And speaking of Christmas, it always seemed a bit weird to me that the majority of references we see are for a northern hemisphere Christmas. Here in the southern hemisphere, Christmas is our summer. A traditional Kiwi Christmas is often a BBQ or a beach day.
On Friday night, as us wild women do, Mum and I went to The Warehouse (think Walmart or Target) as were looking for a bargain. Mum was looking to buy a small Christmas something for the grandkids, that way she could just give them some cash and be done with the whole kerfuffle for this year.
We strolled over in the direction of their chocolates and sweets, and what do we spy? Some fabbo Kiwiana inspired Christmas goodies. It almost made me want to have a Kiwi Christmas.
We were saying how cool some of these items would be to take as gifts to family and friends overseas. Or anyone holidaying here for Christmas could snap up some reasonably priced, practical souvenirs.
For non-Kiwi speakers you may find this list of translations helpful when viewing the photos –
- Pukeko = Native blue-purplish Swamp hen, fairly commonly seen in wetlands and rural areas
- Kiwi = endangered native bird, also the national bird of New Zealand. Also commonly used to refer to a New Zealand citizen (Note – when referring to the fruit we always call it a Kiwifruit)
- Kiwiana = something that depicts New Zealand kitsch culture
- Hokey-Pokey = honeycomb toffee
- Biscuit = we use the UK definition – equivalent of the US “Cookie”
- Pohutukawa = native coastal evergreen tree, with a crimson flower around Christmas time aka “New Zealand Christmas tree”
- Kowhai = native tree with yellow bell-shaped flowers – also flowers around Christmas time
- Kea = large alpine parrot
14 Weeks Worth of Socks 
Brilliant. Here in Oz they tried to get rid of the Easter Bunny and replace him with an Easter Bilby. But no one bought him so that died a death. I hope you guys have better luck. It’s a good idea
Thats a shame, I thought the Easter Bilby was cute!
Yes, but in general we Aussies don’t give a damn about our native animals. Most Aussies have never been out of the city..
Thats sad really. We don’t have much choice here, drive 5 minutes and you are out of the city for most places. But we don’t have the animals, just birds.
I would love to visit parts of the southern hemisphere during the summer Christmas 🙂
It’s a different experience certainly. We have done Christmas overseas a number of times but Christmas in Las Vegas was probably the coldest one I remember, but no snow.
Living in North American all my life it was very strange when I visited Brazil for one Christmas. I always associate Christmas with snow. Even when I lived in Texas it was so weird to see people putting up Christmas decorations in shorts with roses blooming. But laying on a beach in the middle of December seems like a pretty good idea! I LOVE the little bird tins, so cute.
I hate cold and snow so any time it’s warm it’s good for me 😃