Have you seen countryside like that in Lord of the Rings then, Bex? One of my friends from years back used to like to go caving there. Another person I worked with sang the praises of the white beaches near her home.

I think I have an idea of what you mean about this place where I live. I've met a number of Americans who feel the same. I wonder if it is because everything here is just so much older and has so much more history. As a former colony you are new, and cultural heritage in that new place does not stretch far back. Here in England, you can visit sites that are 5000 years old. This blew me away when I first came here from the US. Over there, 100 years is "old." And as the Native American heritage is not shared by many people there, they don't have much of a sense of history stretching back.

I feel these things more keenly when I am not depressed, which stands to reason. It has to be said, though, that the place where a person is born and raised has a huge influence. My husband and I have no desire to move to the US, but in certain ways it will still always feel more like home than here, simply because it's where I grew up, and I have many memories from there. I can call myself British, I am a citizen here and have soaked up the ways pretty well. But there's always going to be a bit of that sense of the foreign, that this heritage is not mine.

It just occurred to me that this has absolutely nothing to do with Huggins. I don't set out to intentionally pull people off the topic, sorry. I just had to ask though, NZ sounds like such a special place. Hope you're OK with that Bex <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Linda.