I think the rivalry exists because you all told me it exists, but I don't know why it exists.

It would make fascinating reading here should someone write a bit--even at length--about this rivalry. Perhaps not on this thread, but somewhere under Information and Announcements.

And, since we're on the topic of New Zealand and Australia, I just wanted to mention that we have an assistant principal from Wales, but I thought he was from Australia when I first heard him speak. Does this strike you as being strange at all, hev? My incorrect ear, that is, or is there a similarity between the Welsh accent and the Australian? As I've become accustomed to his voice, he doesn't sound Australian anymore, but there is still something there that doesn't sound Irish, Scottish or English--and it sounds somehow more like Australian!