To: tekboy who wrote (3943 ) 12/22/2001 11:00:52 PM From: Maurice Winn Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 12231 Hahah!! <do you all look like orcs? > We occur in all shapes and sizes with a large standard deviation in deviancy. I haven't seen an orc, but there are probably such specimens extant in the bush somewhere. I think Kiwiland is quite beautiful, which is one of the reasons I live here instead of anywhere else. One of the most beautiful memories of my life remains the daily bus ride around Lake Pukaki, milky blue with glacial dust, looking up on a beautiful day to Mount Cook. I did soil testing on a hydro scheme canal during university holidays multi decades ago. Comparable with Lake Louise in the Rockies but less pretty really. The best of everything is overseas, but the complete package we get here is nice. Beaches, snow covered Southern Alps, skiing, deep sea fishing, golf, economic life, telecommunications, bush, climate, waterfalls and lakes, deer and friendly freedom, all in one nice little compact bundle, with no Taleban over the border, though we took in some Afghan refugees [some of them here: herald.co.nz ] who came all the way around the world to get here [heading for Australia, but they were rejected]. The mountains are higher in Switzerland. The waterfalls are bigger at Niagra and Lake Victoria. The deserts are huge in Australia. The wildlife is rampant in Africa. The forests are deep and huge in Brazil. The sun always shines in San Diego. The cash flow is huge in Japan. But the world is but a brief 747 flight away and few people want to blow us up [though I'm working on changing that with my SI posts]. Mqurice PS: Look who's helping fix our 747s. herald.co.nz Everyone wants to come and live here.