
Have a look at
what I think of New Zealand.
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The Freedom
of New Zealand. |
15/5/00 |
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Texan
Reneé O'Connor wasn't sure what she'd find when
she went to New Zealand for Xena: Warrior Princess.
What she discovered was ruggedly beautiful land,
honest people -- and herself.
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- AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
-- Until I moved to New Zealand in 1995, I thought
of it as a very "New Age" place. But that's
what most people had told me -- that it was a spiritual
country, one of the most natural places in the world,
where you could drink the water out of every stream....
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- I laugh to myself when I think about it now,
because I've learned that New Zealand is more complex
than that.
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- Sure, it is incredibly natural. New Zealand is
filled with picturesque landscapes that, as yet,
haven't been tortured by modernization. It's as
if you're living in a part of Eden. Yet at the same
time, you have a city like Auckland -- my home --
which is as contemporary as any city from around
the world.
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- So it's the best of both worlds, I think. What's
more, I've come to love the "Take me as I am"
spirit of New Zealand. It's an accepting place.
People are honest. You feel free to express yourself
here.
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- I couldn't have picked a better country to call
my second home. I love it here. And as it turns
out, you can drink the water from some of the streams
-- you just have to be careful to pick a spot upstream
from the backpackers.
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- A code of honor
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- I've heard people describe their visit to New
Zealand as "stepping back into 1950's America."
A lot of New Zealanders laugh at that comment. They
say, "What does that mean? That we're just
developing the color television?"
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- I think that observation has more to do with
the spirit of the people. There's a sense of integrity
and respect between people that I think we've lost
in the States somewhat. There's definitely a code
of honor that makes people accountable for how they
treat each other.
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- For instance: You can go down to some of the
country towns, and people will have vegetable stands
outside their homes. But most of these are unattended!
There's a little basket where you leave your money
and take what food you want. A true honor system...
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- Once I was given the role on "Xena,"
I think it was the people -- more than the natural
beauty of the country -- that attracted me. They're
friendly, personable. The population is quite small
-- about 4 million people, at the moment -- and
there's about "one degree of separation"
between everyone. Everyone knows you, in some way,
and what you've been doing.
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- There is a no-nonsense mentality here. You are
who you are. And they take you for what you give.
There's no need for facade, superficiality. In New
Zealand, people wait for you to prove a sort of
"mana". It's a Maori term, relating to
honor, a pride you have of family or a person. And
it's quite highly regarded here. As I watch New
Zealanders and how they treat each other with affection,
I realize that "mana" isn't necessarily
"kindness" or "generosity".
It has more to do with respect.
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- The rugged land
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- I think the natural environment of New Zealand
has an effect on the character of its people. New
Zealanders have traveled abroad extensively. I find
that when they come home, they tend to appreciate
their country even more. They see the beauty of
it, and respect it more. It's easy to see, from
my own work environment, that New Zealand is a rugged
country. It takes stamina -- real physical stamina--to
maintain your endurance here. New Zealanders are
used to this, yet they still expect you to prove
your own inner strength, to pull your own weight.
As they say, "No whinging!"-- which translates
to "No Whining."
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- Outside the city of Auckland, you can drive miles
and miles and not see another car. Especially on
the South Island of New Zealand. During a day's
drive at Christmastime, I went through a rain forest,
stopped at a glacier and then continued on through
barren hillsides. On this tiny island, you can see
geological facets from all over the world. We even
have a tundra area, where you can see penguins!
The South Island is surreal. So beautiful, so untouched.
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- I took an airplane trip from Queenstown, in the
center of the South Island, through a portion of
the Southern Alps. It was actually quite frightening,
a little risky. But it was worth it; the land was
gorgeous. We landed at a spectacular place: Milford
Sound. It's sort of a fjord, where the mountain
peaks jut out from beneath calm ocean waters....
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- It takes me about 20 minutes to get to work --
and it is a beautiful drive. We don't work in the
city; we work around farmland. So I pass these beautiful
pastures, filled with sheep. And these pastures
are so lush, it's as if they can't be real. The
colors are so vivid here -- the sky, the foliage,
the streaks of a rainbow.
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- The sheer variety of native birds... I notice
it all the time. Just outside the door, sometimes,
I'll see rosella. It's from the parrot family, and
its colors are brilliant red, green and blue. It
thrills me, to see something like that, still living
freely in nature.
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- I grew up in a suburb of Houston. So even now,
after four and a half years, it's still hard for
me to get used to the idea that I live in this lush,
tropical home.
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- The city life
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- Auckland is quite a large city, home to 1.3 million
people. It's the major port of the North Island.
When I moved here, it reminded me of San Fransico.
You have this great mix of people. And at the same
time, its a cafe, cosmopolitan lifestyle.
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- Because so many different types of people live
here -- Maoris, Europeans, Samoans -- people are
respectful of different cultures, different lifestyles.
And it's interesting to see how foreign visitors
are received.
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- When you travel in other parts of the world --
say in Europe -- it sometimes seems that tourists
are frowned upon. Here, they seem to appreciate
it when people come -- because then they can talk
about their own travels abroad.
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- You find that whenever you walk into a shop.
They'll ask where you're from, what you do here.
Nice, welcoming conversations. It happens all the
time.
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- During my first three years here, I lived in
a townhouse in the heart of Auckland. A year and
a half ago, I moved into the country. It's been
fun to see the friendly rivalry between the city
folk and the country folk.
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- If you could live over here... it's such a clean
lifestyle, and it's so clean and beautiful, that
you never want to leave where I live. Still, my
boyfriend and I make ourselves take day trips, or
get away for a weekend, just because there's so
much to see in New Zealand. On the west coast, there
are beautiful black sand beaches that go for miles
on end, with rolling hills leading up to them. On
the east coast, the land drops away to the white
sand beaches.
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- Not long ago, we took a weekend trip -- New Zealanders
call it "a holiday batch" -- to Sandy
Bay, about an hour and a half north of where we
live. It's on the northern tip of the North Island.
And it was a little cove -- a white sand beach cove
-- and just off the coast were these little rock
islands. We'd just sit, and watch the sun rise.
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- We stayed in this simple cottage, where you pumped
your own water. It was just as basic as you needed
-- yet so quaint in the way it provided those needs.
For me, it was just another reminder of how little
we need to survive in the world and be extremely
happy. There were no telephones, no television.
Just the beauty around us, and books, and each other.
It was ideal.
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- Just be yourself
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- My experience in New Zealand has completely spoiled
me. If I had to choose a place to live the rest
of my life, I would stay right where I am now. There's
only one problem with that: the possibility of employment
after Xena. That's why my boyfriend and I intend
to leave New Zealand to pursue our careers one day
-- in the hopes that we can come back to New Zealand
in the future. It's the most beautiful place on
Earth to spend your life.
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- I'm so thankful that I came to New Zealand when
I was in my 20s -- that crucial time in life, when
you begin to learn about yourself as a person. I
learned what it was, here, to develop a respect
for people that was not necessarily about being
"polite." It's about listening to who
people are -- and appreciating what it is to be
alive and around friends.
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- I grew up in Texas, a state where "hospitality"
and "etiquette" are so important. That's
how I was raised! But people used to make fun of
me when I first came to New Zealand because of how
polite I was to everyone. "Hey knock it
off!" they'd say.
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- You don't have to try so hard in that way. Everybody
wants you to be yourself. And I was able to do that,
in the time of my life when I was trying to figure
out who I was.
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- When I spend time with my mother in Austin, I
frequently hear it said: "It's so nice when
people come to visit Austin -- we just don't want
them to stay!" And I think it relates to people's
desire to maintain the soul of their home, to protect
it from people who come in and don't respect it
for what it is.
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- And I like that about New Zealand -- and the notion
of respect. The key is to appreciate the beautiful
place before you come -- so you can truely enjoy
it for all it offers.
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- -- RENEÉ O'CONNOR
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JEEEEEEEE, That was long. From
what I can work out Renee made this. I just copied
it and I Made it look good. What do you think Renee?
Well You know what to do E-mail me.
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