> Now you were born in China was it ???
No, born in Canada to British parents. Emigrated as a young adult to New Zealand. Middle aged now.
> Along with that Australian practice of saying “Gidday mate”
Said here all the time, common usage, has been for a hundred years or more. Our Aussie cousins say “G’dye Mite”, very differently to us.
> As a born and bred New Zealander, I never did see that happen...
As a born and bred New Zealander you have obviously missed the past 50 or so years of Our Nation’s history. Or you have had your head buried deep in the sand.
New Zealand is a Nation of stirrers: the Springbok tour, the Mururoa Atoll protests, No Nukes policy for US Warships &tc &tc &tc. You have been away from Godzone for a very long time, obviously.
And so I gotta be brutally honest:
The country you once knew and loved may not be the country that is now. In which case, you would probably do better to spend more time listening and less time lecturing us Kiwis and your fellow Americans about a country which you may well feel a stranger in today. I mean that kindly. The same would be said for me of Canada. I would not recognize the place anymore.
Your New Zealand has changed. Maybe not for the better, either.
Then if what you say is true...
God was merciful to me...
and rescued me out of there and back to the land of my ancestors...
Tennessee Nana UE