Friday, August 04, 2006

australia vs. new zealand

for the record australia and new zealand are different countries. see them on the map here. they have many differences. for instance, australia was colonized by europeans who oppressed and murdered the native aboriginies. they also dumped their prisoners there. new zealand was colonized by europeans who oppressed and murdered the native maori. they did not use the island as a jail. australia is mainly desert and grasslands, with some lovely tropical areas along the coast. new zealand is sub-tropical. it has some desert, but is mostly a nice shade of green. australia has snakes and poisonous spiders. new zealand does not have snakes or poisonous spiders. australia has the tasmanian devil (specifically in the island of tasmania, which lies to the south of mainland australia), koala, kangaroo, and wombat, among other native wildlife. new zealand has the tuatara, kiwi, kea bird, tui bird, and hector's dolphins (hector does not want them back), among others. new zealand also has some really cool trees, like the pohutukawa, rimu, and kauri. australia does not have these trees. new zealand, outside of zoos, does not have kangaroos, koalas, devils, or wombats.

australia.
new zealand.
australia.
new zealand.
australia.
new zealand.

there are many, many other differences. suffice it to say that when i say i am going to new zealand, i do not mean that i am going to australia.

2 comments:

Flushy McBucketpants said...

that fourth one looks kind of like california... knows how to party... though, my memory is probably failing me on this one.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I went to Australia once!

I believe this comment is akin to me saying that my mom is from Switzerland and people saying, "oh, I have a friend who's Swedish."