New Zealand
As you can clearly see New Zealand is beautiful beyond description. People in love with the series The Lord of the Rings adore New Zealand because it was filmed at this location. (The place we are staying at is quit close to where the Hobbits home was filmed and we may be able to take a tour on our day off.) However, whether you adore the book series or not New Zealand is worth coming to just for the scenery. I haven’t been here long so I don’t know all the amazing things to do, but from what I have heard it is an amazing place. After hearing there are no snakes here and nothing poisonous at all, I have decided this has moved up on the moving list. However, sunscreen is a necessity here. It appears that the ozone layer has a whole and it happens to be right over New Zealand. You will burn in 10-15 minutes without a 50 SPF.
Presently we are living in Crystal Springs, Matamaka. Crystal Springs is a Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base, where many different discipling programs go on. We are staying here for about 5 days for some additional training before heading off to our first ministry. Not many details are given about what we will be doing, but I will gladly keep you posted. Below is some facts about the country if you would like to learn about New Zealand.
Location:
- An island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (commonly called the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands
- Situated about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbors are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga
Population:
- 4 million people
Life expectancy:
- 76 years (men), 81 years (women)
Major religion:
- Christianity (50% claim it, however only 7-10% live it out)
- 40% of New Zealanders are atheist, agnostic or simply apatheist-claiming no religion at all.
*** Less than five per cent of New Zealand’s population is human…the rest are animals. This is one of the highest ratios of animals to humans in the world. Meaning that the sheep to human ratio is just about 9 to 1!
*** Maori comprise about 14 percent of the country’s population (just about 600,000)
