Reflections on New Zealand from Australia.
Returning to Australia on March 2nd after 4 months spent in New Zealand was interesting and it struck me that although in many ways the countries are similar, the differences are more interesting than the similarities.
Language, pronunciation and accent.
Even after four months I’ve been unable to successfully imitate the New Zealand accent, whereas I have no trouble with a reasonably passable Aussie one. The vowel sounds are all shifted in puzzling ways, sometimes only subtly but in many cases changed completely. I have a theory it’s because of the Maori influence which thoroughly permeates the English language in New Zealand and increasingly so, as more and more Maori is taken on. The majority of place names are Maori and are frequently hard for a British person to get their tongue around but all Kiwis run them out like natives. My theory is that’s because their accent is Maori influenced and makes it easy to say the Maori words.
There are numerous Maori words which are in widespread day to day use, kia-ora for hello, and Pakeha for a person of European origin for example. These days, if you are being correct, you refer to the country as Aotearoa or Aotearoa New Zealand.
Culture.
The effect of the Maoris is much more than a strong influence on the language. The Maoris were a well established Polynesian culture in New Zealand when the British colonised the country, with somewhat confusing propensities for well organised violence, reasonableness and a love of spirits and nature. They were quite difficult for the early settlers to deal with and indeed some colonialists were killed and many sent packing. However they agreed on the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 which was New Zealand’s founding document. The terms were not really stuck to by the British and in particular the Maoris were losing their land at an alarming rate so they started the New Zealand wars to push back against this, but due to Maori inter tribal competitiveness and the British having superior arms they were able to divide and rule, and after many years of intermittent warfare they won full control of the country despite a relatively small military commitment . The end result was that the Maori lost a large part of their lands in circumstances of highly dubious legality (i.e. ignoring the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi) and the injustices are still being dealt with to this day. When travelling around the North Island you get very used to seeing signs stating that the place in front of you is Maori land and has special meaning, and you must respect it or can’t go onto it. So there is a constant reminder. Maoris themselves are very much integrated into the mainstream but are definitely on the whole disadvantaged in terms of land, power and money. However we found people very open and friendly in New Zealand and the Maoris were no different, if anything more friendly than the more privileged European types.
The cultural effect of this as far as our experience of it went, seemed to be tolerance and respect. There are obviously troubled Maori areas and there is also a strong right wing backlash culture also inhabiting the anti-vax, conspiracy theory ground, but what you mainly experience is a society at peace with itself.
More cynically from the grumpy old British man perspective, is that so much about the Maori culture is expressed and explained in terms of folklore, spirits and tales of ancestors. These stories are then put onto explanatory signboards in both English and Maori, in museums and also at Maori sites, in the same way that you do with researched history about the topic under consideration. But frequently it seems a load of verbiage and you get to the end of it not much the wiser as to any actual history. It’s tempting to think these are token efforts to make everyone feel better. But there are many areas where there just isn’t any cultural equivalence and I suppose tolerance is all about accepting that without trying to assert a superiority of your own culture. New Zealand is probably the laboratory of the world in attempting to do it, and I think they have certainly had much success.
Australia is of course attempting to address the issue of fairness and justice for the Aboriginal people. However these attempts are less visible here and there is a far smaller Aboriginal influence on the language and culture, although many place names are the original ones.
The Australian accent is also entirely comprehensible to a British person and is more like a blend of regional variations in the UK to me, involving home counties, west country and Irish. Perhaps it’s simply that I’ve spent years living in the country and am more used to it.
People in both countries have an openness, cheerfulness, lack of cynicism compared to the Brits. They also tend to look healthier and happier.
Living on the edge.
New Zealand is sited over several faults in the earth’s crust and is famous for its hot springs, volcanoes and earthquakes. Even so we were slightly taken aback to be shown the earthquake and tsunami survival kit in the house we were sitting in Wellington. This consisted of a large water tank, and a full camping kit of cooking and lighting equipment plus a large supply of tinned and dried food and bottled water. You are supposed to download an app to your phone to warn you of impending disasters plus give you instructions as to what to do during them. Fortunately these events are rare and we didn’t need all this, however later on when we were house sitting in Te Aroha, North Island was hit by a full on cyclone causing immense damage and temporary problems with the infrastructure. This caused us to lose both power and water for two days and we were a bit sorry there was no emergency kit in this house. It all emphasised that in relative terms New Zealand consists of small islands in the middle of huge oceans, subject to frequent earthquakes and wild, windy and often very wet weather. Napier is a very attractive Art Deco coastal town that we had quite a fancy to live in. It was partly destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s though and after we were there a month ago the cyclone caused massive flooding in the entire Hawkes Bay region, ruining thousands of properties and vineyards. In Australia too, they have their fair share of drought, flood and fire which is exacerbated by global warming but these things don’t seem quite so omnipresent as in New Zealand and of course Britain also now has a good share of the biblical weather events, thanks again to global warming.
The birds.
I was blown over shortly after we first arrived in Auckland to hear a Blackbird going through its full and wonderful springtime repertoire. As it was also in the garden of a large Georgian manor house where we had gone for a classical concert it was doubly effective, we felt we must have been transported back to springtime England in the Tardis. In fact we came to realise that they have imported many species of British birds, including the Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Sparrow, Starling and Thrush which live alongside the indigenous species such as the Tui, Bellbird, Fantail, Kereru and Silvereye and they all create a wonderful mixture of birdsong. Here in Australia although there are some British birds it’s all the locals you hear and see, especially Rosellas, Cockatoos, Australian Magpies, Kookaburras, Willy Wagtail, Rainbow Lorikeet, Galah, Bellbirds, Noisy Miner and Koel. They create the epitome of the Australian sound, especially the Magpie which makes all Australians feel at home when they return to the country. I’ve not knowingly ever heard a British bird here, and you get to love the Aussie bird soundscape although it can be incredibly noisy and raucous, especially when you get a flock of cockatoos in full argumentative mood, the racket is appalling!
Architecture.
Both countries are dominantly suburban outside the city centres, and there are a substantial amount of houses on “acreage”. The suburban vernacular in New Zealand is for each house to be individualised, and usually constructed with weatherboard and metal roof, frequently with verandahs. It makes for a pleasing suburban landscape, or as pleasing as suburbia can be at least. Australia is similar except that in the post war period so much of it was constructed from brick veneer and tiled roofs. This construction is supported by timber wall frames and roof trusses, lined internally by plasterboard and externally by a single brick wall and tile roof.
Presumably this idea was to satisfy a demand to make houses look more European but it leads to deadly ugly architecture with awful colours and texture and a lack of any pleasing features to arrest the eye. It’s also unsuited to the environment creating heat absorbing boxes with bad ventilation, It’s noticeable that most new residential construction in Australia from the last thirty years avoids this, and they too have developed a pleasing variation of style, frequently employing metal roofs, curves, weatherboard, painted blockwork, multiple verandahs and roof shapes etc. Unfortunately an awful lot of the suburb building was done before they seemed to see the light. Of course in the really old suburbs, built pre war they were using good old white weatherboard with corrugated metal roofs and verandahs so they tend to be very pleasing too. As in so many parts of the world it’s the post war period that created the architectural blight. Somehow New Zealand missed it to some extent, by not catching the brick veneerial disease plague!
Other memorable features of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Super considerate and law abiding drivers. They are very careful around walkers and cyclists.
Politeness shown to strangers, extending sometimes to too much care not to upset. Leading to inaccurate reviews on Airbnb because they don’t want to offend or upset. Also sometimes a tendency to the twee, for example describing your pet as a fur baby!
Great provision for cyclists and walkers and all outdoor activity and sport. Everywhere you go there are great bike routes both for mountain bikes and road bikes, the latter frequently the same path shared with walkers, a feat pulled off with great levels of care and consideration. Everywhere an emphasis on outdoor activities with easy access, free parking and lack of crowds.
Black sand beaches. Much of North Island, especially the west coast has black volcanic sand beaches, shading to grey in other areas, which we found a bit grim compared to the typical Aussie beach. We saw lighter sand beaches in the north east, Coromandel, Abel Tasman and I’m sure they are elsewhere to be fair!
Expensive food with restricted choice. Considering that agriculture is a huge part of the economy, it’s surprising how expensive food is and with limited choices, compared to Britain where so much is imported. On the other hand thanks to Brexit etc, I might find now that Britain no longer holds that advantage.
Eating out is very good in both countries as of course are the local wine choices. Although fresh food seems expensive it is generally genuinely fresher than you frequently find in the UK where food has been transported a long way to get there.