While Australia and New Zealand have close foreign policy ties, considerable intermigration and overlapping cultures, saying New Zealanders are basically Australians will not gain you any New Zealander or Australian friends. Although Australians and New Zealanders may seem the same to you, they do not consider themselves the same. It is pretty much the same relationship as with Canadians and Americans or with Irish and British.
Some Australians may joke about New Zealand being another state of Australia, but that does not make it one. In many ways, Australia and New Zealand have a similar outlook towards the other, with the same cliched jokes being made.
Despite the jokes about New Zealand, many Australians have a genuine affection for the New Zealanders. This can be traced back to ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp), participation in two world wars, particularly the Gallipoli campaign, North African Campaign, Korea, Vietnam, the Malaya Crisis, Solomon Islands, etc.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about New Zealand
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in New Zealand - updated Apr 2024
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New Zealand Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
