The road system is pretty unusual here. They used at least 30% more pavement than they really needed to. All they need is to hire a few Civil Engineers that know how to use a straight edge. The roads curve and wind everywhere. All the roads here are very narrow and winding, so it struck us as odd to see a sign that said "Caution: Narrow Winding Road". They could save a lot of black paint by simply saying "Caution: Road".
Drunk driving is a big problem in New Zealand, and these roads don't help. For example, this chair failed to negotiate the turn, resulting in a fiery crash. The occupant was killed instantly. 
Except for the conspicuous-consuming city sheeple, most kiwis pride themselves on being able to find uses for useless stuff. For example: a dead microwave makes a dandy mailbox. Actually, this is quite common. We've probably seen ten of these since we got here. 
I'm afraid this one's got us stumped: 
Remember "Slug-bug"? Slug-bug is a game invented by parents to keep their obnoxious and unruly kids occupied for hours on long road trips in the car. This, of course, was long before mp3 players, walkmans, portable dvd players, text messaging, etc. It was in the days when kids were expected to have an i.q. over 17 on a warm day. In other words, we looked out the windows. Anyway, in case (Rob) you're not old enough to know this game, it goes like this. Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Volkswagen "Bugs" were commonplace. The first kid to see one on the roads yells out "Slug-bug" and gets to slug the other kid on the arm.
Except for the conspicuous-consuming city sheeple, most kiwis pride themselves on being able to find uses for useless stuff. For example: a dead microwave makes a dandy mailbox. Actually, this is quite common. We've probably seen ten of these since we got here. 
I'm afraid this one's got us stumped: 
Remember "Slug-bug"? Slug-bug is a game invented by parents to keep their obnoxious and unruly kids occupied for hours on long road trips in the car. This, of course, was long before mp3 players, walkmans, portable dvd players, text messaging, etc. It was in the days when kids were expected to have an i.q. over 17 on a warm day. In other words, we looked out the windows. Anyway, in case (Rob) you're not old enough to know this game, it goes like this. Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, Volkswagen "Bugs" were commonplace. The first kid to see one on the roads yells out "Slug-bug" and gets to slug the other kid on the arm.
New Zealand has a huge possum problem here. There are over 70 million of them. They do an amazing amount of damage, and are impossible to eradicate. Consequently, kiwis will risk life and limb to run over them on the highway. So instead of yelling out "Slug bug", we yell out "Dead Possum".
Ah...for the good old days when animals actually had fewer rights than people...
Actually, the reason for this is the Kiwi (bird). The Kiwi population is being systematically eradicated by predation by non-native life forms. A quarter of the cat population in NZ are feral cats. Dogs are a huge problem, and none are allowed in any location where the Kiwi is present.
Trounson Kauri Park is about 534 acres, and is what is called an "Inland Island". These are blocks of land where the DOC is dedicated to removing all non-native plants and animals. They are typically isolated by wide bands of cleared farmland. In this park over the last 2 years, the DOC has trapped over 400 feral cats in this location alone.
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