Stuff you need (used loosely!!) to know about…..New Zealand.
New Zealand (NZ) is in the South Pacific. It is not a tropical island!
NZ would fit very comfortably into the state of California with some room to move
NZ has a very active fault line running through it – there are 3 active volcanoes and the main mountain range is still growing.
NZ has no native land mammals
NZ languages: English, Maori
NZ currency: NZ dollar – $1NZ dollar = .74 US cents
The national symbol of NZ is the Silver Fern
NZ was first settled by Polynesian people – the Maori – in or around 800AD
Europeans or Pakeha people first started arriving in 1642 when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman found the islands and then again in 1769 when Captain James Cook sailed by.
Colonization started shortly after that and the colonists from the UK and Europe did what colonists do – spread disease, kill natives and set up towns and govts (please note that unlike the nearby island of Australia NZ was not settled as a penal colony – just so we are clear on that one!)
In 1840 NZ become the first country to put into effect the 8 hour working day
In 1893 NZ was the first country to allow women to vote
In 1903, just a few months before Kitty Hawk, a Kiwi bloke by the name of Richard Pearse became the first man to fly a plane (what now Wright brothers???)
In 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and his mate Tenzing Norgay became the first people to climb Mount Everest the world’s tallest peak (Hillary did heaps of other choice stuff as well – trip to the South Pole, Jet boats up the Ganges, schools in Nepal)
In 1983 the French Govt blew up an NZ based Greenpeace boat in Auckland harbor – the Rainbow Warrior had been leading protests about French nuclear testing in the South Pacific – one crew member was killed
In 1987 NZ land, sea and airspace became nuclear free zones – and is to this day nuclear free
One of the Thompson twins (80’s pop band!!) is a New Zealander
You should go there – it is only about $800 return. The flight is only 12 hours. Pete and Sal Hansen will look after you.
