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 New Zealand Vacations Tours
Explore New Zealand's Diverse Culture
The diverse culture of New Zealand carries much tradition and history built
on the customs of the indigenous people known as the Maori. Legend holds
that the Maori traveled by canoe from their mythical ancestral island of
Hawaiki over 1,000 years ago. These Polynesian settlers traveled in open
boats (or in canoes) that are not too different from the traditional crafts
found in Polynesia today.
New Zealand is a country comprised of two large islands and many smaller
islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and is noted for its geographic
isolation. The Tasman Sea separates Australia to the northwest; to north are
Fiji and Tonga. The total area of New Zealand is 268670 sq. km, which is
slightly less than Japan but a little more than the United Kingdom. The
country has extensive marine resources and the fifth largest Exclusive
Economic Zone in the world. Meaning New Zealand can claim over four million
km2 or more than 15 times its land area for exploration and use of
marine resources.
The climate is mild, mostly cool temperate to warm temperate, with
temperatures rarely falling below 0°C (32°F) or rising above 30°C (86°F).
The South Island is the largest mass, mountainous, wet and cold. It is
divided length-wise by the Southern Alps. The North Island, dry and
continental, is marked by volcanism. The tallest mountain on the North
Island Mount Ruapehu (9,176-ft) is an active cone volcano. Although the
island landscapes are impressive, they became a lot more popular when the
production the Lord of the Rings trilogy called them home.
New Zealand has a population of about 4.1 million people mostly of European
descent with Maori being the largest minority. Non-Maori Polynesian and
Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the nation's
cities. Officially, Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and is
represented in the country by a non-political governor-general; however, the
Queen has no real political influence. Political power is held by the Prime
Minister (currently Helen Clark) who is leader of the Government in the
democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand.
Since 1984 the government has be restructuring the economy to lean more
towards an industrialized free market and less of an agrarian economy that
was dependant on the British market. Leading agricultural exports include
meat, dairy products, forest products, fruit and vegetables, fish, and wool.
The culture, contemporary and diverse, has influences from British, Irish,
and Maori cultures. New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major
landmasses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between 800
and 600 years ago to establish the indigenous Maori culture. Among the
British settlers, many people were from Scotland giving New Zealand more
bagpipe bands than in Scotland!
What exactly is a Kiwi?
A Kiwi to a New Zealander is not the green fuzzy fruit most Americans relate
to. It is in truth a flightless nocturnal native bird with a long beak with
nostrils on the end. Most important however, it is the national bird of New
Zealand. Over the years, Kiwi has been applied to and adopted by New Zealanders
as a nickname for themselves and as an adjective for their culture.
• Accommodations
• Activities and Things to Do
• Snow Skiing
• Tours
• History of New Zealand
• Sports in New Zealand
• Islands of New Zealand
• Cook Islands |
