Antipodean Haiku of the World Down Under

A mountain glistens, the ancient forest thrives still, the rivers and waterfalls tumbling and roaring along, the four combining to make paradise in the land of New Zealand.

The kangaroo hops through bush, the crocodile eyes his prey, the whale shark drifts through the reef, the koala rests in his tree.

The volcano dies, the deserts are vast and barren, the reef is cool teeming with life and thriving, the red rock is sacred in the heart of Australia.

The rocks do not move, they have different colours, they show themselves differently at night, but they remain unchanged.

They are named differently, they have different compositions, they change over time, they are known as: Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary.

They are studied well, they have been around for billions of years, they are viewed by the human eye, but they are not doomed to die.

The ancient forests, with their eternal green colour, are smaller than they once were, in Aotearoa the Land of the Long White Cloud.

The eternal beaches land, with its golden white and yellow sands, alongside its mountain rainforest and ocean neighbours, the beaches with their many bays and coves in the Land Down Under.

The icy glaciers, with their protruding tongues and their deep crevasses, with their menacing faces and grinding bodies, the Tasman the Fox and the Franz Josef in the land of Middle Earth.

After saying all that, it has to be said New Zealand rules them all, however grand Australia is its this fate it has to except, because compared to New Zealand it is rather inept.

It does not end there there's more, on New Zealand's shores there is so much more, with its beaches glaciers volcanoes forests and mountains, as well as its rivers lakes and uniqueness you have to admire the sheer concentration of it all.

Australia can't compete anymore, whatever Australia has in abundance and grandness, New Zealand has it in close proximity and concentration, and much more so it has to be said New Zealand rules this competition.