Speaking of local sculpturing… farming power from the streets of Hamilton.

Google Maps Location. Well, more or less… – can anybody provide the exact spot?

Photo © 2011 yjeva. Original here.

The earthquake in Christchurch, Godzilla tap-dancing through the streets of Japan – not really the ideal backdrop for a blog specialised in the mockery of defenseless countries and peculiar humour.

Then again, what can you do. Besides donating. And turning off the TV, of course. Removing whole topics or even countries from satire, even the cheap and cheesy type produced here, is meaning well, but not helping in the end. I hope. Otherwise I’ll burn in hell for eternity.

That said, here we go. Again. Let’s start with this lovely shot of the weather conditions in Dacre. In many regions of the world, people would just put winter tires on their cars and get going. In New Zealand, people stay at home for days, take photos, the newspapers print “snow chaos” supplements and monuments by local – quote – artists – unquote – are erected throughout the next summer. And laughed about here.

Google Maps Location.

Photo © 2011 southspeed. Original here.

Tim Grubb, the mastermind behind the refreshingly intelligent blog “Tourism Trends”, sent us this somewhat bizarre shot, combining many all-time Kiwi favourites. Namely gravel, neon paint, gas-guzzling cars… – and don’t get me started on the driving skills. Thanks, Tim!

Photo © 2011 Tim Grubb.

Haha, and you thought: “Oh, look at the cute Oldtimer.”

Sharing their economic prospects with the former Eastern Germany and North Korea, this is one of the most modern cars Kiwis have… on one of New Zealand’s most prestigious – note the absence of child-head sized gravel pieces – and widest streets, usually only used by Prime Minister John Key to fool the international press.

Google Maps Location.

Photo Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic) 2010 Dave Young.

Gotcha! Still 6 kilometers to go, though. Another fine example of 1 YSL’s “why leave the vehicle when it also can by done in 5th gear” photography. Note also the delicately interwoven gravel …

Photo © 2010 1 YSL. Original here.

We need a new category, and its name shall be “Montrosities”!

Photo © 2010 1 YSL. Original here.

Google Maps Location.

Another blue-ribbon entry to our encyclopedia of mildly insane Kiwi architecture.

Google Maps Location.

Photo Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic) 2010 Mr Munnings on Tour. Original here.

Chris Ebbert, our contributor and avid photographer, has approximately one hundred gazillion stunningly beautiful New Zealand photos in his Flickr stream. And only 3 that show the ghastly side of New Zealand. Guess which ones we are going to present here…

Photo © 2010 Chris Ebbert. Original here.

This one is not only incredibly great, it would be also a strong candidate for Martin Parr’s book “Boring Postcards”. Well, or at least for its swedish web predecessor, Retroglobe. Well, or at least for the pale rip-off of them both… – us.

Google Maps Location.

This week’s “Thank you!” goes to designer (and former Otago student) Caroline Jackson from Nelson, who sent us this photo of a touch of Las Vegas ‘Mars-Attacks’-ishly invading Golden Bay. Generally, I wouldn’t mind a bit of glamour attack across New Zealand, but the half-heartedness presented in this example is, of course, devastating.

Photo © 2009 Caroline Jackson.