New Zealand is ahead of the US and UK. Google's Doodles are timed by local time and locality. So NZ gets them before the US does.
EDIT: Actually, it's quite interesting to look at Google's page about doodles. Most of the doodles will never be seen by you, since they are country-specific.
.co.uk I could understand, .com ,being the main site, would be an honour, even .de would be subtly ironic - but I can't see the connection with kiwis
Does each Google fiefdom get to do it's own toys without the express command of the chocolate factory?