Travel Specials > Travel Tips and Info > New Zealand
New Zealand is a temperate to sub-tropical island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. A former British colony, the majority of the population is of European descent, with a sizeable indigenous Maori minority and smaller minorities of various Polynesian and other groups. A modern, but sparsely populated, country, it boasts natural beauty and a wide range of outdoor and adventure activities.
Lonely Planet named New Zealand the world's top travel destination for the second year running (2003/2004), and it was voted best long-haul travel destination in the 2004 Guardian and Observer's People's Choice award. New Zealand is also known by the Maori name of Aotearoa, which is usually translated as "(Land of the) long white cloud".
Quick Facts
Capital: Wellington
Government: Representative democracy
Currency: New Zealand dollar (NZD)
Area: 268,680 sq km
Population: 4,076,140 (July 2006 estimate)
Language: English, Maori, and New Zealand sign language
Calling Code: +64
Internet TLD: .nz
Weather and Climate
New Zealand has a temperate climate in the south island and sub-tropical climate in the North Island and the nature of the terrain, the prevailing winds and the length of the country lead to sharp regional contrasts. Temperatures sometimes exceed 30°C and only fall below 0°C in the elevated inland regions. Generally speaking, rainfall and humidity is higher in the west than the east of the country due to the north-south orientation of the mountain ranges and the prevailing westerly/north westerly winds.
Passports and Visas
All visitors who aren't citizens of New Zealand will need a passport to enter. Citizens of the United States (and several other countries) can be granted a visa-free visitors' entry for up to three months on arrival. Visitors from countries not in the Visa Free list or those wishing to stay longer than the maximum allowed visa free period for their nationality, will need to apply for an appropriate visa. Call your travel agent for details.
Regions
New Zealand consists of two main islands and a number of smaller ones.
- The North Island - warm, with scenery ranging from sandy beaches, through rolling farmland and forests to active volcanic peaks.
- The South Island - spectacular alps and fiords, large beech forests, beautiful beaches.
- Stewart Island - heavily forested, a wilderness paradise for hikers and hunters.
Major cities
From north to south:
North Island:
- Auckland - "The City of Sails." The largest and most populated New Zealand city, with over a Million in the metropolitan area, making it the largest city in Polynesia too.
- Gisborne - Gisborne is New Zealand's eastern-most province, with a city of the same name. As New Zealand's eastern most point, Gisborne sees each day's light first in the world.
- Rotorua - Famous for geysers, hot pools, that funny sulphuric smell (smells like eggs!), and Maori culture.
- Wellington - The national capital, home of the Parliament and the Beehive. "The Windy City"
South Island:
- Nelson - Sunny with New Zealand's highest sunshine hours. Also Nelson is the absolute geographic center of New Zealand.
- Kaikoura - A great place for whale watching.
- Christchurch - The Garden City. Where the famous 'Wizard' lives and appears every week, by the cathedral, in the square!
- Queenstown - Home to a large portion of the adventure sports in NZ.
- Dunedin - The Edinburgh of the South. Proud of its Scots heritage and chocolate factory.
- Invercargill - The most southerly city in New Zealand.
Popular sightseeing destinations
New Zealand scenery has long been a major tourist attraction, so spectacular it leaves many lost for words. You need to see it to understand - just describing it is not enough. Selected highlights are:
- Bay of Islands - North Island, nice scenery
- Kerikeri - Charming historic town in the Bay of Islands. Bring your camera.
- Mount Ruapehu and Lake Taupo - volcanoes with lakes in them.
- Havelock north - a great base for exploring the Hawkes Bay winerys and home to Te Mata peak.
- Feilding - voted New Zealands most beautiful town 12 times in a row
- Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers - in the Westland region
- The Southern Alps stretch the length of the South Island.
- Aoraki Mount Cook - New Zealand's highest mountain in the heart of the Southern Alps.
- Queenstown - on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and with the other Southern Lakes in easy reach. Adventure capital of the world… skydive, bungee-jump, thrill yourself to your heart's content.
- Milford Sound and Fiordland
Filming Locations
Many movies and television series have been filmed in New Zealand. Some of the more notable examples are listed below:
- River Queen (2006) - Wanganui
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03) - numerous locations throughout the country
- Whale Rider (2003) - the North Island's East Coast
- The Last Samurai (2003) - Taranaki
- Once Were Warriors (1994) - Auckland
- The Piano (1993) - west coast of the Auckland region
- Xena television series - west Auckland region
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - alpine grassland and glaciers around Flock Hill Station in the Southern Alps near Christchurch, and other places
- King Kong (2005) - Wellington
Time difference
New Zealand has only one time zone. Its standard time is 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). New Zealand utilizes daylight saving in summer. It commences at 2am on the first Sunday in October and ends at 2am on the third Sunday in March of the following year. During daylight savings time New Zealand is 13 hours ahead of GMT.
Money matters
The New Zealand Dollar is used for purchasing goods and services in New Zealand. A few traders do accept foreign currency, particularly in tourist destinations. At 21 August 2006 the conversion from US dollars to NZ dollars was approximately 1USD=1.54NZD.
Tipping
In accommodation places, restaurants and bars the prices charged include the services provided and tips are not expected, though the practice is known of in some establishments that cater for tourists. However, do not be surprised if you receive bemused looks in some situations. Also do not be offended if your tip is initially refused or questioned, as most New Zealanders rarely encounter tipping, except from tourists.
Talk
English, Maori and New Zealand Sign Language are the official languages of New Zealand. English is by far the major language spoken and is written with Commonwealth ("British") spelling, but being a liberal land, American spelling is also accepted.
Maori is actively spoken by a minority of both Maori and language learners. Many place names are in Maori and, for the traveler, some knowledge of Maori pronunciation is very useful.
New Zealand Sign language was given status in 2005 as an official language of the country.
Common expressions
Generally, New Zealand English expressions follow British English. However, New Zealand English has also borrowed much from Maori and there are a number of other phrases that are not commonly encountered elsewhere or may confuse the visitor.
- BYO - Bring Your Own. An addition to the name of a restaurant that has not (or more likely had not) a liquor license. Means that it is perfectly okay to bring your own wine to enjoy with your food, but they often charge a small corkage fee.
- Bugger - Long a common expletive, it gained a certain legitimacy and/or notoriety when used in an amusing and award-winning prime-time TV ad (for Toyota). Used by politicians, on the back of cars, used by many people. Means "Oh bother". Mildly impolite and may offend a few people, however very acceptable in casual conversations.
- Dairy - Convenience store; corner shop, one few outsiders understand though heavily used by locals and find problems when traveling overseas and are surprised when asking where the dairy is.
- Entry by gold (or silver) coin (donation) - The admission charge to an event, exhibit, gallery or museum is by making a payment of a coin in the appropriate metal, often in the donation box at the door. The gold coins in NZ are the $1 and $2 coins, while silver are the 5c, 10c, 20c and 50c coins.
- Kiwi - Slang for New Zealander themselves and also for the New Zealand dollar. Named after an endangered flightless bird, New Zealanders can be offended when used overseas to describe the fruit locally known as a kiwi-fruit.
- Kai - Food. Common with both Maori and European.
Eating
New Zealand has a wide range of eating places, from fast food outlets to stylish restaurants. At least a burger bar and/or fish and chip shop can be found in almost any small town or block of suburban shops. The humble fish and chip shop is the archetypical New Zealand fast food outlet.
Cuisine
New Zealand's cultural majority (ethnic British) does not have a definitive and recognizably distinct cuisine that differs markedly from the traditional British (or North American) cuisine. However there are a number of small differences:
- Roast kumara - the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) roasted in the same manner as potatoes and often served instead of or alongside. May also be deep fried like potato chips (i.e. fries) and known as kumara chips
- Pavlova, or pav, a cake of whipped egg whites baked to have a crusty meringue-like outside but soft in the middle, topped with whipped cream and decorated with sliced fruit. Australians claim they created the dish but this is strongly disputed.
- Pies - Unlike Americans, New Zealanders eat large numbers of non-flakey-pastry meat pies containing things like beef, lamb, pork, potato, kumara, vegetables, and cheese.
- Kiwifruit - A plum sized green fleshed fruit, with fine black seeds in the flesh, originating from China, selectively bred in New Zealand, and first known to the home gardener as the Chinese Gooseberry. Now commercially farmed, with production centered on Te Puke, but in many orcharding areas. Slices often served on pavlova. Known by its full name of kiwifruit and never shortened to kiwi in New Zealand, as kiwis are endangered birds or New Zealanders, and neither are eaten nowadays.
Sports
The "national sports" in New Zealand are rugby union and netball in winter, and cricket in summer. The Super 14 season runs from February to May, and the National Provincial Championship runs later in the year. The national team, the All Blacks, generally play matches at home during June through to September, mainly in the Tri Nations.
Getting Around
By Train
Both Auckland and Wellington have commuter rail services.
Inter-city rail passenger services are operated by Tranz Scenic, in particular:
By air
Domestic flights in New Zealand are quite reasonably priced, and are often cheaper than driving or taking the train, especially if crossing between the North and South Islands is required.
By car
Driving around both of the main islands by car is generally not a problem. You can reach almost anywhere in a two-wheel-drive car or even a small campervan. You don't need four-wheel drive to reach the best places. The volume of traffic is normally low and drivers are usually fairly courteous.
By bus
Buses are a cheap way to get around the country. Companies like InterCity coaches and Newmans coaches offer services to most cities and towns.
By boat
To get your car between the North and South Islands you will need to take a ferry across Cook Strait. There are several sailings daily between Wellington and Picton. But be prepared for a delay or a change in sailings if the weather is stormy.
There are regular sightseeing cruises in several tourist destinations, particularly in the Southern Lakes and Fiordland area.
History
New Zealand was the last significant land mass to be inhabited by humans, both in terms of indigenous settlement and European domination. This, combined with geological youth and geographical isolation, has led to the development of a young, vigorous nation with a well-travelled, well-educated population and some spectacular scenery, flora and fauna.
The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about 800 AD. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, in 1642, was the first European to discover New Zealand, and his mapped coastline appeared on Dutch maps as "Nieuw Zeeland" from as early as 1645. British naval Captain James Cook rediscovered, circumnavigated and mapped the islands in 1769. A few people (mostly sealers, whalers, traders and missionaries) settled during the next 80 years and the islands were administered by the British colony in New South Wales.
In 1840, with the assistance of missionaries, the Maori agreed to accept British sovereignty over the islands through the Treaty of Waitangi. More intensive settlement began that same year. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872, coupled with political maneuvering and the spread of European diseases, broke Maori resistance to land settlement, but left lasting grievances. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances, and this is a complicated process. In 2005, the Maori Party was formed, in part in response to the Government's law on the Foreshore and Seabed, but also to promote an independent Maori perspective at a political level.
The British colony of New Zealand became a dominion in 1907. It was offered complete independence under the 1931 Statute of Westminster, although it didn't adopt this until 1947. However the Constitution of Australia permits New Zealand to join as another Australian state. New Zealand supported Britain (the United Kingdom) militarily in the Boer War of 1899–1902, as well as both World Wars. It also participated in wars in Malaya, Korea and Viet Nam under various military alliances, most notably the ANZUS treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
New Zealand's strongly supported opposition to the testing and use of nuclear weapons and nuclear armed warship visits meant that the Parliament enacted anti-nuclear legislation in the mid-1980s. This led to the lapsing of participation in the ANZUS defense alliance. The New Zealand military continues to take a prominent role in UN-sanctioned peacekeeping forces worldwide.
The above data is courtesy of http://wikitravel.org/en/New_Zealand, last modified on 19 September 2006 by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Campbell Harris, Charles E. Leiserson, Jr., Vaughan, Todd VerBeek, Gareth Pearce, Dorothee, Colin Jensen, Ryan Holliday, Catherine, Evan Prodromou, Stephen Hay, Ian Welch, Brian, Alex, Rory, John Walling, Yann Forget and Michele Ann Jenkins, Wikitravel user(s) Biggles, Episteme, Hypatia, Jpatokal, Jonboy, Nurg, Ilkirk, Hkpatv, Barefootguru, Huttite, InterLangBot, Nzpcmad, Bijee, Hansm, Moriori, Chris j wood, Carey Evans, Stefan Hübner, Mark Richards, Nils, RossA, Simon, Dhum Dhum, Arcadia, Kelsey Grant, Tiles, Anthon
