New Zealand – Circle of Excellence 2009 – Pure Adventure. Pure Reward.
Inner Circle Extension Trip – Hawke's Bay – May 5-8, 2009
Circle of Excellence – Queenstown – May 8-13, 2009
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Interesting Facts About New Zealand

  • New Zealand’s first inhabitants – the Maori – called their island home Aotearoa, “the land of the long white cloud.” Arriving by canoe, the first Maori were alerted to the presence of the islands by the cloud lying above them.
  • Captain James Cook first spotted the east coast of New Zealand on October 9, 1769 and claimed it for England.
  • Although New Zealand is made up of two main islands – the North Island and the South Island – it actually consists of almost 800 islands.
  • Three-quarters of New Zealand’s 4 million people live on the North Island; one million of those live in Auckland.
  • Sheep outnumber people by almost 10 to 1. There are 39.5 million sheep in New Zealand and only four million people.
  • In New Zealand, no spot is more than 74 miles from the coast.
  • Because there were no predatory animals before the arrival of European settlers, many birds are flightless. The kiwi, New Zealand’s national bird, has no tail, short, stubby wings covered with course, hair-like feathers and nostrils at the end of its bill to sniff out food on the ground.
  • New Zealand also is home to the world’s largest flightless parrot (kakapo), the oldest reptile (tuatara), the biggest earthworms, the smallest bats, the oldest trees and many rare species of birds, insects and plants.
  • Bungy jumping was invented in New Zealand.
  • Notable New Zealanders include Lord Rutherford, who was the first to split the atom, and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
  • The Maori represent 16 percent of New Zealand’s total population. Many carry on the traditions of their Polynesian ancestors, which include wood, bone and stone carving. Another Maori tradition is moko – incising lines into the skin and coloring them with pigment. This ancient tradition has been revived and today, many young Maori proudly wear moko.
  • New Zealand was the first Western democracy to give women the right to vote in 1893.
  • Grapes were first planted in New Zealand in the 1830s. Today, New Zealand has over 400 wineries, which produce some of the world’s best wines.
  • The seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite those in the North. In New Zealand, September signals the beginning of spring. Summer runs from December to February. Autumn arrives in March and continues through May. And the winter months are June, July and August.
  • Countless movies have been filmed in New Zealand, including The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Source:
Eyewitness Travel Guide: New Zealand
The Kiwi Site: A Beginner’s Guide to New Zealand
Amazing New Zealand