Quirky New Zealand: The Other Down Under Quiz

Answer: Off the southern tip of the South Island

The North and South Islands are the 14th and 12th largest islands in the world respectively. Stewart Island is quite a bit smaller at 1,746 sq km. It represents 0.6% of New Zealand's land mass. It has a steady population of less than 400 and most live in the only settlement of Oban.

The island's Maori name, Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui, means "The Anchor Stone of Maui's Canoe". This places the island in the forefront of Maori mythology.

Answer: Christchurch

Before a city can be proclaimed a city in New Zealand, it needs to have 50 000 people. With a population of less than five million this means in 2016 there were only thirteen "qualified" cities. Only a quarter of New Zealanders live on the larger South Island with over half living in the two largest cities Christchurch (390 000 - 2016 census) and Dunedin (119 000 - 2016 census). About a third live in greater Auckland (1 495 000) and another 405 000 in the capital Wellington.

The country's fourth largest city, Hamilton, situated in north central North Island, had 230 0000 people in the 2016 census.

Answer: True

With a coastline of 15,134km, this is the nine largest coastline in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. New Zealand's neighboring cousin, Australia (ranked sixth) has an area 28 times larger than NZ yet its coastline is not even double that of NZ.
Besides its "double island geography", one of the major reasons why NZ has such a large coastline is the number of fjords on the western coast of the South Island.

Answer: In the Bay of Islands, north of Auckland

Waitangi (Maori for weeping waters) is a locality in the Bay of Islands in the far north of the North Island. In 1840, the treaty was signed by agents of the British Crown (led by Lieutenant Governor William Hobson) and many Māori chiefs from the North Island.

This resulted in the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand. It stayed a part of New South Wales until self-government as a separate colony came in 1841. The first capital was supposed to be established on the site but it was established at Russell, a few kilometers to the south. February 6th is celebrated by all New Zealanders as a public holiday as Waitangi Day.

Answer: Earthquake in 1931

The clue here was 1931: The Art Deco era took place in 1925-1939. In 1931 an earthquake devastated the coastal town of Napier (New Zealand is situated in the Ring of Fire). As the town had to be rebuilt, buildings were constructed in the style of the day, Art Deco. Some Art Deco buildings were replaced with conventional architecture in the 1950s-70s but by the 90s, there was considerable interest in retaining the architecture and the buildings were protected under heritage legislation .

Napier and South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida, are considered to be the two best-preserved Art Deco towns.

Answer: Dunedin

Dunedin: the name comes from Důn Čideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh which, in turn, is an anglicised version of the Scottish capital with "burgh" being a literal translation of the Gaelic "dun" which means fort). Therefore one could argue Dunedin is more Scottish than Edinburgh!

In 1844 Captain Thomas Wing, of the sailing ship "Deborah", his wife Lucy and a representative of the New Zealand Company, Frederick Tuckett, sailed south to find a suitable site for a settlement for the Free Church of Scotland. In 1848, Dunedin was settled by Scottish immigrants at the head of Otago Harbour in 1848. Gold was discovered in the region in 1852 which attracted immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, France, Germany, and China. Despite this influx causing Dunedin to be New Zealand's biggest city by 1865, the city remained proudly Scottish. Today Dunedin is the seventh largest city in New Zealand but is still considered one of the four most important cities for historic, cultural and geographic reasons.

Answer: False

Foveaux Strait (Maori name: Te Ara a Kewa which means "the path of the southern right whales") is about 70km long and between 15-50 km wide, separating Stewart Island from the southern tip of the South Island. It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770 but he thought Stewart Island was part of the South Island.

It was not named until 1804, when discoverer Owen Folger Smith discovered it was a seaway and perhaps disappointingly did not name it after himself, but named after Joseph Foveaux, Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales in 1808-1809. The strait is the centre of the Bluff (coastal town on the South Island) oyster trade. Oysters from this area are world famous.

The Strait is also treacherous, with many seafaring lives been lost in the region.

Answer: Southern Alps

The Southern Alps extend 500km down the "spine" of the South Island, almost its entire length. The range acts as a moderator of the climatic conditions either side of the range. The tallest peak is Aoraki (Mt Cook) at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). Additionally there are twelve other peaks greater than 3000 metres high. There are over 3000 glaciers within its confines and the climate is cold with all year snow on the highest peaks.

The peaks were named by Captain Cook in 1770 but they were also observed by Abel Tasman in 1642.

Answer: No

While it is a fact that there are more sheep than people in New Zealand, this is not saying much when there are less than five million people! In 2014, the top five countries in sheep head count were, in descending order, China 202 million, Australia 72 million, India 63 million, Iran 50 million, and Nigeria 41 million, Each of these countries except Australia have large populations so it is fair to say, New Zealand has more sheep per capita than any of the "Big five".
However both Australia and New Zealand are in the top five when it comes to wool and sheep meat production. Australia produces 25% of the world's wool, China 18%, USA 17% and New Zealand 11%. The largest producers of sheep meat (lamb, hogget, mutton) in 2013 were mainland China (2 million sheep), Australia (660,000), New Zealand (450,000), Sudan (325,000), and Turkey (295,000).

One of the reasons both New Zealand and Australia have such large sheep populations is because of their distance from Europe. They needed a commodity that wouldn't spoil with time and distance when transported to Europe. Wool was one of the few natural commodities that fit this criterion.

Answer: Sydney

Cape Reinga is sentimentally known as the northern tip of New Zealand as it is considered to be a separation marker between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Certainly from the lighthouse at the tip you can see the two currents clashing.

The actual northern tip is Surville Cliffs, North Cape, a few kilometres to the east. Cape Reinga is at 34.2 degrees South, 2190km to the south is the city of Invercargill at 46.6 degrees South, showing how long New Zealand is. So far north is Cape Reinga, it is very similar to the coordinates of Sydney (33.9S). Auckland (36.5S) is similar to Melbourne (37.8S) and Christchurch (43.5S) is a bit father south than Hobart (42.88 S).