The sunniest areas are Nelson/Marlborough and the Bay of Plenty with 2,400 hours per year.[53]. The climate is mostly temperate with mean temperatures ranging from 8 °C (46 °F) in the South Island to 16 °C (61 °F) in the North Island. However long you are visiting New Zealand for, you’ll find trip routes, driving times and distances, and some great ideas to help you plan your itinerary. The new virus works much faster than the last one, expected to kill rabbits within two to four days of exposure. [94] Around 30 bird species are currently listed as endangered or critically endangered. New Zealand conservationists have pioneered several methods to help threatened wildlife recover, including island sanctuaries, pest control, wildlife translocation, fostering, and ecological restoration of islands and other selected areas. Ethnicity percentages add to more than 100% because some people identify with more than one ethnic group. Serenity in golden beaches curled around quiet bays. English has never been granted official language status in the NZ laws, but it is used as a default official language due to its wide usage. Ano ang Imahinasyong guhit na naghahati sa daigdig sa magkaibang araw? [81] New Zealand is swept by weather systems that bring heavy rain; settlements are usually close to hill-country areas which experience much higher rainfall than the lowlands due to the orographic effect. New Zealand weather varies widely between the North and South Island. When these two plates bumped into each other ('collided'), the Pacific plate moved under the Australian plate, north of the South Island. Across New Zealand, you can find everything from untamed wilderness to rich culture. [38], The lower mountain slopes are covered in native forest. It passes directly under many settlements on the West Coast of the South Island and shaking from a rupture would likely affect many cities and towns throughout the country. The two main islands (the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu) are separated by Cook Strait, 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point. The land size of 267,710 km (103,360 sq mi) makes it the sixth-largest island country. During its time without humans, New Zealand was a good place for an unusual range of plants and animals to develop. South Island cities are warmest in January. [60] New Zealand's population density of around 18 inhabitants per square kilometre[60] is among the lowest in the world. Three-fourths of it was pastoral land using for raising sheep, beef, deer, etc. Old York is York. Here language and religion are used as markers for the far richer concept of culture. Besides the North and South Islands, the five largest inhabited islands are Stewart Island (30 kilometres (19 mi) due south of the South Island), Chatham Island (some 800 kilometres (500 mi) east of the South Island),[12] Great Barrier Island (in the Hauraki Gulf),[13] D'Urville Island (in the Marlborough Sounds)[14] and Waiheke Island (about 22 km (14 mi) from central Auckland). The giant Moa, Dinornis, is a famous example. New Zealand is also around 5,000km north of Antarctica. By using this website you agree to our, Advertise your business on New Zealand's most popular travel guide, 10 Things You Did Not Know About the Maori Culture. The wettest area by far is the rugged Fiordland region, in the south-west of the South Island, which has between 5,000 and 8,000 mm (200 and 310 in) of rain PA, with up to 15,000 mm in isolated valleys, amongst the highest recorded rainfalls in the world. If you’re thinking about visiting to New Zealand, passport and visa organisation is key. It is a sovereign state in the south-western part of the Pacific Ocean. The island is divided along its length by the Southern Alps. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? New Zealand is located in the South Pacific Ocean at 41°S 174°E / 41°S 174°E / -41; 174, near the centre of the water hemisphere. These metrics unfortunately exclude the political rural-urban divide[63] and also the full effects of the Christchurch earthquakes on New Zealand's cultural distribution. The main religion in New Zealand is Christianity. About 65.5 percent of the population live in the 20 main urban areas (population of 30,000 or more) and 44.2 percent live in the four largest cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Hamilton. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Multiply. To provide some perspective on that figure, the maximum distance between any two points on Earth is about 12,450 miles (20,000 km), so New Zealand is practically as far as you can be from Zeeland without leaving Earth. When the world starts to move again, find your dream destination here.See all things to do  |  North Island destinations | South Island destinations, Now that the world is standing still, what are you dreaming of?Across New Zealand, you can find everything from untamed wilderness to rich culture. See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to understand how you can manage cookies. [50][dead link] January and February are the warmest months, July the coldest. It sits in the Bay of Plenty, which is around 50km away from the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. [37] Another long chain of mountains runs through the North Island, from Wellington to East Cape. Because of these two colliding plates, New Zealand often has earthquakes. The islands are situated in the southwestern region of the Pacific Ocean. When the world starts to move again, find your dream destination here.See all things to do  |  North Island destinations | South Island destinations. These islands are located to the southeast of Australia. It is privately owned and uninhabited, but regularly attracts tourists: the New Zealand tourism website states that tour operators offer visits to the island via boat, helicopter and float plane, and these tours can attract up to 10,000 annual visitors. Physical isolation has not caused biological isolation, and this has resulted in a dynamic evolutionary ecology with examples of very distinctive plants and animals as well as populations of widespread species. [97] Native flora and fauna continue to be hard-hit by invasive species. It’s located in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,500km east of Australia and around 1,000km south of South Pacific Islands, such as Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, etc. The name "New Zealand" comes from “Zeeland” (which translates to "Sealand") in Dutch, after the islands were seen by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. [49] Many lakes have been used as reservoirs for hydroelectric projects. GeoNet monitor geological hazards in the area, and regularly visit White Island to collect gas and water samples and record observations. Therefore, the distribution of limestone, marble (metamorphosed limestone) and volcanoes defines the location of caves in inland New Zealand. The Maori, a Polynesian culture where their exact origin is still unknown, are said to have been the first to settle in New Zealand during the 1300s. It is about 1,500 kilometers away from its closest neighbor in the east, Australia and about 1,000 kilometers south of Fiji, Tonga and New Caledonia. Humans arrived in New Zealand about a thousand years ago, when many moa were living, especially on the South Island. Serenity in golden beaches curled around quiet bays. In 2010, a newspaper in NZ said that New Zealand was the 8th happiest country in the world.[11]. The east of the South Island is marked by wide, braided rivers such as the Wairau, Waimakariri and Rangitātā; formed from glaciers, they fan out into many strands on gravel plains. New friends in small towns with big doses of laid-back charm. The North Island is smaller than the South Island, but most people (more than 3 million) live there. Fresh water quality is under pressure from agriculture, hydropower, urban development, pest invasions and climate change,[102] although much of the country's household and industrial waste is now increasingly filtered and sometimes recycled. Ruapehu's major eruptions have historically been about 50 years apart,[36] in 1895, 1945 and 1995–1996. The middle of New Zealand's North Island has an almost-desert. To the east of the North Island the Pacific Plate is forced under the Indo-Australian Plate. New Zealand became part of the global supercontinent Pangaea. [27] New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, is situated in the centre of this region. Welcome to New Zealand. Volcanic activity is most common on the central North Island Volcanic Plateau. New Zealand has very high sunshine hours with most areas receiving over 2000 hours per year. Other islands are significantly smaller in area. Campbell, Hamish & Hutching, Gerard 2007. These two islands are separated by a body of water known as the Cook Strait, with its narrowest point being 22km between the two main islands. © 2020 NZ Pocket Guide. Trewick SA, Morgan-Richards M. 2014. The resulting orographic rainfall enables the hydroelectric generation of most of the country's electricity. Get official travel information, maps, itineraries, activities & accommodation to help you plan your next holiday to New Zealand. We know you were wondering it! You can find our Community Guidelines in full Mountain streams which feed the major rivers rise rapidly and frequently break their banks covering farms with water and silt. This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html. As of 2007, almost 55 percent of New Zealand's total land area was being used for farming, which is standard compared to most developed countries. [66] There are many sub dialects of Māori, the most pronounced division being between the northern and southern tribes. [96], Many bird species, including the giant moa, became extinct after the arrival of Polynesians, who brought dogs and rats, and Europeans, who introduced additional dog and rat species, as well as cats, pigs, ferrets, and weasels. New Zealand has several species of flightless bird, including the kiwi and Kakapo. The people of New Zealand often call themselves Kiwis. [46], The mountainous areas of the North Island are cut by many rivers, many of which are swift and unnavigable. New friends in small towns with big doses of laid-back charm. Māori are the tangata whenua (indigenous people) of Aotearoa New Zealand and their culture is an integral part of local life. [52], The UV index can be very high and extreme in the hottest times of the year in the north of the North Island. The given New Zealand location map shows that New Zealand is located in the south-western Pacific Ocean. In addition to above, we use other cookies and analytics to provide a better site experience. As a result, there has been lots of volcanic activity. We also use cookies to show you the best of New Zealand on other platforms. Download a map Download and print the New Zealand Touring Map to see information on each of the regions in New Zealand and 16 themed highways. The east side of the island has the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines, high rainfall, very high proportion of native bush, and glaciers.[8]. [1] New Zealand is the sixth-largest island country in the world, with a land size of 267,710 km2 (103,360 sq mi).[2]. [21] Zealandia extends a significant distance east into the Pacific Ocean and south towards Antarctica. [86] These earthquakes are releasing distributed stress in the Pacific plate from the ongoing collision with the Indo-Australian plate to the west and north of the city.

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