For those of you who have never been to NZ, which is probaly nearly everyone I know, I thought I'd give you a few facts and trivia to let you know how dofferent it really is on the other side of the world.

Firstly, the population. NZ probaly has more nationalities living here than any other Country in the world. There is a huge Aisan poplulation - Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Loads of islanders - Fijian, Samoan etc. As well as loads fo British and Irish with a few other countries thrown in for good measure. As an example the nationalities I work with are Kiwi, Irish, Scottish, English, Thai, French, Brazilian, American and Bulgarian!

The TV is pretty much the same as back home - really. Coronation St, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Spooks, ER, Niptuck etc etc. We also have NZ idol which is the most unbelievable crap ever. Simon Cowell would have a fit if he could see what musical talent it drags up! Oh and the TV ads are outrageous - they advertise KY warming jelly, Viagra and theres even a car advert with 2 bulls calling a ram a 'sheepshagger'.

Brothels are legal here - there are many strip clubs and 'gentlemens' clubs all over the city, offering personal services. They even talk about it opnely on TV documentaries.

The clothes shops here are crap! They are in desperate need of a TopShop.

All local calls are free from a landline - why has Britain not caught onto this yet?

There are no 1 and 2 cents in their money so things are rounded up when you pay in shops - why they price things at $1.99 when there are no small coins is beyond me.

They drink a lot of something called 'lemon lime bitters' which is basically long vodka without the vodka. They also have raspberry and lemon cordial in all the bars instead of orange and blackcurrant as we do.

The banks charge for everything! Everytime you use tour bank card you are charged. You can pay a set amount each month so you're not charged every time but there's no way round paying to access your own cash!

They haven't caught onto the Supermarket thing the way Britain has. In Auckland city there are only 2. Both of them are very large but neither are placed very conveniently if you don't have a car. They do have Star Marts which I suppose are similar to Spar but much smaller and not nearly as good.

They have strict alcohol laws. You cannot be served or continued to be served if you are drunk. And this means anywhere, bars, off licences (which are called bottle shops) And they enforce this very strictly.

You cannot smoke anywhere at all inside. Inclusing most apartment buildings. This means Restaurants, Bars, Shops, Offices, NIghtclubs - nowhere at all. But you cannot drink on the street so if you go outside for a ciggie you cannot take your drink! Most places do have outside seating areas though.

All kiwis raise their voice at the end of their sentence. So for your first few weeks here you think everyone is always asking you a question, even when they're not!

If you run out of credit on your prepay mobile (pay as you go) then you can send an 'IOU' text message and they lend you $2 credit until you next top up. Also texting to all NZ vodafone numbers is free all weekend!