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INFORMATION
I often get asked about New Zealand,
everything from the standard where is it? (see below) to what
side of the road do you drive on (left), what's a banger
(sausage) and all the bits in between that you could possibly
think of and then some that most wouldn't... like what colour
are your fire engines (red), do you have electricity (*cough*),
do you have a pet sheep (no, the only sheep I've had has been
served on a plate), are you a farmer (no), where did you learn
to speak english (LOL!) on and on it goes and while I don't mind
at all it's not often that I can find the time to reply to them
all.. so it's here that you'll find the answers to some of them
then later on I'll add my own perspective on what it's like to
live in Auckland and I'll highlight a few of the places, history
and culture that I adore the most :-)
First off the very basics
So where in the world are we?
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New Zealand, also known as
Aotearoa (Land of the Long
White Cloud) is in the
southern Pacific Ocean,
approx 1600kms South-East of
our great neighbour (and
fierce sporting rivals)
Australia. It's comprised of
two main islands... North
Island and South Island,
then there is Stewart Island
(the wee island at the
bottom of the South Island)
and a few other smaller
islands scattered around our
shore line. Basically got 4
main centers... Auckland,
Wellington (capital),
Christchurch and
Dunedin.. The "big
smoke" is commonly referred
to as "The City of Sails"
why? well Auckland has the
largest number of boats per
head of population than any
other city in the world...
but more about Auckland
later :-) |
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Time...
NZ is one
of the first places in the world
to see the dawn of a new day...
which is perhaps why so many
people feel compelled to ask me
to predict their future, for the
next 24 hours at least.. and if
you stayed tuned to the TV,
newspapers and mags during the
build up to the Millennium you
may have caught the odd article
or two that highlighted
[Gisborne NZ]
as it's the first "city" in the
world to see the sun. (check out
our
[NZ Links Page]
for more info about Gisborne)
For the majority of the year we're
12 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich
Mean Time) which is pretty easy
to remember as it's generally
the last option you'll find on
your GMT time lines... but the
confusion for many (including
myself!) kicks in during "summer
time" as New Zealand has DST
(Daylight Saving Time) which
starts at 2am the 1st Sunday in
October and puts us +13 GMT. DST
goes right through until 2am the
3rd Sunday in March at which
point we go back to NZST (GMT
+12) which is about the time I
finally get into the swing of
being +13 so you can quite
accurately say that for 12
months of the year I have no
idea what zone I'm in let alone
what time it is anywhere else in
the world which is why
[H9K Timer]
and I are inseparable. If you
want to do a bit more reading up
on DST in NZ then you can check
the
[Time Act 1974]
which when
broken down means that we're 12
hours ahead or swing by
[The Department of Internal
Affairs]
and check out their article
[Daylight Saving]
Seasons...
Summer - December to February
Autumn - March to May
Winter - June to August
Spring - September to November
Currency
Currency $1 = 100 cents
Coins: 10c, 20c, 50c, $1 and
$2
Notes: $5, $10, $20, $50 and
$100 dollars
Exchange Rates
(13 Dec 2004)
1NZ$ will get you US$0.7017
1NZ$ will get you EUR$0.5317
1NZ$ will get you GPB$0.3643
Click here for rates for
today
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
More Sheep than People?
Yep! We're out numbered and
depending on whose statistics you prefer the the average is
around 12 sheep for each person. New Zealand has a human head
count of around 4 million .. and sheep head count of around 47
million so it's not hard to tell how the all the kiwi/sheep
jokes came to be.
New Zealand Flag
 The
New Zealand flag has a royal blue background, in the top left
hand corner you'll find the Union Jack and the four stars to the
right of this represent the Southern Cross. More information
about the NZ Flag is available at
[Ministry of Culture and
Heritage - nzflag]
Our National Plant
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is the Pohutukawa. A beautiful
crimson flower makes it
easily identifiable and the
trees are simply stunning in
bloom.. sadly they are
endangered due in part to an
introduced pest, the
Australian Possum.
For more information you can
check out
[Project Crimson]
which is a charitable trust
that was set up back in 1990
with an aim to protect then
endangered Pohutukawa (and
Rata) Trees.. amazing
results to date with over
200,000 trees being
successfully planted..
thanks to the support of
companies like
[Carter Holt Harvey]
National
Bird
 is
the Kiwi.. our wee flightless bird.
The"must see" website for
all things "kiwi" is the
[Kiwi Recovery Program].
It was first launched back
in 1991 in an effort to save
our wee national icon from
extinction and one again,
thanks to the help of
supporters like
[Bank of New Zealand]
they can continue with their
research, educating the
public and projects like
Operation Nestegg. At the
[Kiwi Recovery Program]
website you'll find lots of
cool facts about our wee
flightless friend, pictures,
downloads, postcards and if
you dig deep enough you'll
be able to hear what they
sound like as they have the
male and female call of the
Great Spotted Kiwi and the
North Island Brown Kiwi
(Real Audio files).
1st...
New Zealand was the first
self-governing nation to
grant women the right to
vote 19 September 1893
[archives.govt.nz - Women's
Suffrage Petition]
Go girls!
This page was last updated
20 September 2010
Site updated & maintained by
Reuben Dixon
İChakdarra Kennels |
