My Home - Land of the Long White Cloud
New Zealand (Aotearoa – land of the long white cloud) A-O-T-A-ROW-AH (try and say that fast).
Made up of two main islands and hundreds of smaller ones, New Zealand has an amazing range of breathtaking scenery, from subtropical forests, beaches, and offshore islands in the north to glaciers, lakes, snow-covered mountains, and large flat plains in the south. There are also fjords, volcanoes, hot springs, and beautiful rolling green pastures, which gives New Zealand a diversity like no other place on earth.
New Zealand is also one of the best places in the world for stargazing, due to the lack of light pollution. When you look up at the night sky you will see a dazzling canopy of sparkling points of light and the dusty sweep of the Milky Way.
New Zealand has over 9,320 miles of beautiful and varied coastline. In the Far North and on most of the East Coast of the North Island you’ll find long sandy beaches perfect for swimming, surfing and sunbathing. The North Island’s west coast has dark sandy beaches, with sand heavy in iron. Over millions of years, alluvial deposits (eroded from the mountains by rivers) formed the alluvial plains which created some of New Zealand’s most fertile and productive farmland.
One third of the landmass of New Zealand is protected conservation area, which means that the national parks are pristine and unspoiled. Plus, with a small population of only 7 million people, the cities and infrastructure in New Zealand don’t encroach on the environment and there are a lot of wild open spaces.
Māori are one of the original inhabitants of New Zealand and have a deep kinship with the natural world. They see themselves as guardians (kaitiaki) of the land they live on, and taking responsibility to care and preserve the environment is very important to them.
In summary New Zealand is blessed with low industrialisation and an environmental footprint that gives us the status of one of the top 5 clean and green countries in the world. The constant flow of the Pacific Ocean supplies some of the best marine life in the world coupled with volcanic and alluvial soils makes it one of the greatest farming and agricultural nations in the world.
New Zealand’s many and varied food products are considered some of the best in the world and exports are produced and distributed according to strict government standards and guidelines.
The products that Nectavida endorse and offer to you have been hand picked for their quality but also chosen for those suppliers that honour and uphold sustainable practise and stewardship of the land.
We have a varied product range of items that have been picked from regions throughout New Zealand as our local Nectavida staff are very familiar with which region offers the best quality products. Our mantra is ‘Mother nature sent us’.
Did you know?
1. New Zealand is home to world-class directors and a top production company. What many people don’t realize is that New Zealand is a major filming location, so if you love Hollywood blockbusters, odds are you’ve seen something filmed in the country. "Lord of the Rings" is always the first film that may come to mind but here are some movies that were filmed completely, or in part, using the beautiful scenery of New Zealand.
- The Hobbit
- Chronicles of Narnia
- The Last Samurai
- Whale Rider
- The Piano
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- Mulan (2020)
- King Kong (2005)
- Avatar
- Pete's Dragon (2016)
- Vertical Limit
- The Mask of Zorro
These are just a few of the top-grossing movies that chose to borrow the gorgeous New Zealand landscape.
2. The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, which is a hill in Hawkes Bay. Try to pronounce that in one breath.
3. No part of the country is more than 79 miles from the sea. You are surrounded by water and never too far from it.
4. Only 5% of NZ's population is human- the rest are animals. Up until a decade ago we had approximately 70 sheep for each human and sheep exports still remain very high.
5. Blue Lake, in Nelson Lakes National Park, has the clearest water in the world.
6. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote.
7. New Zealand is home to the giant weta, the heaviest insect in the world. It is heavier than a sparrow and looks like a giant cockroach.
8. Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, is the world's steepest street. The road has a gradient of 1 in 2.86 at its steepest section, a 38 per cent grade.
9. New Zealand is similar in size to the UK, but only has a population of about 7 million (compared to 63 million in the UK).
10. About one third of the country is protected national park.
11. New Zealand is one of the only countries to have two national anthems- God Save The Queen and God Defend New Zealand.
12. The man who pioneered plastic surgery, Harold Gillies, was a Kiwi. As was Baron Ernest Rutherford, who was the first man to split an atom. He also discovered (and named) the proton.