I keep something of an eye on New Zealand news. Not often does anything show up in my news reader from that little speck of green on the other side of the planet, but today my New Zealand keyword matched up with another of my keywords … World Trade Organization … and so I ended up reading about NZ apples and Australia.

You see, Australia has a ban in place on importing NZ apples, because, they say, they are afraid of something called fireblight spreading to their own apple crops. Apparently, fireblight can’t be spread on the skins of fresh apples though, so there’s been some argument about why the Aussies don’t want the Kiwi’s apples entering their country. The going theory is that Kiwi apples are better than Aussie apples.

I’m not exactly in any position to say which apples are better, though I do find it somewhat ironic that as I sat there reading the news stories about New Zealand taking Australia to the WTO over the apple ban, I was drinking a glass of organic apple juice … made from New Zealand apples. I can tell you, the apple juice is quite tasty. Light, refreshing, and no added corn syrup to muck up the natural apple taste. Thus, I am inclined to believe that the Kiwi’s apples must be quite tasty indeed, since this is the best apple juice I think I have ever had.

Besides, how could a country that allows a collection of topless porn stars, erotic dancers and models to parade down the streets of its largest urban center in broad daylight have any bad apples in it. ;)