Nice to Know in New Zealand

When planning a trip to a country of your choice it is wise to learn about things that make that country special. The information you gather will help you plan your itinerary well so that you do not miss out on the attractions the country has to offer and is known for. Our New Zealand Travel Guide will give you a sneak preview of what this amazing country offers. Here are a few unique things that New Zealand is famous for.

Diverse breathtaking landscapes

New Zealand is known for its diverse picturesque landscapes. In the country’s Southern Alps in South Island are jagged snowcapped mountains dotted with numerous turquoise colored lakes, ancient forests, wide glaciers and glacial valleys. In the mountain range are thousands of glaciers where a few noted ones are situated very close to sea levels, sustained by the great amount of precipitation from the west coast. Greenstone rivers cut through the range creating a breathtaking view. New Zealand also has numerous picture perfect fiords that cut through steep, lush, green mountains as they wind their way into the sea. In the South Island you will find beautiful and serene fiords such as the Milford Sound, Lake McKerrow, Lake Wakatipu, Monowai, Hauroko and Poteriteri among others. Millions of tourists who are awed by the immense diversity of the terrain and the many fun activities that can be done while enjoying nature’s beauty visit these destinations. There are guided mountain and glacier tours or you can kayak through the beautiful rivers while getting a closer view of the beautiful scenery and wildlife.

Contrasting the icy Alps are the country’s geological hotspots. New Zealand has many active and dormant volcanoes, hot springs or waiariki in Maori and geysers. Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Ngaruahoe and Ngahwa Springs are just some of the locations in the North Island where hot springs are located. Hanmer Springs, Maruia Springs, Otehake River and Wanganui River are on the South Island. Visitors can experience the awesome power of nature in the geothermal parks where geysers shoot out hot water and steam from underground. There are some geysers that erupt every thirty minutes. Visit Wai-o-Tapu, a geothermal park in Rotorua and set your watch and wait for Lady Knox Geyser to erupt at exactly 10:15 every morning. Its eruption shoots to a height of 20 meters. You can also see the world-famous Champagne Pool in Wai-o-Tapu as well as volcanic craters, naturally-colored hot and cold pools and bubbling mud pools. It is in one of these steaming craters where a portion of the movie The Lord of the Rings was filmed.

New Zealand has a long coastline that boasts of beautiful beaches with hidden coves. Miles and miles of sparkling sand and azure waters will surely delight the sun and sea lovers. The Ninety Mile Beach in the northwestern section of North Island (actually 60 miles long) is world-famous for its sand dunes that resemble the Sahara Desert. Mission Bay in Auckland is suitable for people traveling with children.

If you are in for a forest adventure visiting the smaller islands of the country would be the perfect choice. Stewart Island is one such island where one gets to see and experience life in the New Zealand forests, which are home to the famous New Zealand bird, the kiwi. In this island too, one can have a nice view of and be astounded by the aurora australis also known as the southern lights during winter. This wonderful curtain or sheet of light or a diffused glow in green sometimes red and at times in some other color can be clearly seen in the night sky when the weather turns cold.

In contrast to the unspoiled wilderness, New Zealand also has modern and sophisticated cities like Wellington, which is the country’s capital, and Auckland. These cities have modern shopping malls and restaurants where you can shop and dine and watch various cultural events. Wellington is the political center of the country and has modern buildings and well preserved old structures that show different architectural styles from the past 150 years. Auckland’s Sky City is a favorite tourist destination. It is an enormous glass tower from where you can get a good view of the entire city.

Maori, New Zealand’s indigenous people

Maori are the tangata whenua or indigenous people of New Zealand who came to New Zealand in the 13th century from Hawaiki in Eastern Polynesia. They came to New Zealand in several waves riding in canoes. They are a daring and adventurous people and known to be one of the greatest sea navigating peoples of all times. Living in isolation in New Zealand, which they called Aotearoa or Land of the Long White Cloud, the Maori developed their own distinct culture, language, arts and crafts. They are best known for their traditional carving and weaving techniques which can still be seen in meetinghouses that have been preserved, their group performances known as the kappa haka, their whaikorero or oratory. The Maori have a unique protocol that can still be observed in Maori meeting grounds known as marae, which have become tourist destinations. Starting with powhiri, which formally welcomes guests, this ritual involves dances, speeches and songs to welcome guests and is capped by the ceremonial touching of noses of guest and hosts. After the powhiri, kai or food may be shared.

To protect them from aggressors Maori lived in a pā or fortified villages, which were built on terraced hilltops. The pa had concentric walls enabling the inhabitants to retreat to fortified inner terraces once the outer walls were invaded. Some of these Maori fortifications have been preserved and could still be seen in hills throughout the country. The Maori also had various worship rituals, sacrifices and dances, which were usually performed before going to war. Exhibitions of these traditional rituals and dances are presented during formal occasions and in some tourist destinations. Maori are also known for their elaborate and big tattoos. The men who had high ranking positions in the tribe were decorated with intricate tattoos on their faces and buttocks while women of high stature wore tattoos on their chin.
Maori influence is felt strongly in the country. Most of the places in New Zealand have Maori names and Maori words are now incorporated in the language New Zealanders speak which is English. The longest name given to a place in New Zealand in Maori is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka-
pikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu. This is how a hill in Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay is called. This Maori name means “the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as Landeater, played his flute to his loved one.”

The Maori population now makes up less than 14% of the country’s population.

New Zealand’s rare flora and fauna

A variety of whales and dolphins, interesting birds, reptiles and mammals can be found in this country. New Zealand also has interesting and rare plants that seem to have come from an ancient era. Here are some, which can be found nowhere else but in New Zealand.

The Silver Fern

Ferns grow well in tropical environments but New Zealand, which is a temperate country, has over 200 varieties of this tropical plant. About 40% of these ferns can be found only in New Zealand. The ferns grow best in the damp forests. There are fern trees that grow as high as 10 meters and some that are just 20 millimeters in length. The most famous of these ferns is the silver fern or the Ponga, which has become a national symbol and emblem used in badges of Army units, and even in the central badge on Regimental Colours, which is likened to the UK Union Wreath. It is also used as an emblem of different sport teams in New Zealand, including the All Blacks (national rugby team), Silver Ferns (netball team), Black Caps (men’s cricket team) and Black Ferns (women’s rugby team) It is the silver underside of this fern variety that gave it its name. The fern fronds, which are 2 to 4 meters long, grow on towering 10 meter fern trees.

The Kiwi

Of the many animals that roam in the country’s wilderness, the kiwi is the most popular. The kiwi is a flightless bird found only in New Zealand. It is New Zealand’s national bird yet many New Zealanders have never seen one up close because they are semi-nocturnal creatures that live in the native forests and native grasslands. The kiwi is the only survivor of an ancient order of birds and it has some very peculiar characteristics. It is the only bird in the whole world with nostrils at the end of its beak and they lay very large eggs compared to their body’s size. These birds are covered with coarse hair like feathers, have no tail and have two inch wings, which could not be used for flight. Despite their strange appearance, kiwis are very alert and can outrun humans. Their claws serve as their protection for they enable them to kick and slash their enemies. The kiwi became the emblem in regimental badges in the late 1800s. When the new Auckland University was established in 1883 three kiwis became part of and are still part of the university’s coat of arms. To date, the kiwi remains to be a prominent part of many coat of arms, badges and crests of many cities in the country and as well as in many clubs and organizations and in the Royal New Zealand Air Force roundel.

During the First World War, New Zealand soldiers were given the name “Kiwi” and at present New Zealanders overseas and at home are also called “Kiwis”. Using this term for New Zealanders in not offensive to them for they pride themselves in these birds, which are nowhere to be found, but in their county.

The Keas

The keas are highly social birds that are native to New Zealand. They belong to the large-sized parrot family that can grow up to 19 inches in length. They inhabit the alpine mountains of the South Island and are the only alpine parrots in the world. They may look quite ordinary with their olive color, but the feathers under their wings are bright orange in color, which make for a great contrast. Called the “clowns of the mountains” their presence can easily be detected because of their loud cries that echo in the mountains. These birds are considered as one of the most intelligent birds in the world. They had been observed to work together for a common objective and can solve some logical puzzles. They are known for being inquisitive and mischievous. It is their inquisitive or curious nature and their search for possible food sources that make them crowd around new things that catch their attention be it morsels of food, a backpack, a pair of boots, a car tire, etc. They may carry away small pieces of unguarded stuff or peck on things with their powerful beaks to investigate them, often causing serious damage. Some find this behavior of the keas amusing while others find them very annoying.

The Kakapo

Another bird found only in New Zealand is the kakapo. The kakapo is a nocturnal flightless parrot, the only one in the world and can weigh up to 3.5 kilograms or 8 pounds. It is the kakapo’s ability to store large amounts of body fat for energy that makes it heavy. The kakapo is considered as one of the world’s rarest with only about 131 existing as of June 2011. Conservation efforts to protect this rare bird began as early as 1890 and are still being actively done till the present. Under the 1980 Kakapo Recovery Plan, the surviving kakapo are relocated to two islands where no known predators exist.
Kakapo is a Maori word for night parrot. These parrots roost under cover in trees and on the ground during the day. In the evening this blotched yellow green birds, also called owl parrots hunt for food, which is quite rare among parrots. Their sense of smell is highly developed which is another rare characteristic. And the kakapo puts this to good use when they search for food at night. These night birds also have a pleasant and powerful musty odor, which can work against them since this odor easily, attracts their predators, which include ermine, ferrets, rats and cats.

The Tuatara

The tuatara is an extremely rare medium sized reptile found only in New Zealand. They belong to Order Sphenodontia, the order under which many species of dinosaurs that roamed the earth 200 million years ago belong. The tuatara is the only extant species of that order and is therefore a well-protected group of reptiles. Tuatara is a Maori word that means “spiny back” which is an appropriate description for the reptile that has a crest of spines on its back. The color of these nocturnal reptiles ranges from olive green to brown to orange red. Even with the absence of external ears they are able to hear. The young has a third eye or a parietal eye on the top of its head. It is a complete eye structure, indicating that it evolved from an actual eye. This third eye becomes covered with pigment and opaque scales when the tuatara is around four to six months old. Up till now scientists have not determined the real purpose of that third eye. They can change their color during their lifetime, which can last up to 100 years. The tuatara once roamed all throughout New Zealand’s mainland but because of the presence of rodents and other mammals that prey on them, their number in the mainland dwindled yet they have survived in the smaller islands.

The Pavlova

Many people think that the dessert called Pavlova originated from Australia. And it is actually a subject of a great many debates between the two countries down under. But according to records, the light and sweet dessert actually came from New Zealand, and is the country’s national dessert. It was created by an unnamed hotel chef in Wellington in honor of the Russian Ballerina Anna Pavlova when she visited New Zealand in 1926. The Pavlova was meant to represent her dancing. The light meringue is for the ballerina’s lightness when dancing. The whipped cream on top represents her tutu while the slices of kiwi fruits and the streams of passion fruit are meant to be the decorations on Anna Pavlova’s tutu.

Bungee Jumping

It may not be original as the first people to perform the jumping off a ledge or a high perch with vines tied to one’s ankles were performed by the men in Vanuatu, a small island in the Pacific, near New Zealand. They perform the ritual as a sign of manhood and as prayer for a rich yam harvest. For the modern-day version of this daring jump, the first to try bungee jumping were four members of the Dangerous Sport Club of Oxford University in England. They did a four-man simultaneous jump off the 245-foot high Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol on the 1st of April in 1979. They were, however, promptly arrested for that. Although the four Oxford University students were able to perform other bungee jumps from different locations, Kiwis Chris Allum and A. J. Hackett were the first to open a commercial bungee jump site in Ohakune, North Island in 1988. To publicize their bungee jump site, Hackett jumped from the Eiffel Tower. And bungee jumping became one of the activities included in a New Zealand adventure package.

Lemon & Paeroa

You cannot find this sweet carbonated mineral water and lemon juice soft drink anywhere else. Although now manufactured by Coca-Cola, the soft drink is only available in New Zealand. The company that previously bottled this drink was originally bottlers and sellers of mineral water coming from a spring in Paeroa along Junction Road that had been there since the 1600s. The water was valued for its thirst-quenching and medicinal properties. No one can say when the lemon was added to the carbonated mineral water, though. One record said that a writer and a friend thought of adding lemon to their carbonated mineral water to enhance its flavor. This in turn gave birth to the Lemon & Paeroa soft drink. Whatever the legend may be the soft drink is loved by the Kiwis, including the quickly slogan, “world-famous in New Zealand.”