Kiwi hospitality

Kiwis are generally - and quite deservedly - known for giving friendly an excellent service. It's one of the real delights of being in this country.

There are always exceptions though. Pak 'n' Save and Warehouse (both big budget superstores) are a sure place to find surly sales people. Unfortunately, the past couple of days we've come across some real crackers in new places.
The guide who took us round the New Zealand Parliament was of the particularly defensive variety of kiwi. Defensive instead of proud of her nation - it's a fine line but there's a fair number of locals who cross it. She also produced a stunning array of question responses, all with a general sense of 'harrumph'.
Our Wellington backpackers seems to be run by a similarly rare strain of kiwi. It took great effort to get them to tell us how to find our room in a rather large, labyrinthine hostel. Housekeeping seems to consist of changing the pillowcases and hoovering the downstairs hall, and if you manage to secure yourself a knife or mug from the kitchen here, you have to guard it with your life, they're so scarce. The first conversation we had with a fellow traveller in this place was: "Whatever you do, don't open the fridge. It smells like something's died in there".

They're really letting the kiwi side down.