Miriam Margolyes in New Zealand Photo: screenshot
New Zealand is a "more interesting and developing place than Australia," says Australian-based British actor Miriam Margolyes.
Her new travel programme Miriam Margolyes in New Zealand - which landed earlier this month - sees her travel the North and South Islands learning about a country she has visited before, but as she told RNZ's Saturday Morning, knew little about.
"This programme was really the first time that I really tasted the whole country and felt I got to know it a bit."
Her encounters with Māori culture particularly affected her, she said.
"New Zealanders are proud of it and so they should be, it is stunning. And I feel that a lot of the pride that New Zealanders have in their country starts from the Māori traditions, which are very strong.
"The Māori people that I met were just fabulous - they're just thrilling, different, powerful people."
While no rugby fan, she was taken with the Black Ferns when she visited them at their Taupō training ground.
"I can't say I've changed my mind about rugby. I still think it's a game for thugs. I don't like it at all, but I was enchanted by the rugby people that I met, both the girls and the boys, and I reacted with joy to it.
"You can't fail to be impressed by the Black Ferns. They're just amazing. They're all remarkable young women. They're admirable, and their dedication and their excitement and their creativity, they're very exceptional young women, and I was honoured to meet them."
She found the haka she experienced on her travels deeply moving too.
"I had three haka experiences when I was in New Zealand, and I wept. I just found it overwhelming."
She came away, she said, with a sense that New Zealand is forging a unique identity.
"I think that the main influence in Australia is America, and the main influence, the most pervasive influence in in New Zealand is the British one, but the Māori people have reinforced their hold on New Zealand, and therefore for me, at the moment, it's a more interesting and developing place than Australia."
And she was eager to return, she said.
"It's a tiny population, but it's thrilling. It's a thrilling place to go to, and I'm dying to go back."
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