More trivial things

Rangipo hydroelectric station is completely underground.

The Chatham Islands are the home to the taiko, the world's rarest sea bird.

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) was introduced in 1972. It covers all injuries except those that are self-inflicted or suicide attempts.

Pai Marire, a Maori religious movement, was based on the belief that Maoris were one of the lost tribes of Israel.

Kokako is a native NZ bird that seldom flies more than 100 meters at a time. It usually scampers up a tree then glides where it wants to go.

Moawhango tunnel on the Tongariro River is the longest hydro tunnel in the world. It took 10 years to build.

In Onehunga, in 1893, Elizabeth Yates became the first woman elected mayor of a municipality of the British Empire.

The katipo spider is the only dangerously poisonous creature in NZ.

Nightcaps, a coal mining town, is named after the conical hills to the north of town.

There is a pacifist commune in Lower Moutere, Atami Village in the Motueka Valley, that has been ongoing since the 1940's.

NZ boasts the longest place name in the world:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. 
Click on the name for the story behind the name.

Maoris used the ash from burnt gum for dye for tattoos.

Annaliese Coberger was the first southern hemisphere athlete to win the Giant Slalom in the 1992 Winter Olympics.

A giant snail called the kauri snail, or pupurangi, is found on the Hen and Chicken Islands and nowhere else in the world.

Dunedin streets were the first in NZ to be lit by gas.

James Ward won the Victoria Cross in WWII for climbing out onto the wing of a burning Wellington bomber to plug a hole near the engine to keep leaking fuel from destroying the plane.

The first productive oil well in NZ--and the British Empire--was in New Plymouth.

Ferries leaving Wellington on the north island must travel north to get to the south island.

The only NZer to win a world title in boxing was Thomas Murphy in 1890. He was once expelled from school for hitting a teacher.

Mount Ruapehu is an active volcano that has seven small glaciers on its flanks.

General Motors opened a plant in Petone in 1926. It produced GM cars, including the first Holden in 1957, until 1984.

Musick Point, near Auckland, is named for Edwin C. Musick, the American who pioneered commercial air flights between the US and NZ.

Kate Evans was the first NZer woman to earn a BA degree.

The only residents on Little Barrier Island are the park ranger and his family.




For more NZ trivia, click 'NZ trivia' in my label cloud.