buaidh no bas

You may have heard that New Zealand has more sheep than people…but did you know that Kiwi sheep shearers are extremely hard working people?  They work from 5am-5pm, live in dorm-like buildings, and drink lots of beer. 

The British who settled New Zealand were not very nice to the indigenous people, the Maoris.  The Maori people had no concept of land ownership, and didn’t realize what “selling their land” really meant.  The tribal chief who sold Wellington to the British thought that only 9 or 10 Europeans would come to settle there, not thousands and thousands.

There is a festival in the small town of Blackball called Blackballzup.  During this festival they have a “horse plopping” competition.  Participants bet on which section of a field the horse will “plop” in first.  They wait around to see where the horse poops, and whoever’s right gets all the money. 

One last Kiwi fun fact: In 1917 New Zealand passed a 6pm Pub Law where all pubs had to close at 6pm and couldn’t reopen until the next day. This didn’t slow the pub-goers down though.  Men would get off of work at 5pm, dedicate the next hour to guzzling as much beer as possible, and then go on their way.  This law lasted until 1967.