apparantly.
Wellington is where I was living a couple of years ago; about six-to-eight hours drive south.

*ahem* There are no wallabies in NZ, only in Australia. You can see penguins in winter here, though. Not the black-and-white ones, but the cute little brown ones.

Let us know when your trip is planned; it's about time we had some kind of mini-meet in this country!

So why on earth would your boyf come all the way to this end of the earth just to move to Wellington?

penguins!
cute!
i've never seen a live one before.........
now i want to come visit more then ever! .......well just as much as ever really. i dont think i could come more.... its just annother good reason.

*wonders how shes going to get to wales, NZ, and utah.... with no moey at all*

He had a three week NZ holiday last year and fell in love with the place. Wellington was just where he got a job. Although all the arty stuff and architecture in Wellington will leave him well pleased (I've only seen it while watching Billy Connelly's World tour of NZ)
Much easier to go and explore the other side of the world when you have a job and a home-base in the same hemisphere!

I didn't think there were Wallabies - NZ is more of a bird sanctuary isn't it?

I'll let you know when I finally get my act together and get out there. Not in the next few months anyway but a mini-meet would be fun. Is there a NZ space on hootoo that you know of? Of late I keep bumping into referances to NZ or meeting people from NZ. I think this may be a sign that I should get my behind out there!

Zantic

Can I have a coocoooburoooah? (I know I didn't spell that right!)

Come to wales, we've got erm... sheep.

2 for every person in Wales whereas in NZ they've got 16 for every person. So by using the amount of sheep and people in wales, either NZ has a really small population or A HELL OF A LOT OF SHEEP!!!

Or both. And there will soon be one more (Psychochicken is taking his Shawn footstool! )

Zantic

Oooh stylish! Is that one more to the population or one more to the sheep?

Oh god don't let the australians hear you talking about the darn sheep!


New Zealand has a small population /and/ a lot of sheep; we actually have less sheep than we used to in the 80's, though; less demand for wool and such now. There used to be 3 million people and 80-something million sheep, I think, whereas it's now more like 4 million people and about 60-million sheep. And something-million cows. At least we're becoming more city-centred now; I grew up in a cow-town and I hated everything about the culture and mentality.

Yep Wellington's definitely the place to go for art; it's by far the most cultured city in the country. I hope you like hills. And stairs. Oh and don't bother buying a car unless you really /really/ need one here - in Wgtn the public transport is fantastic and it's a nightmare trying to find a park.

Yeah NZ is definitely more of a bird place - there are several large islands off the coast which are protected bird sanctuaries. We have more flightless birds than anywhere else, I think. And a few years ago there were celebrations when some hard work by DOC (department of conservation) staff paid off and they saved the black robin from extinction - the world was down to one single pregnant female at the time.
The logo of NZ is the kiwi, a rare nocturnal flightless bird, which looks like a small brown ball with a long beak. Its the only bird which has its nostrils at the far end of its beak, instead of the close end like usual. And we have other birds like the kea and the kakapo; the worlds largest parrot, but I forget which one is which. Cheeky flaming things, too. They live in alpine and sub-alpine climates, and there are many stories of people who get annoyed by their mischief; things like them eating the rubber seals from around car windows and windscreens, giving the owners a heck of a fright when they get back from the snow. There's another good story about some person who was in a mountain hut trying to sleep, and couldn't because of a kea; but it's too long to post just now.

Also we have various indigenous insects and lizards; like the tuatara, which is a gorgeous green lizard, about the length of a forearm, and which lives for centuries. We also have weta, which look like a huge grasshopper about 4 inches long; they're really cool and like to eat tomato sauce off people's fingers aparrantly.
We don't have anything properly scary over here; not like australia at all in that respect. We have two poisonous spiders; one of them, the katapo, is a native and I've never seen one in my life. The other was a recent 'escaped convict' from Oz called the whitetail spider, which can be dangerous depending on what it last ate - it's preferred meal is the daddy-longlegs spider, which has incredibly powerful poison, but who's fangs are too weak to puncture human skin.

Okay I talk too much, but one last thing before I go; the Aus and NZ researcher group is at A592049. I don't visit there much, but it's at least a good way of tracking us down.

Thought you might like to see my rendition of a Kiwi in chocolate cake
http://www.psychochicken.com/filestore/kiwicake.jpg
Got the position of the nostril wrong though!

Thanks for all the info. We Scots are used to hills - but having seen Wellington, not quite like that! the one thing I do know is that the kakapo is the worlds larges parrot - Read that in Last Chance To See.

Zantic

What no coocooburrahs?

Nope, sorry. They only live in Oz.

That's a fantastic cake, Z!

Oh, and I found out the other day that aparrantly nobody has yet been hospitalised by a white-tail spider in NZ. Must have been an urban myth. My bad!

*hears mention of s*

SPIDERS!!!!??????

*quickly hides under the table*

*suddenly realizes that under the table is just the sort of place you might find a *



*stands out in the open, looking all around her. keeping an eye out for s*

but its a friendly , look its smiling

*looks carefully*

hmmmmmm............



still.... it is a spider.
i'm sure that smile is just and evil plot to lull me into a false sense of security......

sure its not an eliv polt

well sure its not an eliv plot.. but how about an evil one?

i think spiders are out to get me........

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nah, I think you're being paranoid







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they're everywhere!!!!!

Oh, ignore hime (the one plotting in the corner) That's just Boris, my pet He follow me everywhere...

Booooooris the Spiiiiiiiiiiiddddddeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr! (Who rip of)

Zantic

Who???