Things you need to know. (Part 3)

Another post celebrating the difference between our two great countries although this could be a post too far. I think I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time! Here goes nothing...

The chip shops close before the pubs!!!!! Why? In Ireland chippers only open around closing time!

Kiwi's say pardon. The Irish say Wha? (Short for what?)

Kiwi's insist that ketchup and chichen pies go well together! Not to mention the fact that there are pie shops here! Just a thought but if ketchup was an essential part of a chicken pie don't you think it would be included in the sauce?

Kiwi's say lollies, we say sweets, you say chips we say crisps, you say capsicums we say peppers, you say eggplant we say aubergine the list goes on.......

Kiwi's say tramping everybody else says hiking, hill walking or trekking. I guess with tramps as good as these we can hardly make a big issue of it!

Kiwi's can drive a car at 15 but can't vote or drink until they are 18.

In New Zealand you can only parallel park facing the same direction as the adjacent traffic i.e. you can't cross the road to parallel park if it means you are facing the on coming traffic. (I learned it the other day from a very informative traffic warden. I put on the old Oirish and threw in a few beggorahs and got away with it!)

Know that when you read an apartment being advertised with a northern aspect it's actually a good thing in this hemisphere! Apparently some of the early settlers actually built their houses facing south. Given those southerlies and the suns actual path they sooned learned the errors of their ways.


Know that in Wellington anything less than a gale force wind is regarded as a breeze!

Know that there is a big hole in the Ozone and it's right over NZ. Although admittedly it is getting a lot smaller you really need to slap on the sun factor now that spring is here! Won't be long now before the Cicadas start marking an almighty racket!

Know that Kiwi's have small noses or the men use hankies. Well something has to explain why you cannot get man size tissues in NZ!

Know that on the UV counter on the paper the scale goes from 0-10 but you will often see a UV reading of 13-14? I guess that's the Kiwi's giving it 110% again!

Finally and most importantly know that the Kiwi's did indeed invent the Pavlova not the Australian's. Click here for proof!

Well we are more or less packed and ready for our trip home. We leave on Thursday at 9.30am and arrive in Ireland, taking the time difference into account, on Friday around midday (hopefully!). We have to get four flights and will be in the air approx. 27 hours in total. I think we will both be copying the pope and kissing the Irish sod when we get off our final flight!

Cathal