About New Zealand

New Zealand (Aotearoa), the land of the long white cloud, is made up of three main Islands, The North Island, The South Island, and Stewart Island.

No matter where you are in New Zealand you are never more than 130 km from the ocean.  New Zealand is a country of rare seismic beauty: glacial mountains, fast-flowing rivers, deep, clear lakes, hissing geysers and boiling mud.  There are also abundant native forests, long deserted beaches, and a variety of fauna, such as the kiwi, endemic to its shores.  It is a land made up of mountains, lakes and rivers, native forests, and farmlands.  Unique native flora and fauna have thrived in this untouched land.

The variety, beauty, and accessibility of these natural features are central to New Zealand’s identity and attract thousands of tourists every year.

Maori are the tangata whenua – the people of the land.  They settled here over 700 years ago and have shown an amazing ability to adapt first to a new environment and then to the arrival of European immigrants and culture.  The first large-scale European settlement began in 1840.

 
Farming provided the country’s main lifeblood for many years. Today a capitalist economy combines the traditional earners such as wool and dairy products with new developments, from making movies to growing distinctive wines, and the expanding tourist trade.

Kiwi

The Kiwi is a bizarre flightless nocturnal bird and also a New Zealand Kiwiana icon – New Zealander's even take their nickname from the Kiwi. 

Silver Fern

The Silver Fern is another famous example of New Zealand Kiwiana.   Worn by many sports teams – including the world-famous All Blacks – the silver fern emblem is proudly flown at sporting events all over the world.   Inspired by New Zealand indigenous ferns, the Silver Fern was first worn by the New Zealand Native Rugby Team on their 1888 tour of Britain. 

Rugby

Rugby is New Zealand’s national sport, and to most Kiwis - a religion.  Many Kiwi households revolve around the game of rugby.  Even if you are not a huge fan of the game, you will no doubt be familiar with the All Blacks – the hugely successful national team.

Sheep

New Zealand has a human population of just over 4 million, and a sheep population of almost 40 million!   The back bone of the New Zealand economy for over a century, sheep were first introduced by English settlers in the 19th century.

Kauri

Kauri is the most famous of New Zealand native trees and one of the largest trees found anywhere in the world.  Those remaining today average 30m high, with a columnar trunk up to 3m in diameter.  It is free of branches for up to 18m above the ground. 

Tane Mahuta, the famous tree in Waipoua forest is 51.2m high with a girth of 17.2m, and has been calculated to be over 2,100 years old.

Kauri once covered much of the area of North Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula with dense forests from sea level to 600m; the Southern limit was bounded by a line from Raglan Harbour through Hamilton to a little South of Tauranga.

Rich deposits , of Kauri gum in layers in the ground, separated by silt deposits have been found in a number of places in Northland indicating the previous existence of ancient forests.  Drilling for wells and examination of swamp deposits where there are successive layers of logs also show that in some areas of Northland, three, sometimes four, Kauri forests have grown up, lived and decayed.  Their remains have been found to a depth of 100m and carbon dated to be over 35,000 years old.

Only a few builders have made guitars from this wood so far, most notably Northland Luthier Laurie Williams who pioneered the use of Ancient Kauri. It is a beautiful honey-amber color and the tap tone falls somewhere between Walnut and Koa. There is a very subtle, liquidy Kauri timber is light and very durable, of a yellow-brown colour, straight-grained, amazingly free from knots and other defects, and easily worked.

Rimu

Rimu forms a very tall forest canopy tree, usually 20-35m high, but sometimes reaching 60m.  The straight trunk is generally up to 1.5m through but may be larger in very old or taller trees.  Very large trees still standing today can be from 700 to even 1,000 years old.

Next to Kauri, Rimu is the best known of New Zealand native timber trees. 

The heartwood of Rimu is deep red in colour, strong, hard and durable - though not so durable as Kauri or Totara.  The heartwood is nearly always beautifully figured, as a result of the grain being twisted during growth.

Heart Rimu is one of the most beautifully figured woods in the world, and for this reason has always been highly prized in New Zealand as a finishing timber.

Koru

The best known and most widely used Maori art motifs are the Koru and the spiral.  The Koru is basically a stalk with a bulb at one end.  No one knows how it was first invented or who elaborated this versatile element of pattern.  Certainly, an unlimited range of patterns can be formed from it.

Koru-like motifs are present in the arts of ancient Asia, notably in the areas of Southern China and South-east Asia.  They abound in the tribal arts of Melanesia. The Maori Koru probably had it's origins in such regions and was carried to New Zealand by the Maori ancestors. 

The word is defined in the Maori language as meaning folded, coiled, looped.  A popular explanation of the Koru is that it represents the unfolding of a tree fern frond, as seen in the uncurling corm with it's rolled-up inner leaflets.

The Koru represents the unfolding of new life, renewal, hope for the future.

Paua

The Paua shellfish is a species of abalone (Haliotis iris). Found only in the seas around New Zealand.   New Zealand's Paua has an oval shaped shell, protecting a large muscular foot inside it, which clings to rocks. They have a pair of eyes, a mouth and tentacles, and breathe through gills which are near their mouth under a row of pores in the shell.  Paua are found around the coast of New Zealand, in shallow water.  They are much more abundant and grow larger in the colder waters around Stewart Island and Southland.

Paua are prized for their meat in New Zealand; however, the majority of the paua meat is exported offshore.  Nothing goes to waste as the shell is used extensively in the manufacture of jewellery and souvenirs.  The Paua's brilliant blue/green colours shine and vary from pink to crimson and purple toning. This range of colours can change when lighting is altered or when viewed from different angles. It is easy to see why many regard paua as the most colourful shell in the world.