Understanding this and that - Getting to know New Zealand

Before I get into a few impressions and peculiarities, let's start with a brief description of where we are:

Raumati Beach - that's the place right on the west coast, about 70 km north of Wellington. Yesterday evening, we reserved a 'room' here through booking.com. For two nights (for a total of 223 Euros). The 'room' consists of a dining area, kitchenette with washing machine and dryer, living room, bedroom, bathroom, separate toilet, and balcony. You can see it in the photo section. The distance to the sea is about 200 m. But there is also a heated pool that we are allowed to use. We think that's pretty good!

We noticed that most New Zealanders are dressed rather poorly. In the cities, there are many shops that look like they sell used items: all kinds of clothing, furniture, and other things. So I looked up how high the average income is here: 39,000 dollars. In Germany, it's about 55,000 dollars. On average, people earn significantly less here than with us. That explains a lot. Not only the lack of good restaurants, but for example, the fact that there are very few new cars here. There are relatively many smaller vehicles, but also very large ones, like pickups. Sometimes you also see a Porsche or Golf GTI. But why? In a country with a maximum allowed speed of 100 km/h. Even a weak representative of their guild is sufficient here.

Diesel is significantly cheaper here than with us, less than one euro per liter. But: each citizen still has to pay the tax themselves. We will also do this before we leave again. We will do this when we return the camper.

Another curiosity: there are three toll roads. Payment must be made via the internet within 5 days. There are signs with the internet address on the toll road. You should write it down (or have it written down by the passenger). Then, in a quiet moment, you go online, find the list of the three toll roads, select the corresponding one, check a box, and enter your credit card information. Done. In our case, we had to pay 2 dollars, which is about 1.14 euros. Just as 'expensive' as my swim trunks. I'll spare you a comment. I don't know the background.

It's also great, sorry dear dog owners, that dogs are not allowed everywhere. This applies to many hotels and motels as well as parks; see photo.