New Zealand was incredible! I was travelling for 7 consecutive weeks, although 3 weeks was on vacation in New Zealand and then 4 weeks were for work within the U.S. My wife and I agree that we could easily go back and spend another 3 weeks in NZ without repeating anything and still seeing tons of amazing things. Such an amazing country!

Diesel pickups are very popular in NZ - maybe because diesel fuel is about half the price of "petrol". After unit conversion, petrol is the equivalent of about U.S.$6-$7/gallon. New diesel trucks also cost less than petrol trucks, so it's a no-brainer.

I thought it was funny how many pickups in NZ are 4-passenger pickups. They've had those for many years. I know the U.S. is just now getting used to those.

My wife and I drove a total of about 3000 km's through NZ (something like 1900 miles). We were getting used to driving on the left side of the road. Both of us turned on the windshield wipers plenty of times when we wanted to signal. The only times when I forgot to be on the left side of the road was when there were no other cars around and there were no lane markings (like on residential roads or parking lot exits).

I was surprised at the large number of one-lane bridges throughout the country. There was even a one-lane bridge that was also shared with a railroad.

I only saw a few Jeeps the entire trip. Lots of Land Rovers, especially Defenders. I was confused that the Toyota Hilux name seems to be given to both the Tacoma and Tundra over there.

Seemed like most people that do 4-wheeling just get a snorkel and an ARB or TJM bumper with any 4x4. That's about it for typical modifications. I saw one nice Nissan Patrol that was well set-up with 33's, lockers, snorkel, bumper, winch, etc. I didn't realize those had a solid front axle and coil springs all around.