I never doubted that it is!!! I should know, because I visited there this year, and the border customs and entry stamp looked and felt pretty country-like to me :)
Before I emigrated with my family from England aged 5, neither could I. I still remember Dad describing how we were going to go to a country far away and my being part-curious, part-vacant on hearing this, though not afraid. NZ is a great country to live in, and mercifully free of the class-consciousness of Britain.