Ortolja-BairdLjiljana - New Zealand: the essential guide to customs & culture

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In the United Kingdom contact Kuperard publishers at the address below.

ISBN 978 1 85733 856 0

This book is also available as an e-book: eISBN 978 1 85733 857 7

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library

First published in Great Britain

by Kuperard, an imprint of Bravo Ltd

59 Hutton Grove, London N12 8DS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8446 2440 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8446 2441

www.culturesmart.co.uk

Inquiries:

Series Editor Geoffrey Chesler

Design Bobby Birchall

Printed in Malaysia

Cover image: Maori art. Carved and painted fenceposts, Rotorua, North Island. Riversdale, Dreamstime.com

Images on these pages are reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike licenses 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 4.0: 13 giiku; 15 Badchess666; 18 David Eccles (gringer); 34 Gringer; 38 Fir0002 at en.wikipedia; 40 russellstreet; 45 Ed Kruger; 46 Carl Lindberg; 47 Maros Mraz; 50 Kyle Lockwood; 61 Becks28nz; 62 Greg OBeirne; 63 Alexander Klink; 82 Flimin; 85 Winstonwolfe at English Wikipedia; 89 JJHarrison (); 94 Cheatsheet; 103 Pdemchick; 103 Frits Hoogesteger; 107 Agne27; 112 OceanKiwi at English Wikipedia; 117 Gage Skidmore; 124 Frank Schulenburg; 130 Turismo Baquia; 133 Matthew25187; 137 Johnragla; 138 W. Frank; 144 Koerg Mueller; 152 Michal Jozefaciuk; 156 Wiremu

Images on the following pages are reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 and 2.5 Generic license: 49 Tatania Gerus; 60 Robert Cutts; 68 Craig Maccubbin; 78 Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo; 79 Jean-Pierre Dalbra; 117 NZatFrankfurt; 120 unofficialenglandrugby; 122 margaritanitz.

SUE BUTLER is an English writer who lived and worked in New Zealand for three years. After gaining two Honors degrees, in Philosophy and Psychology, she worked in advertising, public relations, and crisis management, coauthoring a book on the subject. She has been a journalist and magazine editor, and has managed her own PR company. While in New Zealand Sue contributed to several magazines, and traveled widely throughout the country. She and her husband now live in the wine-growing region of the Western Cape in South Africa.

LJILJANA ORTOLJA-BAIRD has an M.A. from the University of London. She has worked as an editor and publisher with several major publishing houses, most recently with the Hachette group. Her publishing associations with New Zealand authors consolidated her keen interest in the country that developed while an undergraduate student in Australia. Currently based near Cambridge in the UK, she is the editor of the IMCoS Journal and assistant editor of Imago Mundi, both dedicated to the study of the history of cartography.

The Culture Smart! series is continuing to expand.

For further information and latest titles visit

www.culturesmart.co.uk

The publishers would like to thank CultureSmart!Consulting for its help in researching and developing the concept for this series.

CultureSmart!Consulting creates tailor-made seminars and consultancy programs to meet a wide range of corporate, public-sector, and individual needs. Whether delivering courses on multicultural team building in the USA, preparing Chinese engineers for a posting in Europe, training call-center staff in India, or raising the awareness of police forces to the needs of diverse ethnic communities, it provides essential, practical, and powerful skills worldwide to an increasingly international workforce.

For details, visit www.culturesmartconsulting.com

CultureSmart!Consulting and CultureSmart! guides have both contributed to and featured regularly in the weekly travel program Fast Track on BBC World TV.

New Zealand, or Aotearoa (the land of the long, white cloud) as it is known by the Maori population, is a land of myth and reality, contrast and contradiction, rolling hills and glacial mountains, native bush and gentle farmland. Turquoise lakes, fast-flowing rivers, boiling mud, and leaping geysers add drama to the landscape, as do its unique flora and fauna.

New Zealands culture is rich and diverse because of the numbers of people of different nationalities who have immigrated to the country. Britains position as the main source country, which it held since early settlement in the nineteenth century, has been superseded variously in the intervening years by China, the Philippines, and India. It is still greatly influenced by its Maori heritage and today it is recognized as part of New Zealands identity. With this has come an increasing usage of Maori words and phrases in daily life. If you learn a few key words of te reo Mori (Maori language) your efforts will be appreciated.

The New Zealanders are a friendly and welcoming people, who will go the extra mile to help you without expecting anything in return. As a nation of immigrants, they themselves have blended to form a unique persona, the Kiwi, who is used to newcomers and will be happy to accept you at face value. Kiwis are usually polite, gentle (off the playing field), trusting, and honest. They are also unpretentious, and are not impressed by airs and graces, preferring a more down-to-earth attitude. This comes from their roots in the early settler days, when men labored long and hard to earn a crust, and luxuries were few. A memory of those early times remains, particularly in rural areas and among the older generation who did not have it so easy. So you will find that while Kiwis work to live and improve their lot, they dont need much to keep them content. Sir Edmund Hillarybrave and pragmaticis repeatedly held up as embodying the spirit of New Zealand. He is quoted as saying: In some ways I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander. I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed.

New Zealanders feel a strong bond with their natural environment. The recent rescue from sale into private ownership of the Awaroa beach (800 meters of pristine coastline) in the Abel Tasman National Park is testament to their firmly-held opinion that the land should be accessible to all. Forty thousand donors pledged, through a crowd-funding project Givealittle, more than NZ $2 million toward the cause; and won.

Its moderate climate, clean and green environment, reliable public services, and general safety make it an easy country to visit. CultureSmart! New Zealand, while providing factual background information, explores the human dimension, offering tips and vital insights into Kiwi customs, values, and attitudes to help deepen your experience of this country and its fair-minded people.