I think Colin McCahon was an over-rated complete nutter. Just my opinion.

Now, Len Lye, he was an artist. And a revolutionary film maker too. He made a living working for Royal Mail in the 1930’s making their adverts for the cinema. His scratch film art is great, but the best stuff I like (and I am not into wierd art at all but I love this stuff) is his engineering art. And incredible mind. He could make metal do the impossible, and it’s still doing it long after his death.

The flag

Designed in 1840

Blue background, Union Jack, Red five-pointed stars with white borders in shape of Southern Cross.

The original concept for the current New Zealand flag goes back to the 1830’s, and it was officially adopted by law in 1902

NOT THE AUSTRALIAN FLAG, WHICH WAS A CHEAP COPY 😀

The Australian flag was designed in 1901, and not officially adopted by law until 1954, under the Flags Act 1953, after three seperate changes to the original 1901 design

Geography
New Zealand is located in the South Pacific between longitudes 166° and 178°, and latitudes 34° south and 48° south.
It consists of two main islands (North and South) and a number of smaller ones, the largest being Stewart Island in the south.
New Zealand’s nearest neighbour is Australia, which is about 2300 kilometers (1435 miles) away to the west.
New Zealand is located just west of the International Date line making it the first country in the world to see the new day and therefore +12 Hours on GMT or UTC. NZ also adopts Daylight Saving Time between October and March, during which it is +13 Hours on GMT.
With a total population of approx 4 million, there are five main centres – Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Recommendation
I highly recommend this website
http://www.nzedge.com/index.shtml

Oh yes, I forgot, as you’ll no doubt know, another famous NZ’er was Sir Keith Rodney Park, the man who saved Britain

Other notable Kiwis abroad include the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, John Hood (first non-British person in that post)

The first non-British Beefeater at the Tower of London was also a NZ’er, I met him there. Jolly nice chap. Ex NZ Army Warrant Officer.

Trivia

Most people, even Kiwis, don’t realise that NZ is much bigger in area than Great Britain and Ireland together

Our population is just over 4 million. Just a few years ago it was just 3.5 million. Labour imports people! Things don’t get any better for it.

New Zealand has a responsibility for the for several other places, including the Auckland Islands, Raoul Island, part of Antarctica, the Chatham Islands, Western Samoa, and The Cook islands

It is generally cheaper for New Zealanders to fly to Australia than from a North Island city to a South Island city

We have more rifles per capita than any other nation

We have more aircraft per capita than any other nation

We have more sheep per capita than any other country (apparently)

NZ was the first country to give women the vote; adopt the eight hour working day;
operate a tourist board and introduce the retirement pension

We have a woman Prime Minister, a woman Governor General, and a woman Speaker of Parliament

Billy Connolly’s wife Pam is from here. They visit often

Shania Twain lives here

The bloke from The Fine Young Cannibals lives here

New Zealander Ernest Rutherford split the atom

New Zealander Edmund Hillary conquered Everest

New Zealander Richard Pearce flew in March 1903, a year after his first aborted flight

NZ has the world’s largest parrot, the flightless Kakapo, and was home to the world’s largest bird, the Moa

New Zealand’s only surviving dinosaur is the Tuatara, a lizard with three eyes

These were invented in New Zealand
– The self-sealing lid
– The stamp vending machine
– The wide-toothed shearing comb
– The bobby pin
– Velcro
– The electric fence
– Luggage carousels
– The jet boat
– Bungy jumping
– The Tranquilliser Dart Gun
– Spreadable Butter

NZ contains more bookstores and golf courses per capita than any other country.

New Zealand is the first country in the world to see the sunrise.

New Zealand boasts the most southerly railway station, vineyard, pub and country capital (Wellington) in the world.

NZ’s largest city, Auckland, hosts more boats per capita than any other city in the world. And has the largest population of Pacific Islanders too

NZ’s capital, Wellington, boasts more restaurants per capita than even New York City.

NZ is the most wired (with access to the internet) nation on the face of the earth.
Wellington, in particular, ranks number 1 as the most wired city in the world on per capita basis.

New Zealand has the second highest rate of car ownership in the world on a per capita basis.

Sir Archibald McIndoe, plastic surgeon to The Gineau Pig Club, was a Kiwi

Our national icons include

The Kiwi (a small flightless bird, which we as people are nicknamed after)
The Silver Fern
The buzzy-bee
The Kiwifruit – not a “kiwi” as some foreigners seem to call this fruit!!
The Swandri
The Southern Cross

And we are proudly Nuclear Free

Famous New Zealand Actors – who’re on the world stage

Russell Crowe
Sam Neill
Temuera Morrison
Cliff Curtis
Alan Dale
Anna Paquin
Karl Urban
Kerry Fox
Rachel Hunter
Rebecca Gibney
Lucy Lawless
Illona Rogers
Pat Evison

NZ directors on the world stage
Peter Jackson
Lee Tamahori
Vincent Ward
Geoff Murphy
Roger Donaldson

NZ Made Films and TV known overseas include
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
King Kong (soon)
The Frighteners
Heavenly Creatures
The Tommyknockers
Desperate Remedies
The Last Samurai
Whitefang (TV Series)
Xena
Hercules
Adventurer
Black Beauty
The Race For The Yankee Zephyr (aviation themed)

Here are some more traditional Kiwi recipes
Source – http://www.azmetro.com/nzrecipe.html#afghan

Afghan Biscuits
Ingredients:
200g (7 oz) butter
75g (3 oz) sugar
175g (6 oz) flour
25g (1 oz) cocoa powder
50g cornflakes (or crushed weetbix)

Instructions:
Soften butter
Add sugar and beat to a cream.
Add flour and cocoa
Add cornflakes last so as not to break them up too much.
Put spoonfuls on a greased oven tray and bake about 15 minutes at 180 oC (350 oF)
When cold, ice with chocolate icing and put walnuts on top.

Origin of this recipe: The Edmonds cookbook – a Kiwi classic.

ANZAC Biscuits
Ingredients:
100g (4 oz) butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons of boiling water
1 and a half tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda
1 cup of rolled oats
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup (4 oz ) plain flour
1 cup (8 oz ) of sugar

Instructions:
Combine all dry ingredients except soda
Add melted butter
Stir in soda mixed with boiling water
Place in spoonfuls on greased tray
Cook in moderate oven about 20 minutes
Allow to cool
Store in airtight container
Enjoy!

Please read the page about ANZAC Day if you make these biscuits so you are able to explain the significance of the name to the people making / eating them.

Origin of this recipe: Passed on from my mother and no idea of the original source – lots of variations exist. (The definitive recipe is probably the one in The Edmonds Cookbook which may even be this one – I haven’t checked 🙂 ).

Note on ingredients:
Golden Syrup: Like many other sugars we use, golden syrup is produced from sugar cane. It is a thick rich golden coloured (No! Really?? 🙂 ) liquid, thicker in consistency than maple syrup. It has a distinctive flavour and is lovely to eat either by itself, or on hot buttered crumpets or toast. While it is a common, cheap, and easily sourced product in New Zealand, I know of people, especially in North America, who have in desperation used treacle, maple syrup, corn syrup and molasses as substitutes. These are adequate substitutes, but will not give a true ANZAC biscuit flavour – and it is worth hunting through specialist food shops to find a tin of the real stuff. The golden syrup a US friend of mine tracked down recently was imported from Canada.

Hokey Pokey
Ingredients:
5 Tbspns sugar
2 Tbspns golden syrup
1 tspn baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

Instructions:
Use a large heavy based saucepan (cooking pot) as it foams up – and watch carefully while cooking as it burns easily.
Bring sugar and golden syrup to the boil slowly stirring all the time.
Simmer gently over a very low heat for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and add baking soda.
Stir in quickly until it froths and pour at once into a greased tin or onto a piece of tinfoil.
Break up when cold and store in air-tight jars.
For a real Kiwi treat: When you have finished breaking it into chunks that you can eat, sweep up all the little chips and stir them into your icecream! Hokey Pokey Ice-cream is a traditional Kiwi favourite.
Enjoy!

Origin of this recipe: Aunty Bri’s Cook Book and Guide to Flatting Life (Massey University Student Association). This book is an absolute classic which was co-written by Jon Bridges – well known to Kiwi comedy fans and watchers of Ice TV. There are some additional notes that were added after trial and error and discussions in soc.culture.new-zealand, (thanks Noeline M.).

Pavalova is very tricky to make – here’s an alternate recipe in case the first fails

Pavlova
There is a [mostly] gentle feud between New Zealand and Australia about who developed the “pav”. Let me set your mind at rest – it was definitely NZ 🙂 🙂 Seriously – for a look at the research on this incredibly important topic click here… Origins of Pavlova. Harry Orsman’s wonderful Dictionary of New Zealand English (Oxford) is more up to date and has even earlier references to published versions of this recipe in New Zealand – some under the name pavlova and earlier than any Australian version that has been found.

This is the most basic pavlova recipe I have found. It is simple, yet tastes as good as many of the more complicated ones I’ve tried.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 tspn vanilla essence (5 ml)
2 tspns vinegar
1 cup sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 150 oC (300 oF)
Grease oven tray
Beat the egg whites until very stiff
Fold in vinegar and vanilla
Add sugar, and beat until smooth
Pile the mix onto oven tray about the size of a medium cake.
Place pavlova in oven, and immediately reduce temperature to 100 oC
Cook for 90 minutes

If cooked correctly (as all ovens vary), the pav should be crunchy on the outside, and like marshmallow on the inside. Do not open the oven at all while cooking!!!!

To serve:
Arrange sliced kiwifruit or any other fresh fruit you like, on top of whipped cream (250ml of full cream per pavlova), with icing sugar being added to the cream during whipping to one’s own taste (I put about 1/2 cup in).

Origin of this recipe: This recipe was posted on soc.culture.new-zealand – and after testing (many times just to make sure it really worked and for no better reason!! *yum yum*) I decided it really was the easiest one I had.

Scroggin
Ingredients:
sultanas
chocolate
raisins
orange peel (candied)
ginger (crystallised)
glucose (barley sugars or the like)
imagination
nuts (any kind, roasted is ok but not salted

Instructions:
Mix together chocolate, raisins and nuts in about equal amounts, add whatever extras you like (in lesser amounts) and nibble at it when you need an energy boost on walks.

Note: The name comes from the first initials of the traditional ingredients – but don’t let that stop you leaving out things you don’t like (ugghh – crystallised ginger!) and using the “I” for imagination to add in things you do like (yum – pine nuts and pebbles!). Some of the other extras I sometimes add are: dried apricots, dried apples, banana chips, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. Make sure you keep a balance of chocolate, nuts and raisins in there though – otherwise you can’t really call it scroggin.

Origin of this recipe: It’s a Kiwi tramping tradition.

Tararua Biscuits
Ingredients:
250g butter
1 1/2 cup (250g) brown sugar
1/2 tin (200g) condensed milk
2 cups (250g) flour
2 cups (190g) rolled oats
2 tspns baking powder
1/2 cup (45g) dessicated coconut

Instructions:
Melt butter, sugar and condensed milk together in large pot.
Add flour, rolled oats and baking powder.
Divide mixture in half.
Spread each half onto a greased tray – spread with a knife until it forms a 30cm x30cm square, keeping edges neat and straight.
Repeat with other half of mixture.
Cook at 150 oC for 10-15 minutes till light to golden brown.
Cut each tray into 25 biscuits – 5 x 5.
To harden biscuits a little more return to oven which has been turned off – leave for another 5 – 10 minutes.
When completely cold, pack biscuits in plastic bags. Seal and label.

Note: These biscuits are wholesome, simple to make and they pack and keep well. To keep them fresh for tramping trips it pays to pack them in day lots and label accordingly.
Be warned:- Tararua biscuits can be jaw breakers as they are designed to have little moisture left by the end of cooking!

Origin of this recipe: Associated with the Tararua Tramping Club by name, there are many many recipes for these biscuits. This one comes from “The New Zealand Outdoor Cookbook” by Marcelle Pilkinton – a little gem of a book for outdoor types.