After an extended stay due to bad weather we finally had to say goodbye to New Zealand. We had a wonderful time and learned a few things along the way. Here are somethings we learned. (We may add as we think of more )

South Carolina is about 1/3 the size of New Zealand and has about 500,000 more residents. Of 4,400,000 people, 1.377 million live in Auckland. The majority live on the North Island with just a small percentage on the South.

Words

Kia’Ora – Hello, or for you Southerners if said correctly, “Bless you heart”

Kia Hama – encouragement or you can do it

Fries – sometimes called fries and sometimes called chips

Cheers – you’re welcome

Hire – rent

Return – roundtrip

Rubbish – trash

Sort out – fix or take care of

Queue – line

Grocery Cart – trolley

Shu – okay, sure

Things we noticed

There are lots of one lane bridges and round abouts

Ketchup is called tomato sauce and is sweeter.

When something closes, the lights are off and the workers are gone at that time.

They get started later in the mornings — 8:00am is early.

After High School kids go to Uni (University). Although, it is common for kids to drop out of school at 16 and get jobs.