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New Zealandis about the same size as the United Kingdom. The two main islands, North and South, stretch 1600km but are only five to 450km wide and separated by the 20km Cook Strait. Smaller islands include Stewart, Chatham, Mana, and the Subantarctic islands. Over 75 percent of New Zealand is at least 200m above sea level with Mount Cook, at 3754m, being our highest point. Mount Hikurangi on the East Cape is the first mainland point to receive each day's sun. The Chatham Islands, 800km east of Christchurch, are the first inhabited land on earth to see the sun.
Wellington
The Greater Wellington metropolitan area (population 400,000) surrounds and includes Wellington City, New Zealand's capital, which is a superbly compact city. Set on the shores of a deep harbour and surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of wooded hills, it is New Zealand's trendy weekend destination. It has the most vibrant entertainment district in the country, where you can find some of the best bars, cafes, restaurants and theatres.
Wellington boasts an eclectic mix of shops. With a host of fashion stores and the country's premier department store, the city offers some of New Zealand's best, if not most affordable, shopping opportunities.
With around 400 cafes and restaurants, Wellington's inner city has the highest concentration of eating establishments in New Zealand, earning it the tag 'caf? capital of New Zealand'.
The city center permanently hosts the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and an opera house. Four professional theatres and a dozen amateur companies operate year-round, so there are live shows every night. A wide variety of live music from jazz to rap can be heard at venues throughout the city. Wellington is also the home of Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum and marae, an incredible blend of cultural heritage, architectural splendor and earthquake resistant engineering.
Posessing a well developed public transport network, travel to most of the urban area does not require a car.
Just 45 minutes by car or rail from Wellington, Kapiti Coast is the recreational playground for the lower North Island, with both beaches and mountains readily accessible. Choose from white water rafting, safe swimming, boating, hunting and hiking, golfing, horse trekking and bush walks.
The dominant cultural groups are the Pakeha and the Maori. Other smaller groups include Polynesians, Croatians, Indians and Chinese. A common thread that binds the entire population is its love of sport - especially the national game of rugby union - and outdoor pursuits such as sailing, swimming, cycling, hiking and camping. The secular aside, Christianity is the most common religion, with Anglicanism, Presbyterianism and Catholicism the largest denominations. An interesting religious variation is the synthesis of the Maori Ratana and Ringatu faiths with Christianity.
English and Maori are the two official languages. English is more widely spoken, though the Maori language, for so long on the decline, is now making a comeback thanks to the revival of Maoritanga. A mellifluous, poetic language, Maori is surprisingly easy to pronounce if spoken phonetically and each word split into separate syllables.
New Zealand art is multifarious, valuing innovation, integrity and craftsmanship that reflects Pakeha, Maori and Melanesian heritage. Wood, stone, shell and bone carvings are readily available while larger works such as tukutuku (wood panelling) can be seen in most maraes (meeting houses). Paua shell, greenstone, greywacke and greenwacke pebbles are often fashioned into jewellery that takes its inspiration from the landscape: earrings shaped like the leaves of a gingko tree; sunglasses modelled on native fern tendrils; and necklaces in frangipani-flower designs. There is a lively theatre scene in the country, especially in Wellington, and a number of galleries, including the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, which is the oldest viewing room in New Zealand and one of its best. The music scene is vigorous and has spawned a pool of talent, from Split Enz and Crowded House to the thrashing guitar pyrotechnics of Dunedin's 3Ds and Straitjacket Fits, lauded locally and overseas.