The fact many people know about New Zealand is that it has 10 sheep for each person. But what does that really mean to this island nation the size of Colorado and its 4 million people?
First, there are no crowds, or weren’t during our spring visit. Not on our walking tour of Wellington, our penguin-watching vigil on the Otago Peninsula, our boat tour of Milford Sound, nor on the highways. Sometimes you can drive for miles without passing another car. Even main roads have two lanes and bridges often one.
And how about this: There are no Walmarts; New Zealand is still a “shops” culture. Every main street has a bakery, a bookstore, a butcher shop and a cafe serving seafood chowders, meat pies and all-day “brekky” (breakfast).
Now, all of this comes at a price: Most things cost more. The reason probably is that with fewer people there is less mass-purchasing power. Ironically, then, there also are fewer signs of poverty. We saw no slums or house trailers, no stoplight beggars and virtually no obesity. This may be because there is work to go around. The unemployment rate usually is less than 2 percent.
Also a product of the small population is a sense of national pride: Everyone knows every Kiwi who has done anything notable, from explorer Sir Edmund Hillary to actor/director Peter Jackson, and there is a feeling of belonging that is hard to achieve in the United States. In a dinner discussion, Bill McClure, a retired farmer, called the Maori “our native people.” Now, I’m not suggesting that there aren’t social tensions in New Zealand, but can you imagine a Texas rancher saying “our native people the Comanche”?
Oh, one other note on all those sheep. If you think it means inexpensive lamb, think again. Most of the lamb is exported. Try green-lipped mussels instead. They are as big as thumbs, cheap and delicious.
