Mark: Yeah, I think the first thing for some people to realise is that Christmas is midsummer in New Zealand.

　　Todd: Oh nice!

　　Mark: So Kiwis combine Christmas holiday and New Year holiday with a summer vacation as well.

　　I can remember when I was small, we’d have family Christmases and then the next day, which is Boxing Day, we’d go to the beach or we’d travel somewhere and rent a small house on the beach. They call them ‘batches’ in the north of the island or ‘cribs’ in the south island. And you just spend 4, 5 days, maybe a week, 2 weeks, just swimming in the sea, playing in the sand dunes, walks in the forest: just a really relaxing time with family and family friends.

　　Todd: That sounds nice, so you know in Australia they’re really big on surfing. Do a lot of people surf in New Zealand?

　　Mark: There is a surfing population. I think the Australian beaches are probably much larger and

　　maybe they have better waves, I don’t know, but several of my friends used to go on surfing holidays in summer as well.

　　Todd: And what foods do people like to eat when they get together for the summer?

　　Mark: Barbecue is almost the national obsession in summertime, you know, you’d just throw a sausage on the barbie or friends would ring up and say ‘hey, it’s a nice night, let’s have a barbie!’. I think all my friends have their own barbecue set.

　　Todd: What meats do people barbecue?

　　Mark: Again, New Zealand foods used to very much sort of be the lamb or beef, but now it’s getting a lot more varied, you can grill a nice fish on the barbecue, you can still have sausage, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, whatever you want.

　　Todd: Yeah, it sounds good. OK, well thanks, Mark.

　　Mark: OK.