NEW ZEALANDBY KYEL MCMILLAN

Information new Zealand is situated the same distance

eastwards from Australia as London is to Moscow. So if anybody tells you it's right next to

Australia, tell them to go away. There are two main islands - The North Island and The South

Island. There is also about a zillion other islands dotted around and about, none of which need

concern you. The South Island is slightly bigger than the North Island, but South Islanders that

refer to themselves as "Mainlanders".The largest city in New Zealand is Auckland,

which has a population of approximately 900,00o people, many of whom own Holden cars. The capital is Wellington; which is really

boring and windy and don't go there

people

Population: 4 million0-14 years: 22%15-64 years: 66%64 years+: 12%

Population growth rate: 1.09%Life expectancy: 78 years

HistoryIt is generally thought that the early settlers in

New Zealand, the Maori, arrived in waves of migration around a thousand years ago from

the Melanesian Islands.Then, in 1642, having left the Island of

Mauritius to find what lay in the Southern Oceans, Abel Janszoon Tasman, in command of 2 ships, the "Heemskerck" and the "Zeehaen",

sailed towards mountains that had slowly appeared from the eastern horizon - and

became the first known European to stumble across New Zealand.

wildlife No native mammals apart from bats and marine

mammalsVirtually all the native insects are found nowhere elseUnique species of birds include kiwi, kakapo and weka

Seven penguin species