NZ is not all about kiwis

Hi, everyone! As you may notice, the Australia & New Zealand’s presentation was pretty focused on the “freak data”. To continue with that researching line, this post is going to be about New Zealand’s sheep and cows.

NZ has always been the centre of sheep’s jokes. In 1934, George Bernard Shaw –irish playwright, Nobel Prize in Literature on 1925- visited the country and when he was asked about his impression of NZ, he answered “altogether too many sheep”.  How he couldn’t notice, if the numbers of sheep has reached, at its time,  the peak of 70 million of them.

Nowadays, the numbers of these spongy animals has decreased to its lowest since World War II. Even when this sounds like bad news, it’s not. With nearly 30 million sheep, they still outnumber people six to one and also, are generating more money with less of them.

              (Personally, I can't help thinking that sheep will take over the power, knowing that they outnumber people. Anyway, this post is not about my fears so it's better for me to focus and continue)

      What about cows? There are about 6 million cows, making the diary industry a backbone of the NZ’s economy. Again, the numbers are very impressive: Every year, NZ produces 100 kg of butter and 65 kg of cheese per person.  I can’t even imagine that much butter and cheese.

Talking about this with my father, he told me about his own experience at NZ, back in 1972. He was a marine and he fell in love with the country immediately, but one of the things that really caught his attention was seeing big trucks loaded of different milk’s products, including something that he can’t recall has seen or tasted in Chile: Yogurt. Something that nowadays is pretty usual in every fridge was completely unknown for him.

It’s never enough when it comes to “freak data”, but it’s time to finish this entry.

Thanks for reading!

P.D: Do you remember “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu”? It was the world’s longest place name and here is what it means in Maori: “the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as the land-eater, played his nose flute to his loved ones”.