New Zealand is a great country!

[s/v Moondancer]

We are Miami based but we sailed to New Zealand in 2015. Of the 50 countries my wife and I have visited over the last 40 years overall we think NZ is the best.

Great scenery, great food and beer, great boat workers and wonderful people!

Today I rode my bicycle 3 miles to the nearest town and somewhere enroute I lost my wallet. A disaster when over 10,000 miles from home...credit cards and driving licenses. Once I realized the loss I rode the route back...No wallet to be found!

As I arrived back at the marina my local phone went...Someone had found the wallet and walked it over to the police station. The police found Miami addresses but also a local doctor's card, the police called the medical office got my number and called me!

Total time from leaving the boat to being called, less than one hour!

I might not have been so lucky in Miami!

[Saleen411]

New Zealand is a great place..... have yet to tour the southern part though.

My good friend who did an 8 year circumnavigation said New Zealand was by far his favorite cruising destination.

[meatservo]

There are people like that in Miami, many of them are Cuban that would do the same thing. However, there are probably more that would not. Glad it turned out well. I love hearing about these situations where your fellow man comes through.

Hope to visit someday. I have a few American friends that are from New Zealand, accent intact. And they are some of the most decent people that I have ever met. Then again I can say the same about Australians that are my friends!

meatservo

[Paul L]

Yea Kiwi land is one of the better places to visit and cruise. We're sittig out a blow at Great Barrier Island right now. Just so it isn't all rosy glasses, they tend to be horrific auto drivers and marginal boat anchorers.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We are Miami based but we sailed to New Zealand in 2015. Of the 50 countries my wife and I have visited over the last 40 years overall we think NZ is the best.

Great scenery, great food and beer, great boat workers and wonderful people!

Today I rode my bicycle 3 miles to the nearest town and somewhere enroute I lost my wallet. A disaster when over 10,000 miles from home...credit cards and driving licenses. Once I realized the loss I rode the route back...No wallet to be found!

As I arrived back at the marina my local phone went...Someone had found the wallet and walked it over to the police station. The police found Miami addresses but also a local doctor's card, the police called the medical office got my number and called me!

Total time from leaving the boat to being called, less than one hour!

I might not have been so lucky in Miami!

The same thing happened here in Whoville, Massachusetts to my wife in a Walmart parking lot. She left her wallet in a shopping carriage in the Walmart parking lot, then noticed when she got home that it was gone. I returned to Walmart about an hour later and the shopping carriage was missing.... then I went to customer service where the nice lady handed me the wallet complete with all credit cards and cash.

There're honest people everywhere... we actually outnumber the crooks.

[matauwhi]

Shhh...it's a well kept secret, Mate. Glad you got it back!! All the best with the voyage when you sail back out!. Cheers.

[JPA Cate]

Hey, Phil,

Lovely NZ story, and we have a spectacular one which we will tell you if asked when we share an anchorage.

However, what meatservo said rings a really true bell for me. In Mexico, the fishermen used to return the yachties' dinghies that had gone astray, and a wonderful wallet return story, so very kind. And, even in Calif., people have had wallets returned when found in a parking lot, and I had a purse with wallet returned to me...by a Vietnamese immigrant.

We are accustomed to hearing of uncaring behavior, but it is the caring behavior that builds bonds between dissimilar culture people.

Knowing what's right to do helps.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

Yep, Kiwi's are great folks, and NZ is fantastically beautiful... we enjoyed our three seasons cruising there. And we too have a "great Kiwi" story:

Boat in Gulf Harbour marina, year 1991. We'd gotten a ride to Orewa for a doctor appointment, planning to bus back. Asked the receptionist where the bus stop was. She pointed out through the window at a kiosk nearby, said right there! Cool... so we did some provisioning, sat i n the kiosk and waited. Soon we saw the bus coming and stood up clutching our bags... but it turned away from us and disappeared. WTF? Sat back down, and soon, another bus came up and stopped. The door opened and we looked in - the bloody thing was empty, so we asked the driver if it was the bus to Whangaparoa. "Nope" he said, "this is the bus they sent to pick you up and take you to t he proper bus stop. This one hasn't been used for two years!" Seems the driver of the other bus had seen us, radioed into the bus barn and they sent out another one just ot pick us up. Don't think that would have happened in many places...

New Zealand is indeed a great place... but we kinda like Oz too.

Jim

[giant]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Yea Kiwi land is one of the better places to visit and cruise. We're sittig out a blow at Great Barrier Island right now. Just so it isn't all rosy glasses, they tend to be horrific auto drivers and marginal boat anchorers.

Lived in NZ for four years, great people, good times...

Really bad drivers and all the kids aspire to have Subaru WRX/Nissan Skyline (etc) with those annoying and very noisy turbo blow off valves.

Good Sailors and relaxing lifestyle.

Everyone outside of Auckland hates "Aucklanders" even more than they hate Aussies.

Thanks Phil for the refreshingly positive story.

[El Pinguino]

Stay off the roads..... 'red lights' are just some sort of precautionary thingo... take off as soon as it turns 'green' and there is a good chance some dill will be running the red and smack you...

A story.... in the not too distant past was a passo in a car... voyage from Auck to Opua...
Was a bit of a boat jumble thingo on the go in Opua... St Johns ambulance people offering blood pressure tests... obviously thought I was a prime candidate for terminal something or other.. 'roll up roll up, test your BP, me hearty?....'

Now... I am known for having very low BP.. always commented on... young man's BP ( too low probly not too good).... so...

'Best see your Doc, bro, pretty high..'

'But.. but...'

'Done anything out of the ordinary in the last few hours? (wink wink nudge nudge) '

'Nope , just driven up from Auk..'

'That'll do it.... next!'

[goat]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

There're honest people everywhere... we actually outnumber the crooks.

That is the number one reason I like traveling. It's too bad all media attention is focused on the bad apples. 'War on tourism' is what I call it. One thing that chokes my chicken is when a group claims 'responsibility' for a terrorist act. It's blame. Accept the blame, you have not shown any responsibility.

Sorry I blew up, rant over.

goat

[robert sailor]

Kiwi land is a nice place, we've spent a lot of time there. Kinda like Vancouver in many ways, rains like hell in the winter and on the cool side.

[skipmac]

Haven't been to NZ (yet) but have dealt with a few Kiwis in my business and they were always great. An old friend went backpacking with a buddy on the south island years back and came home with amazing stories of how friendly the people were.

At the time he was pretty wild looking, very long hair and a scruffy beard. Hiking down small country roads when they passed a farmhouse, if anyone happened to be in the yard they would stop the guys, ask where they were from, about their trip and often invite them in for a meal and even to spend the night. Don't see that happening in the states.

[skipmac]

Worst thing I've heard about NZ is one of the local bugs can be very annoying in places, I think mainly around the south island. Guess it's something like a noseeum or a midge?

[redhead]

Since I lose my wallet, or my phone, or my keys all the time....

I can't wait to go to New Zealand!!!!!!!