New Zealand

Bollards are painted red, body and reflector alike, with reflectors on both the front and back.

Utility poles often have something silver wrapped around the upper part.

Route numbers are shown on a red shield-shaped sign.

On GIVE WAY signs the lettering is red. If the lettering is black, it's Australia.

Speed signs show a number inside a red circle. In Australia, the number may instead be written on a narrow white rectangular plate.

Over 40% of the land is pasture. Moderate rain falls year-round, which makes grass easy to grow and dairy farming a major industry.

Tell the North Island and South Island apart by whether the hills are flat, whether snow-capped mountains are visible, and how dense the trees are.

If conifers of uniform height are divided by straight boundary lines, with a completely clear-cut plot next to a plot of young saplings, that's a radiata pine plantation. Nothing grows on the forest floor, which is covered in brown pine needles.

The Canterbury Plains on the South Island, centred on Christchurch, are flat with many tall shelterbelts, and irrigated farming is practised there.

Giant reed (a plant common around the Mediterranean) grows along the coast of the North Island, especially around Auckland.

Kiwifruit orchards are found on the North Island, or at the very northern tip of the South Island.

Vineyards are found on the east coast of the North Island, or at the very northern tip of the South Island. They can also appear in somewhat hilly areas.

If flat, vividly green pasture holds herds of black-and-white (Holstein) or brown (Jersey) dairy cattle, finely divided by electric fencing, that's dairy country. It's common in Waikato and Taranaki on the North Island, and on the Canterbury Plains and in Southland on the South Island.

If sheep are scattered across steep, treeless hillsides, with thin terraced tracks (sheep tracks) worn by the animals running across the slopes, that's sheep grazing land. On the North Island it's common on the east side, such as Hawke's Bay, and on the South Island in Canterbury, Otago, and Southland.

Stewart Island is the southernmost inhabited island. It has forest-lined inlets and dark-colored beaches.

White Island, north of the North Island, has the abandoned remains of a sulfur-mining operation destroyed by a volcanic disaster.

The Antipodes Islands have penguin colonies and fur seals too. It's a World Heritage site and an area closed to the general public.

If rolling hills are covered not in green pasture but in tan, tufted grass (tussock), with gray rocks jutting up out of it, that's Central Otago. It's the driest region in New Zealand.

If several columns of white steam rise from grassland or forest, and thick silver pipes snake across the ground, that's the Taupō Volcanic Zone.

Shelterbelts that protect crops from sea winds can also be seen here and there in the Bay of Plenty region on the North Island. Kiwifruit growing is a major industry.

If you see a mountain shaped like Mount Fuji (Mount Taranaki), you're around the national park in the southwest corner of the North Island.

The Otago Central Rail Trail on the South Island is about a 150 km walking and cycling path. Red bag-like objects are often visible along the route.