|  | | | New Zealand
Few countries on earth can match New Zealand for variety of landscape . From the mysterious and mist-enshrouded cape Reinga famed in Maori legend to the rocky West coast and the soaring panorama of Mount Cook, the country offers an enormous diversity of scenic beauty within a small and comparatively accessible area. Maori's call NZ Aotearoa, translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses, the North Island and the South Island, as well as numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).New Zealand, geographically isolation, located about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbors to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga |
| | | | | | | |  | | | | This little island country lay in the vast southern ocean, undisturbed by man until Polynesians landed a mere thousand or so years ago, Europeans started to arrive 300 hundred years ago. Their main interest was to establish farming, which slowly changed NZ landscape, replacing the forest and birds with pastures and sheep. There are many sheep farmers taking in guests, a relaxing way to vacation.
New Zealand offers the visitor an amazing experience on two drivable islands ,with beaches, scenic mountains, active glaciers, active volcano's, all connected by beautiful scenery. I have personally traveled through NZ since 1980 about 35 times , I have skied Mount Cook as well as ski slops outside of Queenstown. NZ offers excellent trout fishing in clear mountain streams , world class boating. Jet boating on the lakes around Queenstown is a thrill and you should try it , it is save , however I did not have the heart to bungji jump The Southern island always reminded me of California with its vistas, mountains and lakes. New Zealanders are a friendly lot and speak with an English accent, well kind off "as good as gold " is the standard acclaim and they mean it. Driving the islands is a delight, no mayor congestion and well kept hotels await, the Tucker(Food) is universal. The slim islands, reaching from subtropical ( northern )to subantarctic (southern) waters, contain a remarkable diversity and length of coastline, which stretches for 10 000 km ( 6250 miles), more than 50% of the US coast line. For every 1 million USA populous 94 km coast line and 3333 for equal number of New Zealanders, It is therefor for practical reason that most New Zealanders life near the coast. There are charter flight services that take small groups or individuals on sight seeing tours, very reasonable cost.. My family had the opportunity to look into vents of inactive volcano's and see mountain lakes on the upper slopes of arrayed mountains. Maori culture and villages are located mostly on the Northern tip of NZ, not far from Auckland. The NZ climat again reminds of California, mild and seasonable, except for higher elevations. Of course the seasons are reversed, no there are no Freeways. As NZ is located in the southern hemisphere. Overall NZ is a very reasonably priced and these day's discounted destination. Did I mention that NZ also is famous for breeding sheep and also deer farming. | | |  | | |  | | | | |
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| | | The National bird of NZ is the KIWI, New Zealanders are also referred to as "Kiwi's and than there is the now world renown Kiwi fruit, a very successful export, for wine lovers I highly recommend Malborough Estate red wine, now available in North America, it is surprisingly smooth and is a product of the Southern island, there are also white wines available. |
| | | | To early NZ settlers the Flax plant became a very important plant |
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| | | New Zealand leads the Globe in reversing the effects of Global Warming and attrition of it's Eco system. Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was forested. Until 2006 it was thought that there were no non-marine native mammals, barring three species of bat (one now extinct). However in 2006 scientists discovered bones that belonged to a long-extinct unique, mouse-sized land animal in the Otago region of the South Island. A diverse range of megafauna inhabited New Zealand's forests, including the flightless moas (now extinct), four species of kiwi, the kakapo and the takahē, all endangered by human actions. Unique birds capable of flight included the Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the large kākā and kea parrots. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks, geckos and living fossil tuatara. There are four endemic species of primitive frogs. There are no snakes and there is only one venomous spider, the katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal regions. There are many endemic species of insect, including the weta, one species of which may grow as large as a house mouse and is the heaviest insect in the world.
New Zealand has suffered a high rate of extinction's, including the moa, the huia, laughing owl and flightless wrens, which occupied the roles elsewhere occupied by mice). This is due to human activities such as hunting, and pressure from introduced feral animals, such as weasels, stoats, cats, goats, deer and brush tailed possums. Five indigenous vascular plant species are now believed to be extinct, including Adam's mistletoe and a species of forget-me-not.
New Zealand has led the world in island restoration projects, where offshore islands are cleared of introduced mammalian pests and native species are reintroduced. Several islands located near to the three main islands are wildlife reserves where common pests such as possums and rodents have been eradicated to allow the reintroduction of endangered species to the islands. A more recent development is the mainland ecological island. NZ has done much toward utilizing Renewable energy, when I first visited NZ in 1980, I was amazed that all Gas Stations were equipped to dispense gasoline, natural gas and diesel. As a matter of fact all vehicles were equipped to switch over. The NZ Gov. has done much to utilize available steam for energy production. perhaps NZ is the most activist nation on the Globe and is constantly assisting Polynesian Nations to clean their environment. The NZ Government also barred Nuclear power as well as any Nuclear War ships from their waters, which in the 80th was seen as an unfriendly act toward the USA Navy. As we are still arguing about Global warming , here is a tiny little island nation that has acted, starting over 30 years ago. Thank you Kiwi's UA Earthling ( New Zealand is a perfect country to practice ECO Travel) |
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