19 replies to this topic

[qingtian]

I've never been there, so I wouldn't really know... but I guess it's the same as most countries?

[dg-aa]

sheeps lol jokes.. nah its cool.. i like it my mum lived in NZ for awhile..

[grrlfromoz]

qingtian, on Aug 23 2004, 07:51 AM, said:

I've never been there, so I wouldn't really know... but I guess it's the same as most countries? 

oh nooo, it's not! It's crazefully beautiful! Not that I've ever been there in person, but hey I've watched Xena and LOTR a few times

[squishybear]

is this where LOTR shooting took place? =) i know its a nice place! never been there... but hope in the future>>>!

[GameDev]

I only know of NZ as this country east of Australia that LOTR was filmed in. Looks like a nice place. Weren't they also part of the ANZAC divisions used by Britain in WW1 and WW2?

[Mario]

One of my friend was from New Zealand.... He would tell us that they mostly have sheep.. But its a awesom land scape.. You could probably see the Sydney olympics from NZ. Nice country.

[Mr Self Destruct]

Heh. They should rename New Zealand to "Middle Earth". That's how most people that have not really heard of New Zealand know about New Zealand.

I should go visit my neighbouring country sometime. I'm from Australia.

[eldeo]

I think your country is beautiful because you have both mountains with snow (I like snowboard) and beaches with beautiful women:) (I know something about it;) )

--
eldeo

[death.mage]

I'm from NZ too! Its a brilliant place. I live in Auckland. prodigy, if you don't mind me asking, from where in NZ are you?

[ashiezai]

ooo ... new zealand .. i've never been to there .. but i can see that nZ is a beautiful place ... and i know that in NZ the number of cows is more than the population
heard that there're beautiful mountains , volcanos , and hot spring !

[katif]

I haven't been to New Zealand, but I have seen pictures of it and it seems to be a really beautiful country. All the mountains and just the nature there seems to be wonderful!
I'd like to visit it some day.

[travstatesmen]

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!

My wife and I are from New Zealand, and we live in Auckland also, death.mage. We both love our country just as much as prodigy seems to. While I'm from West Auckland, I have been to the South Island, and I particularly love Kaikoura. That is a place unlike any other I have seen before. There is this coastal highway that just has to be seen to be believed! On one side of the highway there is a massive mountain range, covered in snow. On the other side of the highway is the ocean, where often whales can be seen, even from the shoreline. It is totally spectacular!

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words, but even this picture doesn't do justice to the beauty of the place! I also love the pebble-strewn riverbeds in the South Island, where the rivers meander lazily through their much wider thoroughfares, snaking their way back and forth across the smooth pebbles that form beaches on one side or the other of the river, and even little islands in the middle where the river splits in two, to join up again further down. Looking down on a river valley like the one below from a high vantage point is just breathtaking.

I think that the South Island is much more beautiful than the North Island. I have not yet been to any of the other popular tourist spots though, like Queenstown or the Milford Sound or the Routeburn or Heaphy tracks, or even a high country station. There is plenty to see and do here, and I still haven't seen it all yet. As the saying goes, "don't leave town till you've seen the country". I plan to see a lot more of my own country before I go overseas. So many foreign tourists are making New Zealand a highly regarded destination. I think I'll follow their example and take a look at what we have here, right in my own back yard!

[EdgabtheGreat]

New Zealand has 3 million people and 60 million sheep

This is a commonly heard statement about New Zealand, frequently in anticipation of yet another sheep joke.

A bit of sheep history ...

Quote

The Agricultural Production Survey also tells us that the peak in New Zealand sheep numbers was reached in 1982, with a total of 70.3 million sheep. In the same year, there were 3.18 million people in New Zealand, which works out to 22 sheep per person. Sheep numbers have gradually declined since the mid 1980s, due to factors such as depressed wool prices, droughts in the 1990s, and competition from other land-intensive farming activities (e.g. dairy and forestry). A low of 39.3 million sheep was recorded in 2004. But, sheep numbers have begun to stabilise, and in the most recent years, there has been population growth.

New Zealand Human Population: 4,115,771 (July 2007 est.)

So it's a still a possibility their are more sheep than people.

Source:
http://www.populatio...s/sheepmyth.htm

[Bluebear]

Is New Zealand similar to Norway? I have heard many say that. Fjords and mountains?

[travstatesmen]

Yes, we have Fiordland in the far South of the South Island, and it has often been compared to Norway. Also in the South Island, running from top to bottom along the West Coast is the Southern Alps, a spectacular mountain range that also has some of NZ's best ski fields.

Edited by travstatesmen, 13 September 2008 - 11:19 PM.

[EdgabtheGreat]

Wow those pictures are amazing, I am thinking of immigrating to New Zealand. Either New Zealand or Australia. If I go to New Zealand I would like to go to Auckland as it's the biggest city and I'm assuming the easiest to find a job. And hopefully the warmest climate compared to the rest of the country

[travstatesmen]

Yeah, well, the only reason I'm still in Auckland is for the work. There are much nicer places to live than Auckland, which is just another city, much like anywhere else. Sure, we have two harbors in Auckland, the Manukau and the Waitemata harbors, and Auckland is known as "the city of sails" for that reason, as we have a huge number of sailing yachts out on the harbours. But apart from that, yeah, it's a place to find a job.

Depends on your skills though, of course. If you happen to be a sharemilker, for instance, there is plenty of work available throughout the rest of the country, and lambing season will often provide work for the physically fit. Metallurgists would no doubt be welcome in the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty region where the gold mining is happening. Speaking of the B.O.P., if you are looking for a quick start to working in NZ, get into the harvest work, such as the kiwifruit industry, there's always plenty of work to be done down there picking, packing, coolstore work, pruning, etc. I've done that before and was able to keep employed, or at least have a surplus of finances, until the next harvest season. As long as you don't mind physically challenging work, that is!

But if you are looking for more sedentary work in New Zealand, such as sitting on your backside all day and staring at a computer screen, as I do now, then Auckland is definitely the place to be!

[sheepdog]

I would love to visit NZ sometime, it looks like such a beautiful country. I know a lot of the Hercules/Xena tv shows were supposed to be filmed there, and those shows have some of the most breath taking views I have ever seen. I would love to see them in person.

The fact that there may be more sheep and cows than humans is certainly not a distraction to the country. Actually, that may be a plus too. The less people the less agrivation!