In each place, the area closest to the equator is semi-tropical and dry, and as one goes toward the nearest pole the climate gradually becomes temperate and the vegetation greener. The North Island is like Southern California, and the South Island is like Northern California and Oregon. Such a simplification of course needs some elaboration. The vast majority of people I have known in Oregon are great - but all of the people I met in New Zealand were at least three times as friendly. I had far more offers of places to stay and home cooked meals than I was comfortable accepting.
Food is a more personal matter.
Fish, fowl, and pasta were available too, but generally only incidentally to the meat part of the fare. There was also a full range of foreign and fancy cuisine available in the larger cities, but I elected to skip over those opportunities, with the exceptions of some excellent lamb curry, and sweet and sour pork. Here, I drink ice tea with almost every meal, but I had to change my pattern in New Zealand. If one orders ice tea there the response is similar to someone here ordering a dish of melted ice cream. Ice cubes are not found in every restaurant, and then generally only in the larger ones having a bar attached.