Destination Information

New Zealand

Kia Ora!

Those are words you will hear often when you journey to Aotearoa, the traditional native word for New Zealand. Aotearoa means “Land of the Long White Cloud” and while this is a lot to do with the country’s island geography ((and thus the amount of clouds present in New Zealand), it is as much to do with the mysticism and beauty of one of the newest countries on this earth.

What do we mean by newest countries? Well, Aotearoa was one of the last land masses settled by humans – estimates say that no humans existed on the island until Polynesians settled there in the 1300s. These Polynesians developed their own unique culture now commonly known as Maori. The Maori predominantly settled on what is now commonly known as the North Island (New Zealand has three main islands: North, South and Stewart). In the mid 1600s, the first Europeans arrived. These were Dutch settlers and their encounter with the Maori was not peaceful or successful – luckily, it was also very brief and did not result in a long drawn out war as many encounters with Europeans did for aboriginal people around the world. The Dutch did, of course, have time to “rename” Aotearoa, which they named Nova Zeelandia after a Dutch province. It took nearly 200 years for Europeans to visit once again and, this time, possibly the most famous European Explorer of his time, James Cook, mapped the entire Aotearoa coastline in 1769 and anglicized the Dutch name Nova Zeelandia by renaming it New Zealand.

From that point on New Zealand’s history is one of colonialism and imperialism in that it reaped both the rewards and hardships of being under the British Empire and eventually became an official colony of the British Empire in 1841.

But where New Zealand’s history differs from other colonies is that somehow New Zealand managed to forge its own identity and force its own beliefs much faster than other colonies that were part of the British Commonwealth. New Zealand declared itself a Dominion in 1907 taking only 60 years to gain true independence. It also managed to give women the right to vote 14 years before its Independence in 1893 – becoming the first nation/country in the world to do so in the process and putting itself on the world map right way. Talk about progressive. When other countries were just beginning their slave trades, New Zealand was freeing all its people!!

In that spirit, New Zealand also maintained a very unique relationship with its indigenous population. It is interesting to note that the colonization process involved representatives of the British Crown taking the founding treaty (the Treaty of Waitangi - which was written in both English and Maori) to get signed by various Maori chiefs throughout the country. Possibly because of the newness of the settling of the land, possibly because of the progression of the people (due to isolation or modernity – who knows), New Zealand has one of the most progressive and advanced first nation populations in the world. Its European-descended population does not look down upon the aboriginal population. On the contrary, it welcomes its indigenous roots, and both Maori culture and history are taught and spoken about with pride in New Zealand. Especially since the mid 80s, Maori people hold key positions in all walks of life and contrary to all westernized countries, Maori language is an official language and the country is slowly being transformed to have both languages appear on signs throughout the country.

General Facts

Capital: Wellington

The reason Wellington was chosen as the Capital was because at the time that New Zealand was forming its independence in the late 1800s there was a real concern that the South and North Islands would want to form separate colonies, and Auckland (which was and still is the largest city in the country and is situated at the north of the North Island) would be too far a capital for the ‘Southerners’. Thus, a capital closer to the South Island was chosen and Wellington, with its excellent harbour, was the obvious choice.

Population: 4.4 million people

Half of the population is said to be living in Auckland and it is thought that at any given time at least one million New Zealanders (or Kiwis as they are commonly known) are ‘out’ of the country. Just about two-thirds of the Kiwi population is of European descent, 15% claim to be Maori, while the remaining is a mix of Asian (9%), Pacific People (6%) and New Zealander (11.1%) – pretty cool stat that last one is!!!

Geography

You can clearly see how the Southern Alps cut across the South Island.

New Zealand is relatively small, about the size of Great Britain, Colorado or Japan. And due to its small population, it is really, really un-crowded – unless of course you don’t like sheep; there are about 55 million sheep and you can find them everywhere!

Essentially New Zealand is separated into two main islands (and a few smaller ones): North Island and South Island. These two islands are separated themselves by a body of water called the Cook Straight that is only 22 km/13 miles at its narrowest point. When you look at New Zealand on a map you will see it is long and narrow. In fact, New Zealand is just short of 1600 km / 1000 miles long and no wider than 400 km / 250 miles. The South and North Islands are completely distinctive and different. The South Island is dominated by large mountains, the Southern Alps. This mountain range cuts the island in half and runs the entire length of the island, from north to south. There are literally thousands of peaks and over eighteen of them are at 10,000 feet, with the largest, Mt Cook, coming in at a whopping 12,316 feet.

The North Island is pocketed more by hills but is dominated by volcanoes and what is known worldwide as one of the largest calderas or super-volcanoes in the world. Though there aren’t thousands or even hundreds of mountains here, there are a few massive peaks and some of the distinct volcanoes tower to heights of just under 10,000 feet like Mt Ruapehu and Mt Tongariro, most famous for being Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies.

New Zealand has over 15,000 square Km’s or 9000 square miles of coastline, so the sea is an integral part of life in the country and provides extensive marine resources.

Fiji

Bula!

This means welcome to the Fiji Islands. Fiji is located in the South Pacific and boasting over 300 coral fringed islands scattered across 20,000 square miles.

The people of Fiji are also so delightful, friendly, natural and fun. With a heritage influenced by the blend of Melanesian, Polynesian, Micronesian, Indian, Chinese and European cultures, the people of Fiji add that little extra bit of magic to an already alluring destination.