New Zealand

August 7–10, 2013

The zeroes in license plate numbers have a slash through them so that they don’t get mistaken for the letter O. And the number 4 has a distinctive bulging diagonal—only North Korea and Malaysia have something similar.

Many places such as offices, malls, etc. have spring-loaded bars installed at the entrances and exits, designed to only let people through comfortably in one direction. You won’t be able to get very far if you go against the grain.

Practically every product has a label saying it was made by a New Zealand-owned company, contains local ingredients, or something similarly patriotic. Apparently, it would be considered rude to eat a sausage made from overseas meat by a wholly foreign-owned company here.

Auckland

Here it is, right where I left it.

The city is still just as compact and cozy.

There are trees and lawns everywhere.

City trash cans.

Bicycle parking.

A bus shelter with the city’s obligatory fern motif.

The road guardrails are metal, but with wood posts.

This sign takes so long to read that it will likely distract you from seeing the actual motorbike you’re about to hit.

A traffic light with an animated pedestrian.

Payphone booths.

Someone is jumping all the way down from the top of the TV tower.

And someone else is already going nuts on the ground.

Queenstown

The Queenstown airport has the most unusual bathroom signs in the world.

The city is situated in the midst of incredibly picturesque mountains.

On the shore of a very beautiful lake.

It’s hardly surprising that every other building here is a hotel, and that it takes some effort to find one with a vacancy.

Street signs.

Manhole covers.

There’s a school nearby.

Children.

Queenstown has a kiwi sanctuary. The kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand.

It’s an extremely dumb, graceless, wingless nocturnal bird that makes horrible squeaking sounds.

But the city itself is very charming.

Even though it’s a total tourist trap.

It’s still very charming.