It took 13,000 miles, a 24-hour flight and a 12-hour time difference to make good our escape from a depressed and leaden Europe to sunny, easygoing Middle Earth. The contrast could not have been greater and our spirits lifted with the first 'Gidday'.Clean, green, pristine New Zealand. And it is really true. There is a genuine commitment to the environment and to bio-security in this spectacularly beautiful country. When we entered New Zealand at the end of last year to do a little fly-fishing on the renowned rivers around Lake Taupo, our boots were minutely examined by immigration officials and one pair confiscated as a bio-hazard. I was given a serious and fairly public dressing down as to the severe risk my brand-new, felt-soled wading boots would pose to the environment in the form of some hideous, polluting algae called 'didymo'. I had never thought of myself as a potential bio-terrorist before and humbly handed them over rather than risk a hefty fine.
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