Why Are the Kiwis So Stingy?

As mosquito season draws to a close here in the U.S., what's left of my blood-deprived brain ponders this:

I've never been to New Zealand, but the more I learn about it, the more I like it. And hate it.

One of the best-rated manufacturers of mosquito-catching-machines is privately held EnviroSafe Technologies NZ Limited. Earlier in the season, I vacationed in mosquito-infested Chincoteague, Va., spending much of the week holed up behind a screen window watching a DVD on the making of Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Lord of the Rings. There I learned that one of the hottest new companies in the field of digital animation is the Kiwi-founded Weta Workshop, now hard at work helping to bring Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Halo video game to the big screen.

Could it be that the population of New Zealand, trapped on a few tiny islands, is concentrating on developing its "creative" gene?

Lacking a Ph.D. in genetic engineering, I'm the wrong Fool to come up with an answer to that. But as an investor, I have my suspicions -- and my frustrations. Because the more I learn about the fascinating companies growing up south of the equator, the more I learn that these firms are off-limits to U.S. investors. In fact, the only easy-to-invest-in, U.S.-listed firm that I could find in all of New Zealand is Telecom of New Zealand (NYSE: NZT).

Next door in Australia, investors can choose from varied names such as Alumina (NYSE: AWC) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP). But if I wanted to invest in commodities companies, there's no need to head south. There are plenty of those here at home. In the end, I suspect that until the Kiwis get more generous and open up their privately owned success stories to the rest of us for investment, the best way to invest in the Land of Kiwis may be through Australian bank Westpac Banking (NYSE: WBK). Lending to businesses in both countries, it may be the best shot we've got to participate in the New Zealand economy.