Second post! And I am here under protest!

[CiCi the Psychobunny]

OK, there's maybe two Kiwis tops at DU, but that doesn't mean I should have to associate with filthy Aussies!

Seriously, my condolences to y'all for having John "I wanna be Bush's Deputy" Howard back in power. We can always hope he'll retire in a matter of weeks. Please, God?

[Violet_Crumble]

1. LOL...

Noooooo! Don't wish for little Johnny to retire! Costello as PM would be even worse than what we've got now...

Violet...

[Pert_UK]

2. Hello there!

Bad luck on old Howard getting back in (with an increased majority)....How the HELL did that happen? I've rarely seen a more childish, immature, unpleasant, arrogant little bastard in my entire life.

Apologies for crashing this forum.....in my defense, although I am a Brit I spent all of last year in Australia. I lived in Bunbury (WA) for about 8 months, then drove around the whole bloody island for 4 months in a wrecked old 4WD - I've never had such fun.

My g/f and I are seriously considering moving back over permanently, although the thought of Howard still running the place really puts me off.

Congratulations on having a wonderful country.

P.

[AussieDave]

3. Unfortunately, we're stuck with Howard

for a long time to come - he's fought too long and too hard to get to where he is - he isn't going voluntarily.......

[rooboy]

4. Don't worry, Dave...

I have the feeling that ol' Johnny is going to be leaving with a knife in his back like Thatcher did.

[AussieDave]

5. I sure hope you're right, mate

but I'll believe it when I see it. At least Costello is a bit more of a social liberal..........

[Djinn]

6. get ready for an influx of Australians

personally I've been eyeing up NZ since they not only took in a bunch of the Tampa refugees but also sent people to Afghanistan to look for their realtives in order to reunite them in NZ - all paid for and arranged by the NZ govt.

Where's a warm place to live over there? about the only thing stopping me now is the cold

Edit - as for the proposition of Costello as PM - could be worse...Prime Minister Tony Abbott anyone?

[CiCi the Psychobunny]

7. Aha! Prepare for plugging!

Gisborne (east coast, north island) is a lovely little town that gets vast amounts of sunshine and is the first spot on Earth to see the sun come morning (islands that shifted the dateline don't count).
Many vineyards and orchards, my GOD the fruit my mate Liz brings up from her mum's house is HUGE (honestly, grapefruit the size of Arnie's fist).

Or there's Nelson (top of the South Island) which is also insanely sunny, nice quiet little town with, again, vineyards galore. Very good vineyards. And a hop/skip/jump to the Abel Tasman national park, with THE most gorgeous beaches in Australasia. By which I mean, there aren't even roads to them, you can hike, kayak or water-taxi. Water-taxi FUN.

For sheer warmth, though, you'd be looking at Northland (quiet, rural, full of marijuana) or some parts of Auckland. I recommend Waitakere (west Auckland), though it's very wet, what with the subtropical rainforest and all. But warm. And full of spiders the size of plates. And wetas. Has anyone seen the appendices to the extended Lord of the Rings DVDs? They show wetas. SMALL ones.

Of course I'm biased. :evilgrin:

[Violet_Crumble]

8. If the rumours I've heard about NZ are true...

...I'm heading that way as soon as I can get a job there. Someone told me that NZ doesn't have any creepy-crawlies, and after the past week where Huntsmen have tried to invade my house and car, I've got a serious spider paranoia happening. And the warning I heard last week that we've got to watch out for snakes in the garden is the final straw. Mind you, the huge, incredibly massive European Wasp nest that got discovered in my backyard last New Years Eve really hasn't helped...

I've been to NZ twice and fell in love with Wellington and Dunedin.
I didn't realise before I watched The Fellowship of the Ring that it had been shot in NZ, and couldn't understand the ovewhelming urge I got throughout the movie to go back to NZ again...

Violet...

[Djinn]

9. they're the big coachroachy things right?

they look gross but no worse than the jumbo Huntsman as VC mentions, creepy crawlies don't scare me too much - no more than conservative pollies atleast.

My only hesitation about moving is that my family has a habit of leaving conservative govts and then finding them springing up in the new place (escaped from teh UK in the early Thatcher years) so I'm afraid that if I moved there suddenly New Zealand First would gain ground!

[SweetLeftFoot]

13. Kiwis

It used to be that on meeting a Kiwi you could be sure they would bring up some rugby match where the All Blacks had beaten the Wallabies. Being from melbourne, this all meant little to me so I'd just nod and slowly edge away.

Now its Lord Of The Rings. You can be sure that within 10 minutes in Kiwi company, LOTR or something associated with it will be brought up.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

10. I would have taken Jim Bolger over Howard any day of the week

You were very fortunate to have a Prime Minister as wonderful as Jim Bolger, CiCi. If we had to have a fiscally right wing conservative Prime Minister in power, I would have taken Jim Bolger over Howard any day. A firm believer in a republic, a Prime Minister with a visionary and forward thinking social and foreign policy and a fundamentally decent and well-meaning person. I've always admired Jim Bolger -I'm reading his memoirs right now and my admiration for him just keeps on increasing-and I've always wished that Australia could have had a conservative statesman of his caliber. And I loved the way he kept undermining Jenny Shipley after he had been deposed and tacitly endorsed Helen Clark. I'd take him over Howard in a heartbeat

[CiCi the Psychobunny]

11. Ah, yes

Helen's handling of Jim was brilliant - hey Jim, no hard feelings ay, I know we've said some bad things over the past few decades of being across the House from each other, would you like to be Ambassador to Washington? And THEN she put him in charge of NZ Post, and the Nats couldn't do anything but grind their evil teeth.

Incidentally, y'all - you can tell SO much about NZ that most people I know are happy to refer to politicians solely by first names. Winston, Helen, Jim, Big Norm.

I personally don't remember much of Bolger's leadership - I was tiny. But it seemed fairly good, for a National government.

[Matilda]

12. I lived in N.Z. in late 1968, through mid-1969.

Lived and worked in Auckland, and spent some time on a dairy farm
in Te Awamutu.

It was beautiful country, but back then it was way conservative -
and I'd just come back from three years in London, so Auckland
seemed like a big country town.

I think David Lange turned it around politically, or so it seems.
I adored him.

I'm trying to persuade my pommy husband to move there - kinda like
the idea of Northland or Coromandel myself

[oscarmitre]

14. He won't go

as has been pointed out, this is turning into his reason for existence. If I were advising him - seriously - I'd tell him to get out before he confuses real life with being the PM. I just get the feeling that the little bloke has been invaded by the PM incubus and that when he eventually has to quit that he will do downhill fast when the green Chesterfield and the big desk are no longer there for him.

On the subject of NZ - first time I visited Wellington I fell in love with it, been back a few times and I still reckon it's a most delightful city. Funnily enough I wasn't taken with Christchurch which is Adelaide's Sister City.

Oh and what did you do to Steinlager? Doesn't taste the same.