Stuff About NZ
New Zealand has 6000 kilometers of coast line and
nowhere is more than 120km from the coast.
NZ has: 4 million people (14 per square km),
39.5 million sheep (135 per square km) and
9 million cattle
Around 80% of meat produced is exported
NZ supplies 54% of world exports of sheep meat.
NZ was the first western democracy to give women the vote
NZer Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Mt Everest
NZ invented bungee jumping.
Team New Zealand holder of the America's Cup 1995-2003, NZer Michael Campbell 2005
winner of US golf open, All Blacks winner of 2011 Rugby World Cup*.
New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals, per capita, than any other country.
NZ has the worlds largest flightless parrot (kakapo), the oldest
reptile (tuatara), the biggest earthworms, the smallest bats (the only native
land mammals), the heaviest insect (a weta), some of the oldest trees, and
many of the rarest birds, insects, and plants in the world.
Prior to european arrival New Zealand had no predatory animals, making it
a paradise for birds, many of them flightless.