Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between 800 and 600 years ago to establish the indigenous Māori culture. The first Europeans known to reach New Zealand were led by Abel Janszoon Tasman, who sailed up the west coast of the South and North islands in 1642.
Source: Wikipedia
Jonah Tali Lomu (born May 12, 1975) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer who played 73 times (63 test matches) as an All Black after debuting in 1994. Lomu, who's currently attempting a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2004, is generally regarded as the first superstar of rugby's professional era.
Source: Wikipedia
The Whale Rider (2002): directed and written by Niki Caro (based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera) and starring Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rawiri Paratene. Tagline: One young girl dared to confront the past, change the present and determine the future. Plot Outline: A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
Source: Wikipedia
There are 18 peaks of more than 3,000 metres in the South Island of New Zealand.
About 80 percent of the New Zealand flora (plants) only occurs in New Zealand.
New Zealand has a high standard of living, ranking 19th on the 2005 Human Development Index and 15th of The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index.
Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, although nearly 40% of the population has no religious affiliation.
New Zealand enjoyed an extraordinary 45 minutes when winning 4 successive gold medals at the 2005 world rowing championships.
Source: Wikipedia
The tuatara is a reptile, the only surviving member of Rhynchocephalia, or Sphenodontia/Sphenodontida. The tuatara has been classified as an endangered species since 1895. Tuatara, like many native New Zealand animals, were threatened by habitat loss, harvesting, and introduced species such as mustelids and rats. Tuatara are endemic to New Zealand, and were long confined to a small number of mammal free offshore islands, until a first mainland release into a heavily fenced and monitored reserve in 2005.
Source: Wikipedia
New Zealand holds a rare position in the world in that it has two national anthems of equal standing - 'God Defend New Zealand' and 'God Save The Queen'.
See lyrics and listen to anthems
Stewed paua
A paua is an abalone, a large edible marine gastropod of the genus Haliotis, having an ear-shaped shell with a row of holes along the outer edge. The colorful pearly interior of the shell is often used for making ornaments.
See recipe
The Bone People is a novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1985.
Source: Wikipedia
A country of inveterate, backwoods, thick-headed, egotistic philistines. (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin)
If it would not look too much like showing off, I would tell the reader where New Zealand is. (Mark Twain)
Terrible tragedy of the south seas. Three million people trapped alive. (Thomas Jefferson Scott)
When asked his opinion of New Zealand: "I find it hard to say, because when I was there it seemed to be shut." (Sir Clement Freud)
Source: The Kiwi Site
Proverbs from New Zealand
Boast during the day; be humble at night.
The block of wood should not dictate to the carver.
The more you ask how much longer it will take, the longer the journey will seem.
Persist as resolutely as you persist in eating.
Source: Creative Proverbs
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