Originally Posted by pixi-dust

I've said it before and I will probably never stop

the blooming sandflies

Originally Posted by SecretSquirrel

- the car culture
- sooped up jananese imports with tin can size exhausts (mufflers :-O)
- the fact that a 15 year old can drive to school in a v8 powered car, talking away on a mobile phone without any insurace and not be breaking a single law
- bad haircuts
- really bad shirts
- the sausages - i wouldnt feed them to a dog let alone a human
- supermarkets stocked with leftovers
- the fact that every bulb of garlic i EVER bought in the country was at least 50% rotten
- for a nation that is supposedly (statistically) the most travelled in the world they are exceptionally un-worldly and igorant of any food not to be found at their own doorstep
- the beer, although there are a couple of exceptions to that :-D
- the endless prattling on about any film with a peter jackson connection at the expense of all other news
- the dire tv, flooded with dire advertisements normally for shops run by overweight menopausal women selling last decades high street fashions
- the open racism towards asians
- the scary drivers
- the flood of aussie/kiwi varietal wines with a total lack of choice for anything else
- the americanisation of the place - grids, malls, suburbs .... town centres with the soul ripped out of them
- the overall greyness of the place
- the strange misconception that the weather in new zealand is somehow better than in the UK its not better, its just different
- the fact that people seem to think all you have to do is add some random fruit to a pizza or a burger (apricots on a pizza for heavens sake??) and that gives you a license to call it "gourmet"
- the use of the word kiwi as a superlative to almost everything with local connection - talk about self obsessed
- "Tasty" cheese - there is an breach of advertising law case in there somewhere i am sure

.... im sure i will think of more....

Originally Posted by Jack Daws

How bad are they?

And are they everywhere?

Originally Posted by pixi-dust

depends - some people get bitten and have a terrible reaction -e.g. me. Some people dont get bitten at all - my DH
there are loads of them. but there are things that work as repellents and paw paw cream is great at getting rid of the itch

Originally Posted by Jack Daws

And the gold medal goes to.............split decision between you and Mazi

Keep on moaning you lot

Originally Posted by mazi

You can also buy a zapping device in Boots in the UK which gives you a little electric shock if you zap yourself on the bite and it takes away the itch. It's also just great fun - try it behind your ear or on the thin skin of your ankle. Oh, and your inside wrist. Hours of fun.

Originally Posted by pixi-dust

depends - some people get bitten and have a terrible reaction -e.g. me. Some people dont get bitten at all - my DH
there are loads of them. but there are things that work as repellents and paw paw cream is great at getting rid of the itch

Originally Posted by Jack Daws

Are they just around the beaches or everywhere?

And I will get bitten. I must taste good

Originally Posted by Jack Daws

Are they just around the beaches or everywhere?

And I will get bitten. I must taste good

Originally Posted by mazi

EVERYWHERE

they like smokers more than non, and they like blondes

Originally Posted by pixi-dust

everywhere - we are miles from a beach and they come out to play late afternoon - buggers.

Originally Posted by mazi

Secret Squirrel and I are now one and the same person - where Sec goes I go. My soul mate.

Originally Posted by Jack Daws

How can you kill the buggers?

Set fire to them, gas 'em, boil 'em? What?

Originally Posted by SecretSquirrel

now dont get me started on the national obsession for HOME BAKING!

Originally Posted by pixi-dust

squish them while they're biting you! I only ever see them once it's too late!