Most New Zealanders

Most New Zealanders [Kiwis] are cognizant of the fact that birds ‘owned’ their country, from the time between the demise of the dinosaurs to the advent of people. A preponderance of these birds were flightless (why fly when there are no predators?) and many quite exotic, such as the (extinct) moa—the best-known species of which were as tall as a person. The Kiwi itself, another peculiar specimen, is as close to a mammal as a bird could be. (It is warm-blooded; the feathers are so fine that they feel like fur; there are nostrils (sense of smell for a bird!) at the end of the nose plus a bit of a mustache for detecting grubs when the nostrils are buried in the loose soil digging for grubs.) Another New Zealand prize is the tui which is famous for its singing. This bird adopts (a nice word for snitching) the songs or tunes of others for themselves. [This fact should help in your appreciation of the following article:]

Tui tunes in to pizza ad (New Plymouth)

An Inglewood tui has left neighbours with a craving for pizza after incessantly practicing its singing—of the Pizza Hut jingle. Matai St residents…are certain the tui sings the “0800” of the chain’s well-known phone number jingle. “We spent a couple of months working out what it was. We never thought it would be a tui singing a pizza ad,” Mr Maxwell told The Taranaki Daily News. Mrs Maxwell said she often woke up with pizza and Tui beer on her mind. Neighbor Pixie Lewis, whose trees are home to the tui, said the bird has been practicing the jingle for about two years and now had it perfected. Pizza Hut chief operating officer Rod de Vries told the newspaper the tui was not employed by the company but pizza sales in the area had increased—although he could not give the bird all the credit. He said there were no plans to open an Inglewood store. “But we would certainly review that if local livestock start heeding the tui’s advice and phoning in orders, although they may be a little disappointed to find hay and flax flowers aren’t on the topping list,” he said—NZPA


Now an overview of that beloved daily topic: the weather. Waikikamukau weather bears a strong resemblance to that of Dunedin. A recent tour of the Settlers’ Museum of Dunedin shows a photo under the heading Mud City with muddy paths and rutted, impassable roads as shown in “The Piano”. The reputation of Dunedin for being all wet may come to the attention of the climate revisionisti. [More newsprint follows:]

Welcome to sunny Dunedin by Rebecca Fox

Dunedin’s reputation as a wet and cold city has taken a hit, with a national climate report showing the city was one of the driest in the country in 2008. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate summary says the country’s weather 2008 was a “roller-coaster year for extremes” and Otago was no exception. It was a year with heat waves and many high temperatures recorded. Of the main centres, Wellington was extremely wet and Dunedin very sunny and dry, the report said. As well as Dunedin receiving less than normal rainfall, at 700mm, only 1mm more than the driest city in the country, Christchurch, the airport also recorded its second highest average maximum temperature, a 16.4C (61.52F). Dunedin city also recorded its third highest number of sunshine hours, 1912, since records began.

A good way to appreciate your surroundings--geography, topography, birds, climate etc--is to show it off as host to visitor. Our circumambient traveler departed yesterday, [perhaps prompting all of the above]. The hosts are feeling the absence along with pride in all that was offered in natural beauty and affection. [Who is stepping up as our next guest?]