> I enjoyed hearing the New Zealand accent throughout those two weeks. The only part that
> ever threw me was the way they say their short e's in words like "head" or "leg."

Butt of a thousand jokes in Australia, let me tell you...

(What do you mean, 'why'? Does there have to be a reason?)


> In New Zealand, they also have "end temporary speed limit" signs that explicitly indicate when
> the permanent speed limit comes back into effect. The sign is a white circle with a thin
> black border and a thick black diagonal slash through it.

That's interesting. In Australia, that sign means "Open Speed Limit", or "Go as fast as you like, as long as it's under 110kmh".

End-of-temporary-speed-limit signs in Australia are just signs that have something like "End Of Temporary Speed Limit" written on them.
And they're only used for temporary temporary speed limits, such as near roadworks. Permanent temporary speed limits, such as tricky corners, end automatically when the tricky corner (or whatever) is over.


> "What is this thing?" I asked Brunnen-G. "Beetroot." "What's beetroot? Same as a beet?"

The plant it comes from is a beet, and the part of the plant it comes from is the root; so it's beetroot.
Simple.


> This, apparently, is also standard offering on a burger in New Zealand.

Strange people, New Zealanders. :o)

A while back McDonald's Australia tried to launch a new type of burger that was Authentically Australian. And what was it that distinguished this burger from a similar burger that wasn't Authentically Australian?

It had a slice of beetroot in it.

"Howls of derisive laughter, Bruce," as they say in England.


> The drinks, which would become one of the best things about eating out in New Zealand, because
> except for Coca-Cola and one or two other sodas, none of the brands or drinks (sometimes even
> the flavors themselves) looked familiar. I had a can of "Creaming Soda,"

You don't have Creaming Soda in America? Somehow I'd always imagined that it was something that only an American could have invented.


Paul