You know how much I love free things. Who can resist a giveaway, even if the item in question is completely useless or impractical?

But this, ah, we’re onto a winner.

Good ol’ Air New Zealand is offering you the chance to win flights to Australia in a gimmicky, yet oddly enticing, way. The deal is this: just send a message online to a friend in Australia (an expat Kiwi, of course) and it’ll be displayed on a billboard outside Customs House in Sydney. Just by sending this message to a mate, you’ll go into the draw for a return flight to Aussie (and so will your friend). The gallery of sent messages also makes for good voyeuristic viewing (as well as the usual ‘I luv you, will you marry me?’s, there are comedians out there writing gems like this one: Hey man, remember the time we ate a whole pair of jeans? Come home so we can do it again!).

Remember, NZS.com lists heaps of other sites where you can enter competitions and snaffle free stuff for yourself. And if you don’t fancy your chances of winning, why not book a flight to Australia to escape these far-from-tropical wintry days?

Outside my door last week, I found a box with my name on it. A big box. I wasn’t expecting anything, so it was with some excitement I opened the box to discover two large packets of bagel chips (like bagels, only cut up, cooked until crunchy, then seasoned). The next day, a tin of Mediterranean style tuna arrived unannounced (I don’t eat fish, but my cat does!). Later, bags of chewy candy and samples of olive oil materialized in my letterbox.

What did it all mean? At last, I’d discovered a source of free lunches!

Actually, I was reaping the rewards of dabbling in our Free Stuff category. Register for this, express interest in that, fill in a quick survey and before I knew it, I had free food arriving by the boxful. For New Zealand companies and consumers, it’s a win-win situation - they get your input into what products you’d like to see on the shelves of your local supermarket and you get a taste test for free.

As well as food, there are heaps of other freebies and giveaways up for grabs in this popular category. I’m awaiting my next tasty installment…

I’ve been looking forward to posting on the new NZS.com Blog as a great opportunity to talk about some of the surprising (and sometimes quite funny) things people search for online in New Zealand.

Personally, I hadn’t come across many online survey sites until I started working for NZS.com, so I’ve found it surprising to see quite how popular online surveys are in New Zealand.

Our Free Stuff category is a highly popular section of the directory and the Great New Zealand Survey, who are listed in the category, seem to be the number one hit with their monthly competitions.

As someone who hasn’t completed many surveys online myself I was curious to see what they were asking and was amazed how varied the questions were. Thankfully the more personal questions were optional so that I was not forced into divulging too much information!