這套郵票很有趣，把古早照片和現今的模樣一起比較，我最喜歡這種照片啦！
奧克蘭是紐西蘭最大的城市，華人最多，本來我爸要我去那裡念大學的，但是我很不喜歡那麼多的華人，聽說班上會有一半以上都是華人，日文課也幾乎都是華人在選的……我聽到就嚇死了，根本就不想去！所以還是繼續待在那個小城鎮唸完大學。在奧克蘭有很多Shopping Mall，可是偏偏紐西蘭這個人口不多的國家，分店超級會開的，在奧克蘭好像也沒有多好，衣服還是那樣貴啊！不過華人吃的食物就便宜多了，還有台灣人開的超市，記得那家超市剛開幕不久，我去看過一次，整家店全部都是台灣的食品雜貨，連洗髮精也有！樓上有賣什麼貢丸湯牛肉麵之類的，但我沒吃過，貴的要死，也有租借錄影帶的，但我對這個也沒興趣啦。後來大學時又去了奧克蘭幾次，朋友帶我去吃滿便宜的飲茶、越南麵食，這，就是大城市的好處啦！
基本上我覺得奧克蘭沒有什麼好玩的，除了那個新的塔Sky Tower還滿值得去參觀的。聽說那是南半球最高的塔哦，不知道後來有沒有其他國家又蓋了更高的塔。當初在蓋那座塔時被人罵的臭頭，很多歐洲人都說他們原本有這樣的高塔，可是有很多壞處後來就拆掉了，沒想到紐西蘭竟然走回頭路！這座塔的經濟效益如何還不知道，但觀光客滿多的，收門票就滿賺錢的，那塔上面有幾塊是透明的強力玻璃銜在地板上，看你敢不敢走在那玻璃地板上囉，感覺上好像是在高空中騰空站立（有懼高症的人最好不要嘗試），玻璃地板很堅固，站在上面不會有事，就是心裡面會毛毛的，從玻璃地板可以直穿看到下面的街道行人商店，我們常在開玩笑說穿裙子的怎麼辦？會被下面的行人看到耶！除非行人真的很無聊啦，拿著望遠鏡往高塔上看，要不然任誰也看不到高空中有什麼人在塔裡吧？
威靈頓是紐西蘭的首都，離我家最近的大城市。在那個高樓不太多的小鎮住半年多後，第一次到威靈頓感覺很新鮮，從來沒有到過西洋國家的大城市看到這麼多乾淨的高樓大廈，誰叫台灣的高樓大廈都髒髒的，招牌又多又亂呢？那次去威靈頓吃日本料理還有飲茶也讓我很感動，還有大肆採購中國食品啦。後來再去就不是那麼喜歡威靈頓了，竟然比我家那裡的風還要強勁，還要冷！畢竟是海港啦，山坡地也很多，在那裡居住也真的有點痛苦。
旦尼丁還不錯，不過因為位在南島的東南方，緯度高，比較靠近南極，冬天很冷。Otago大學的建築物超級漂亮的，我高中去參加過一次科學營的解剖組，非常喜歡那裡的解剖博物館，全部都是泡在藥水裡真人的器官，當然也有雙頭嬰兒啦，還有手背皮膚剝離的手掌，看得見皮膚下的脈絡精骨。害我差點想去那裡念大學，不過我怕冬天下雪太冷，冬天花在暖氣的費用會很高，就放棄這個念頭。而且Otago大學漂亮的建築物就只有那幾棟，其他的都散佈在城市中，上課好像不是很方便。後來有兩個台灣朋友都去那裡念醫科，不知道他們現在跑到哪裡當醫生囉？
●郵票簡介原文
Urban Transformation
11 November 1998
New Zealand cities began with the first organised European settlement in 1840, and have been in a state of constant change ever since. All had a blueprint for their evolution, though in virtually every case the reality and the planning never quite matched. Nevertheless, by the beginning of this century, the main centres at least – Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington - included substantial commercial and financial buildings, factories and, from around 1900, department stores.
The late-Victorian classical/Gothic look of around 1900 would survive largely intact until the 1960s, when economic growth and modernist architecture prompted the erection of much larger office buildings. Meanwhile, increased interest in, and awareness, of public health and town planning issues saw many older houses in city centres demolished and replaced with new ferro-concrete and steel buildings.
In the mid-1980s, another period of economic growth, prompted by financial deregulation, resulted in huge mirror glassed 'corporate' towers rising up to dominate parts of the skyline. That trend was checked by the stock market crash of 1987, only to be replaced over this last decade by another - the emergence of inner city apartments.
The six stamps in this issue feature an image from the late 19th or early 20th century and a photograph of approximately the same location today. Nearly 160 years after cityscapes began in New Zealand, change is very much the only constant.
‧40c Wellington:
The city of Wellington was meant to be built at Petone but was moved to Lambton Harbour in 1840 because the original site was too swampy. A huge reclamation programme to obtain flat land followed. Economic expansion and reinforced concrete construction saw the central business district transformed from the 1920s on. Recent changes have included the new Civic Square and the re-development of the waterfront, including the erection of the imposing Museum of New Zealand.
‧80c Auckland:
Governor Hobson chose the fertile volcanic landscape of the Tamaki isthmus as the site for his capital, Auckland, in 1840. Some 50 years later, the 'dingy wooden structures' lining Queen Street had been replaced by substantial brick and stone structures with neo-classical or Gothic facades. Large department stores and entertainment venues were added. Residential suburbs sprawled across the isthmus, and Auckland de-centralised. More recently, the trend to apartment living has seen the inner city undergo something of a resurgence.
‧$1.00 Christchurch:
Christchurch's site was chosen for its closeness to Lyttelton and the fertile land of the Canterbury Plains. By the turn of the century, solid two- and three-storey buildings were very much part of the city's business centre. Meanwhile, housing within the four founding avenues began to expand out from the 1880s. After the Second World War, there was further expansion to both the north-west and the east, while inner city redevelopment focused on apartments.
‧$1.20 Westport:
Gold rushes on the West Coast turned a small settlement at the mouth of the Buller River into New Zealand's fifth largest export port by 1867. Later, the development of large-scale mining to the north saw Westport become the country's major coal port. However, the town has continued to suffer at the hands of nature, with fire and earthquakes taking substantial tolls. Today, it is a port of call for tourists and retains a bustling frontier feel.
‧$1.50 Tauranga:
The battle of Gate Pa in 1864 resulted in military settlement nearby, close to the Anglican mission station at Te Papa pa. By 1878, a township had been established on the beachfront. But by 1901, Tauranga's population was less than 1000. By the 1930s, it had only reached 3000. However, the decision in 1950 to develop overseas port facilities at nearby Mount Manganui, spurred exponential growth. The population doubled over the next decade, and by 1961 Tauranga was a city.
‧$1.80 Dunedin:
Sheltered Otago Harbour was chosen as the best site for the Free Church settlement of 1848. With the influx of goldrush money in the 1860s and 1870s, land was reclaimed, the commercial district expanded, and 'magnificent and costly buildings' constructed with 'marvellous rapidity'. By 1880, Dunedin was 'a city of consequence'. Many of these facades survived largely intact until the 1960s. Much of the 19th century terrace housing near the city centre survives to this day.
‧郵票簡介與圖片來源：
http://www.nzstamps.co.nz/nzstamps/index.html 
