They also have a very cozy intelligence relationship with the US government and, along with the UK, Canada and Australia, are in fact classed as a "2nd party partner" by the United States. [1]

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-documents-n...

Agreed. NZ is one of the five eyes and relies quite heavily on the ANZUS treaty for defence.

In Snowdons case I'd avoid NZ - even if it was possible to get there without flying through psuedo-US controlled airspace.

New Zealand doesn't have an anti-US sentiment. And seriously people need to stop with this "historically X" nonsense. Diplomatic relations between countries can and do change on a dime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand–United_States_relat...

I was talking more about the average sentiment of residents, not the government's posturing.

But that's irrelevant. I'm sure most in the UK didn't like one of their own being extradited to the US for having a UK-legal link site.

It's only irrelevant if you capitulate that democracy has failed and is non-representative (ie. protests and other public action would not alter the outcome). While I am somewhat inclined to that perspective myself, it's important not to be completely defeatist, and I think New Zealand is doing relatively well in that department.