You hear the occasional newsreader say Bill Lola instead of Biloela or the grey nomads saying they are headed to Cally Ope E instead of Calliope.

I even remember people going berserk at my own pronunciation of Berserker Street when we first moved to Rockhampton.

But I am going to be a lot less judgemental now after the Supermum family travelled to New Zealand.

We did the hire car thing and self-travelled around so we could go wherever we wanted.

My Superman was behind the wheel and the two teenage boys were in the back with their headsets and some sort of I-technology.

And there was me in the front with the map.

Not a detailed map, mind you.

Just your average free map with the main places marked out and that was all we needed to get us on our way.

And I was enjoying the accents on the radio.

Even the boys embraced the 'language' changing the sound of their vowels to fit in with the locals.

But it was while reading the map that I realised there were a few places I was a bit scared to pronounce.

I was pretty safe with Auckland, but I found I needed to roll my r's more for Rotorua.

Waitakaruru looked like something I would say to the kids if I had something to do on the way back to the car.

Matamata also looked like something I would also say to the kids, but under my breath in the hope they wouldn't really hear me.

Whatawhata; also something I would say in response to whatever the kids were requesting.

Te Mata; something with my bacon and lettuce on a burger perhaps?

Waiouru; we are here, where are you?

Te Puke; something one of the kids needed to do after driving on all the windy roads along the coastline.

Waitopu Thermal Park, with its geothermal activity, was a pretty accurate name, I thought.

But one place we visited, just outside Rrrrotorrrua, left us all speechless.

Whakarewarewa.

Especially after a tour guide told us that the Wh was pronounced as an F.

So yes, now I won't even blink an eye if someone says MackAy to my MackaY.