Nick Bryant reflects on New Zealand's mix of controlled fury, subtle charm and social harmony, and asks why the rest of the world can't be more like it.

What can you tell about a country from the people you encounter at its point of entry?

Alas, in this age of globalised uniformity, the truth is, probably not that much.

Most of the immigration and customs officials that you come across in those sunlight-starved arrivals halls aren't very sunny themselves, as they mechanically stamp your passport or grudgingly wave you through.

But late the other night, I came across that rarest of bureaucratic beings - a middle-aged customs official with a sense of humour, a welcoming smile, blond dreadlocks which hung lazily over his shoulders, and a gloriously free spirit which he was delighted to share with a planeload of new arrivals from Australia.

He and his colleagues looked particularly kindly on us - a camera crew with almost as many bags as Imelda Marcos has shoes, which had arrived without one key item - the requisite paperwork to get us through customs.

"This need not be a major problem," they said with their Kiwi twangs, as we were welcomed into New Zealand, a land of geniality in a far-flung corner of the world.

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Credit: Nick Bryant, http://news.bbc.co.uk