What a load of bollocks.
''
8. New Zealand
The island country of New Zealand has only been occupied by humans for about 800 years. From the Blue Mountains to the wild penguins on South Island, there are many beautiful sights to lift locals’ spirits in this thriving ecological paradise. Today it has low levels of pollution and is known as one of the most biodiverse islands in the world. New Zealanders take pride in their local ecology and work hard to protect it. Don't miss the chance to visit the volcano, ancient Maori sites, and craters at Tongariro and Whanaguni
(pardon?) National Parks.''
Laughable. Someone's been listening to too much PR bullshit. Who do they ask and what are they asking??
''Take pride in their local ecology..''? Right. It's riddled with PC nitwits who cut down anything that isn't a 'sacred native' i.e. remove all deciduous trees such as oaks and elms (in other words all the beautiful trees) and replace them with 'virtuous' nondescript native crap. Flowers are a no-no (being 'evil colonialist oppressors') while what passes as a 'garden' is a pile of rocks with tufts of brown tussock (which belong on sand dunes) and obnoxious flax triffids and bees be damned (apart from native 'bees' that barely qualify as such and you need a magnifying glass to observe). They vilify adorable and useful hedgehogs and worship giant slugs because said hated 'colonialist hedgehogs' might eat sacred giant native slugs (that no one has ever seen). Of course, they don't mind non-native cows that pollute all the rivers, creating toxic algae and other ecological disasters, because there is a shitload of money to be made from the dairy industry.
Hmm. Perhaps they don't realise that humans are not native to their shores. If they did, then naturally they would remove
themselves as the 'noxious vermin' that they are.
https://www.economist.com/news/asia/217 ... luting-new
A garden lover's nightmare.
Oh, and if you are foolish enough to go there you will be hounded by locals demanding to know what you think of the place (if you can understand a word they are saying). Don't be fooled by the faux friendliness and 'no worries bro's and 'gudday mate's. For the love of god don't answer in anything but glowing terms and positive superlatives-- unless you enjoy being head-butted.
Don't forget that NZ has 150000 earthquakes a year, so if the thought of being flattened pancake-style in a shoddy pile of 1970s rubbish appeals to you then by all means feel free to go there. The people are so stupid that after one particularly large faultline movement the modern Kiwi-built 'earthquake proof' buildings fell down, while the old historic ones held firm. And what was the Kiwi response to that? Pull down the attractive old historic ones (evil colonialist....you get my drift) and replace them with shipping containers.
Of course they will go on and on ad nauseum about bloody 'Lord of the Rings'. Much of it was filmed in an artificial park (complete with dastardly non-native trees), with litter bins and barbecue tables just out of camera view. Toxic slime was of course carefully edited out of river scenes.
The NZ national symbol is the kiwi bird, a dull, drab creature of practically no brain. It's the only bird that lays an egg bigger than itself. No wonder it can't fly.
