Well as the name of my topic implies, I am supposed to cover travel in Australia and the Pacific. Until now I have concentrated on my home land of Australia. While there is still much for us to "see" here in the Land Down Under, I thought that perhaps it was about time that we visited some of the other fascinating places that make up the Pacific region. So I suggest you pop on your water wings while we head off across the Tasman Sea to the Land of The Long White Cloud.
This month I thought we would begin our journey across New Zealand with a bit of the history of this fascinating island.
New Zealand lies off the southeast coast of Australia, across the Tasman Sea. It consists of two main islands, the North Island and the South Island, and a number of smaller islands. The capital, Wellington lies at the southern most tip of the North Island in the beautiful Hutt Valley. New Zealand covers an area of approximately 268,046 square kilometers (103,493 square miles) and has a population in excess of 3 million. It's human population is, however, outnumbered 24 to 1 by its livestock, mainly sheep.
New Zealand has some of the most spectacular scenery to be found anywhere in the world. From lush, fertile pastures to magnificent mountain ranges that remain snow capped even through the height of summer. Indescribably beautiful gorges and lakes and awe inspiring glaciers. New Zealand is also the home of the world's largest plantation as well as some of the most pristine primeval forests of native conifers and broad leafed trees. The South Island is renowned for its mountain ranges and beautiful fiords, while the North Island has its beautiful Bay of Islands and the boiling mud, hot springs and geysers of Rotorua.
It is a land where 20 of it's mountain peaks soar to 3000 meters or higher and where no inland area is more than 110 kilometers from the coastline. A land where the vegetation is as diverse as the landscape. There are moss festooned rainforests and areas of near desert. Alpine slopes that are home to tiny plants that have learned to adapt to the freezing cold and magnificent primeval forests that contain trees of enormous height and girth that have been there since before man stepped foot on these ancient islands. The coastline too exhibits its own diversity. There are long stretches of golden sandy beaches and there are also places where waves batter relentlessly against towering cliffs.
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