Almost two years to the day since New Zealand Prime Minister John Key first nailed his colours to the mast and urged the country to consider a new flag, voters are about to go to the polls to decide whether to make the change.

Early in March they will begin voting in a binding referendum on whether to ditch the country’s current flag, featuring a Union Jack, and adopt the Silver Fern flag that New Zealanders selected last year as the potential replacement.

To help the nation make its decision in the second referendum, the two flags are being flown on 280 sites around the country, from homes to farms to restaurants to town halls to ‘marae’, traditional Maori meeting places.

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And to add to their visibility, New Zealand Post is allowing the flags on courier vans and rural post vehicles in the lead-up the vote.

Nik Wilson is a postal contractor in Wellington who has been flying both the flags on his van for the past couple of weeks.

“It’s just good to have it out there to allow people to see the options and to make a decision for themselves as to which one they would like to vote for in the next referendum,” Mr Wilson said.

Nik Wilson said most people who saw the two flags flying on his van said they were keen for New Zealand to have a new flag unique to the country. Photo: ABC

He said he had had a lot of comments from people he met as he delivered the mail. And he said many were in favour of a change.

“Most of the people that see them say, ‘Yeah, it’s time for a change. We’ve had enough of the old flag and it’s time for the new one’.”

Mr Wilson said he would vote for the Silver Fern.

“I think [the current flag] has had its day. Mother England doesn’t want us anymore. They’re trying to cut all our benefits over there and they clearly don’t want us to be regular visitors over there. They don’t want us under their flag anymore, we might as well remove them from our flag altogether,” he said.

And he echoes the sentiment of many of the new flag supporters – that it doesn’t look like the Australian flag.

Mr Wilson’s anecdotal evidence of support for change was not reflected in the latest opinion poll, which said just 30 per cent of those surveyed would vote for the new flag.

Sixty-one per cent of those polled wanted to keep the current flag. Nine per cent said they did not yet know how they would vote – or they did not care.

Despite those numbers, Mr Key is not giving up – he has tied the flag that has been his favourite design all along, the blue and black Silver Fern, to the front gate of his Auckland home.

And now there is the choice of just two designs, some minds have changed.

Farmers Viv and Will Macfarlane flew the five flags New Zealanders had to choose from in the first referendum at their farm near the Hawke’s Bay city of Hastings on the North Island.

The current NZ flag flies alongside its possible replacement atop the Wellington town hall. Photo: ABC

Now they have the current New Zealand flag and the Silver Fern alternative on display outside the barn where they hold their twice-yearly cattle sales.

After leaning towards the status quo when the ABC visited them last November, they are now both planning to vote for the new flag.

“It’s not even my first or second choice. It was Will’s second choice and my third choice,” Ms MacFarlane said.

“But we’re still both thinking we’re going to vote for a change.

“I just think it’s time that New Zealand has its own flag, a totally different flag that says New Zealand rather than the British influence.”

Ms Macfarlane said seeing the flags flying on their farm in all types of weather and winds had been an advantage. And she reckons it has helped others who have made the 25-minute journey from Hastings to see the flags.

“An old guy that stopped yesterday, I would have expected that he would not have been going to change. And he says he’s going to vote for a change,” Ms Macfarlane said.

If New Zealand votes for the new flag, within six months it will be flown on days of national commemoration and on government buildings.

But New Zealanders will still be able to continue to fly the flag of their choice.

The referendum process is estimated to have cost $NZ26 million, too much for some.

“It seems to be a big expense to go to for such a small thing in a lot of people’s minds,” contractor Nik Wilson said.

“But now it’s happening and it’s underway, why not? Embrace the change and go for it.”

The postal ballot on the flag will be held between March 3 and 24 and anyone who is eligible to vote in a New Zealand general election can participate.

-ABC