New Zealand is not Tasmania

I lived in Australia for 10 years of my life and never ventured across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. Given I was heading across the Pacific back to the US, I thought it was about time to meet my Kiwi neighbours properly.

The relationship between Australia and New Zealand is not dissimilar to that of the US and Canada:

• New Zealanders are often mistaken for Australians (though the accent is quite distinct when you learn what to look for).
• New Zealanders fight hard to maintain a separate identity (though not quite to the extent of putting an NZ flag on their travel gear...mind you that's probably because it looks exactly like the Aussie flag, except with red stars instead of white).
• New Zealanders are resigned to accept and grudgingly appreciate the necessity of their Australian neighbours for national security, economic prosperity and someone interesting to play in competitive sport.

And Australians, in turn, claim most famous things from NZ as their own - Crowded House, pavlova, Russell Crowe. In fact, Aussies actually claim NZ as their own in the Australian Constitution - written in 1901 and under the assumption that the country would just become the 7th state of Australia, eventually. New Zealand said "no thanks".

Sidebar: My favourite story about cross-Tasman relations comes from the time that Russell Crowe was nominated for an Oscar - probably for Gladiator or something. Anyway, the day of the Oscars that beacon of fair and balanced journalism News Limited-owned tabloid press in Australia proudly announces:AUSTRALIAN RUSSELL CROWE UP FOR BEST ACTOR. The following day, after Russell lost, the same papers smugly declare: NEW ZEALAND-BORN RUSSELL CROWE LOSES OUT IN OSCAR RACE.

So, on arriving in Christchurch after 3 weeks in Australia, it didn't really feel like I was entering a new country. Vegemite is sold in grocery stores. Rugby is on the TV. Autumn veggies are in season and winter is coming. Christchurch looks like a more hip and flowery version of Adelaide. Sure, they have different names for eskies (hee hee, chilly bins) and pints of beer (handles...because, see, the glass has a handle). But each state in Australia calls the swimming suit something different. And frankly I've never gotten my head around how to order a beer outside of South Australia (Glass? Middie? Pot? Schooner? Pint? Imperial pint? Whatever.).

New Zealand, in my mind, was going to be a bigger version of Tasmania - full of that fabulous mix of lumberjacks and hippies, with lots of outdoorsy things to do and fresh produce and organic goodies to taste.

The first shock came with the money (and, 3 weeks on, as I write this, I'm still confused by it). I had been carrying around a NZ $10 note for the past year, leftover from my parents' trip to the South Island in 2008. It's blue. It's plastic. It's a pale version of the Australian $10 note. So surely all the other notes and coins are the same, right? Just a slightly paler version of the corresponding Australian denomination?

No, apparently. Get this - the $1 coin is smaller than the $2 coin. What the hell?

The next time it occurred to me that I was actually in a different country was when I pulled onto the shoulder of the road to take a photo. Instinctively I checked the ground for snakes before stepping into the bush to take a photo...wait a second...there are no snakes in New Zealand. And no deadly spiders, for that matter.

And so I got these little shocks as I drove around the South Island - reminders that I was in a different country. That New Zealand is not Tasmania...despite having a fabulous mix of lumberjacks & hippies, with lots of outdoorsy things to do and fresh produce and organic goodies to taste. For one thing, the money's different. And there are no snakes or deadly spiders.

And the beer's better here too.