10 interesting facts about New Zealand
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1. The Royal New Zealand Air Force logo features the national animal, the kiwi – a flightless bird…how ironic
If you’d like to see the elusive kiwi bird, check out Zealandia in Wellington, or Rainbow Springs in Rotorua
2. The longest single-word place name is in New Zealand!
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is a hill near Porangahau in Hawke’s Bay on the North Island. You can go and climb the 305-metre hill for a lovely view over the town
3. Of New Zealand’s entire living population, only 5% are human.
This makes New Zealand proud supporters of the highest human to animal ratio in the world! What a great place to see some wildlife.
4. New Zealand is, you could say, slightly precariously placed on what’s known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Quite a few of them are classified as still being active including the iconic Mt Ruapehu otherwise known as Mt Doom from The Lord of the Rings.
On top of this, the biggest city, Auckland, sits on a large volcanic field of approximately 53 volcanoes. You need not worry though as the last eruption there was about 500 years ago and is most probably unlikely to erupt again.
5. Auckland has the largest number of boats per capita than any other city in the world.
6. Over one-third of the entire country of New Zealand is made up of protected land and marine areas
It’s no wonder New Zealand is known for its incredible scenery when so much of the country has been carefully protected and preserved. A visit to some of the national parks is an absolute must!
7. The Kea, a bird native to New Zealand, is known for pulling windscreen wipers off cars and eating the strips of rubber from windows. In fact, many tourists suffer damages on their car rentals thanks to this little bird.
8. Do you get nervous around animals of a slithery nature? New Zealand is for you, there are no snakes here.
Not only are there no snakes, there are also no native mammals (excluding the bat). Any mammals you see in New Zealand have been introduced over the years.
9. The clearest lake in the world is Nelson’s Blue Lake, with a visibility of up to 80 meters deep.
10. On the 2001 New Zealand census, 53,715 people listed their religion as “Jedi.” That was more than the amount of Buddhist and Hindu in the country. But, by 2006 the “religion” declined to about 20,000.
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