50 Amazing facts about New Zealand

sliced kiwi fruit

1. There are no snakes in New Zealand.
2. There are no poisonous snakes or dangerous wild animals in New Zealand.
3. Auckland has more than 50 volcanic cones but fortunately most of them have been dormant for thousands of years.
4. There are more sheep in New Zealand than people. 40 million in total.
5. New Zealand has more golf courses per capita than any other country in the world.
6. New Zealand was the first major nation to have universal suffrage.
7. Officially Elizabeth the II from Great Britain is the queen of New Zealand. She is represented by a governor general.
8. A native and now extinct bird called the Moa was one of the biggest birds ever recorded in history.
9. The Māori people are said to have come to New Zealand from a place called Hawaiki. The exact location of Hawaiki is however unknown.
10. New Zealand is the number two country in the world when it comes to McDonald’s restaurants per capita.
11. Te Waikoropupu Springs is a natural wonder, producing roughly 1-2 billion liters of water every day.
12. The Hector dolphin is the smallest dolphin in the world, just about 1.4 meters in length. Hector can be found only around the waters of New Zealand.
13. The world’s first commercial bungy (bungee) jump business was started in Queenstown in 1988.
14. The Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa which literally translated means the land of the long white cloud.
15. Wellington is the most southern capital in the world.
16. Same-sex marriages and prostitution are both legal in New Zealand.
17. The kiwis in New Zealand have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, 82 years for woman and 78 years for men in average.
18. There more than 400 golf courses in New Zealand.
19. Per capita, New Zealand has won most Olympic Gold medals in the world.
20. There are only 4.4 million people in New Zealand with 2.5 million cars.
21. There are only 2 native land mammals in New Zealand, both of which are bats.
22. Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupo-kaiwhenuakitanatahu. That is longest name of a place in any English speaking country.
23. New Zealand is the world’s second-biggest producer of wool.
24. A popular thing to do is “tramping” which actually means hiking.
25. The weta bug is the worlds heaviest insect at 71 grams on average.
26. The national rugby team is called All Blacks and there are more than 250,000 people playing at the club level.
27. The pavlova meringue dessert originates from New Zealand.
28. The giant Moa bird weighed over 250kg but they were hunted to extinction by the Māori.
29. Lake Taupo had the largest known volcanic eruption in the last 70,000 years.
30. The world-famous opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, New Zealand.
31. The first man in the world to climb Mt. Everest was Sir Edmund Hillary from NZ.
32. The velcro strip was invented in New Zealander.
33. The mountain parrot called Kea likes to eat the rubber around car windows.
34. New Zealand was completely unknown to humans just 800 years ago.
35. Sign language is an official language in NZ.
36. Only 15% of the population are Māori.
37. Drug companies are allowed to advertise directly to consumers in NZ.
38. New Zealand is one of the least corrupted countries in the world.
39. The steepest street is Baldwin St. in Dunedin at 38 degrees.
40. There is a beach called Ninety Mile Beach which is only 55 miles long.
41. The Kiwi bird is the logo of the New Zealand Air Force.
42. All advertising is banned on TV on Christmas Day in NZ.
43. During WW1 New Zealand raised an army of 100,000 men.
44. A reptile called Tuatara that pre-dates even the dinosaurs, have three eyes.
45. New Zealand is home to a giant albino snail that is carnivorous.
46. Children start school in New Zealand on their 5th birthday.
47. Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand by the director Peter Jackson.
48. There no nuclear power plants in New Zealand.
49. No matter where you go in New Zealand, you will always be at most 120km away from the beach.
50. New Zealand was the first major nation to have universal suffrage.

About Head Kiwi

Juha is the chief bird at Kiwi Directory.