NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand, or Aotearoa to give it its original Maori name, is a small country at the bottom of the world, two major islands separated by a mere 36 kilometres of water and lying between the latitudes of 34 degrees and 47 degrees South latitude (approximately equivalent to the Northern latitudes of the Mediterranean). The South Island has been formed and pushed up by geological action at the collision point between the Australian and Pacific plates and thus has a long backbone of high mountains running for most of its length. Mid way along these Southern Alps is Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain at just over 10,000 feet or 3050 metres.
The North Island has largely been formed by volcanic action along the same fault line. Two of the three central North Island mountains still burst into life from time to time, while White Island off the east coast of the upper North Island is in frequent eruption. There are many and widespread sites where hot springs bubble up from the depths. Lake Taupo just to the north of the mountains is the largest in the country at about 34 kilometres long and just about as wide. It is actually a flooded crater formed by two huge eruptions, the biggest one occurring in pre-history at some 50,000 years ago, and the other about 2000 years ago and which would still have been the world's largest eruption in recorded history.
White Island in eruptiton
The nearest neighbouring land mass is Australia which is more than 3000 kilometres to the west at its nearest point so that, aside from the occaional dust storm or bush fire smoke that drifts across the Tasman Sea, we are well removed from sources of outside pollution. The country is constantly washed by the fresh clean air and waters of the Southern Oceans. Surrounded as we are with vast areas of water, and given that water tends to maintain a fairly even temperature throughout the year, this means that our summers are cooler and our winters milder than those in continental countries.
New Zealand has a population of some four million people with one and a half million of them living in Auckland, the largest city. Compare this with 13.5 million in Moscow or 12.5 million in Tokyo. The population is largely of European origin but with a substantial and growing proportion of Polynesians and Asians. Maori were the first inhabitants and are regarded as 'tangata whenua' or 'people of the land'. They first reached these islands early in the second century and were the only occupants until late in the eighteenth century.
Sporting opportunities range from the highly organised, such as football, Rugby, cricket, cycling, netball and basketball, to the highly individualised, sailing, tramping, camping, skiing, fishing, hunting, swimming to name just a few. Many New Zealanders enjoy a very active and healthy outdoor life.
The country is well served by a network of educational facilities through to college level and there are universities in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
There are hospitals in all of the cities and some of the larger towns. The NZ Public Health Service ensures that New Zealand citizens and those on work permits have access to public health care at a reasonable cost when they need it. Visitors need to carry health insurance to be safe.
Coming to New Zealand used to be simple - you came, you looked, and if you liked what you saw you stayed. These days things are not so easy - the Government has become increasingly concerned about the number of people wanting to come here but finds itself caught between two opposing principles: they want immigrants to fill the many skill shortages that exist in the job market here and yet at the same time to keep the influx of other migrants to a minimum. INZ have introduced many varied and sometimes confusing rules and regulations around access to this country, and that is why there is now a need for advisory services like those of Kiwi Visa.