Re: R&R- "American Influence Down Under"

["Michael McDonald" <michael.and.colleen.mcdonald@xtra.co.nz>]

lensman3 <cooncat1@ct2.nai.net> wrote in message
38998cb5.90103122@news.nai.net">news:38998cb5.90103122@news.nai.net...
> My wife and I plan to visit NZ in the next year or so.  We look
> forward to seeing all the marvelous mountains and fjords.  I wonder if
> there will be a chance to visit some museums that involve railroads.
> We found the RR related material at the Ford Museum in the state of
> Michigan to be quite interesting. We also have the Essex Steam
> railroad here in Connecticut, where you can ride an open car and get
> ashes all over you.  We have also been on a coal-burner in Colorado.
>
> There are a couple of questions, though:
> How do you keep from shooting upwards iinto the sky down there?
> Magnetic shoes?

We have our feet firmly planted in the ground.   None of this heads in the
cloud stuff!

> Are there McDonald's in NZ?  We always look for our native cuisine.

Yep.  Getting more and more difficult to get away from it these days -
though must admit, I ate there today - a rare occurrence  :-)

> How about Pizza Hut??

Here too!

> Is it true that there are 3.5 million people but 66 million sheep??

Don't forget the 30-50 million opossums, courtesy of that country across the
ditch.

> Seriously, I think the whole English speaking world influences
> itself.  There are plenty of bumpkins in the US, just as I suspect the
> vast majority of NZ people are pretty civilized.

Most are civilized.

> And where would the world be without bungee jumping. My
> son jumped with his wife and child all bundled together, had a tape
> made of the adventure and sent it to us. Terrifying.

Not my cup of tea!  I guess the original version, with jungle vines instead
of rubber cords, was a bit more hair-raising.

> We look forward to driving near you within a year or so.

Don't forget the to ride the trains and visit the rail museums.  Have you
found any NZ railway web sites? My partial list of sites is - some may be
out of date, and I may have more on another computer.
http://www.railfan.org.nz/                                RES
http://www.railsoc.org.nz/                                NZR & LS
http://trainweb.com/ttt/                                  Mainline Steam, NZ
http://www.es.co.nz/~gwhite/orls/                         Otago Railway &
Locomotive Society
http://www.timaru.com/railway                             Pleasant Point
http://www.geocities.com/westportnz/wrps.html             Westport Rail
Preservation Society

One ride I always enjoy is the Johnsonville line in Wellington.  At a $1.50
each way off-peak it's a bargain too!

Cheers
Michael