Overview
Imagine a unique land of breathtaking scenery: craggy coastlines, sweeping golden beaches, verdant forests, snow-capped alpine mountains, gurgling volcanic pools, flashing fish-filled rivers and glacier-fed lakes, all beneath a brilliant blue sky. New Zealand is accessible, spread over three relatively small islands with modern and efficient transport, quiet roads, plenty of flights and two stunningly scenic rail journeys. Other pluses are friendly, English-speaking people, a low crime rate, and a trio of rich cultural influences – adventurous Polynesian navigators (Maori), pioneering European settlers who followed a thousand years later, and modern Pacific Rim immigrants.The plant and animal life are excellent offering opportunities to see the varied birdlife (including kiwis), seals, dolphins and whales. Enjoy the chance to explore two of the richest New-World wine regions on the planet, taste wonderful cuisine, stroll on moody beaches, tramp through the national parks or over alpine passes. Try bungee jumping, caving or whitewater rafting: you can ski or snowboard on world-class slopes, scuba dive in unique color-filled marine reserves, sail on exciting waters or play on tournament-class golf courses. If that is not your bag, immerse yourself in culture in the museums and galleries of New Zealand’s main cities – Auckland, Christchurch and the capital Wellington.New Zealand’s time as an original, fully fledged tourist haven has come. Long-haul flights are fast-growing and the country’s isolation, once a bane, is now a boon.
Geography
New Zealand is 1930km (1200 miles) southeast of Australia and consists of two major islands, the North Island (116,031 sq km/44,800 sq miles) and the South Island (153,540 sq km/59,283 sq miles), which are separated by Cook Strait. Stewart Island (1750 sq km/676 sq miles) is located immediately south of the South Island, and the Chatham Islands lie 800km (500 miles) to the east of Christchurch. Going from north to south, temperatures decrease. Compared to its huge neighbor Australia, New Zealand’s three islands make up a country that is relatively small (about 20 per cent more land mass than the British Isles). Two-thirds of the country is mountainous, a region of swift-flowing rivers, deep alpine lakes and dense subtropical forest.
The country’s largest city, Auckland, is situated on the peninsula that forms the northern part of the North Island. The southern part of the North Island is characterized by fertile coastal plains rising up to volcanic peaks. Around Rotorua, 240km (149 miles) south of Auckland, there is thermal activity in the form of geysers, pools of boiling mud, springs of hot mineral water, silica terraces, colored craters and hissing fumaroles, which make Rotorua a world-famous tourist attraction. The South Island is larger, although only about one-third of the population lives there. The Southern Alps extend the whole length of the island, culminating in Mount Cook, the country’s highest peak. In the same region are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.There are also four Associated Territories: The Cook Islands, about 3500km (2175 miles) northeast of New Zealand; Niue, 920km (570 miles) west of the Cook Islands (area 260 sq km/100 sq miles); Tokelau, three atolls about 960km (600 miles) northwest of Niue (area 12 sq km/4 sq miles), and the Ross Dependency, which consists of over 700,000 sq km (270,270 sq miles) of the Antarctic.
New Zealand is the world’s best kept secret; it contains six of the seven climatic regions on the planet, boasts a series of unparalleled golden-sand beaches, protected marine parks to explore from on or beneath the surface, safe-but-active volcanic areas, pristine snow-capped Alps to ski and climb, prehistoric forests and unique flora and fauna. It does all this in one easily accessible package without thousands of miles to travel between each destination and it has an enviable reputation as one of the safest destinations in the world, lacking poisonous animals and boasting a low crime rate. It is a country where the only stress is that taken on willfully by the adventure-minded tourist (in the form of bungy jumping, parachuting, white-water rafting etc). You can walk for miles in New Zealand without seeing another soul, accompanied by rustling trees, running water and unusual bird song but perhaps the country’s greatest asset is its warm, friendly and hospitable population.
History
New Zealand was first settled at least 1000 years ago by the Polynesian Maori, a well ordered tribal society led by hereditary chiefs and a powerful priesthood. The first European arrival was Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1642, although it was not until the voyages of Captain James Cook, in 1769 and 1779, that the islands were charted and explored. British settlers began to emigrate after British sovereignty was established in 1840; Wellington was founded soon afterwards. New Zealand was granted internal self-government in 1852. The later years of the century saw a rapid growth in investment, communications and agricultural production. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to extend the vote to women. In 1907, New Zealand became a Dominion and its forces took part in both World Wars.
The country is a member of the Commonwealth and also several other international organizations, including ANZUS, the Five Power Defence Agreement and the South Pacific Forum. Membership of Western alliances were suspended, however, when Labor Prime Minister David Lange, elected in 1984, declared New Zealand nuclear free and prevented US and British vessels that might be nuclear powered or carrying nuclear weapons from entering New Zealand’s ports. While these policies put the small country on the international stage, Lange’s government was engaged in radical economic reform at home. Lange eventually resigned at the beginning of August 1989, to be replaced by one of his Cabinet members, Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer himself resigned in early September 1990, just weeks before the scheduled general election at the end of October 1990. This was won by the opposition National Party, which had been out of office for a decade. The new Government quickly reversed the Labor government’s policy on visiting warships but continued to express strong opposition to French nuclear tests in the South Pacific – politically essential after the Rainbow Warrior affair, in which French military personnel bombed the Greenpeace vessel of the same name, killing one person. The tests ended in 1995 and New Zealand resumed diplomatic relations with France in 1997.
Following a sharp recession in the early 1990s, the economy had recovered sufficiently by October 1993 for the National Party to be returned to office with a narrow majority. The party held on in October 1996 – the first poll held under the country’s new electoral system (see below) – but only with the support of New Zealand First (NZF), a newly-formed party with a nationalist agenda. Jim Bolger continued as Prime Minister, with NZF’s Winston Peters as his deputy and treasurer. Peters was of Maori descent, and the 1996 election was notable for the increase in the number of Maori MPs from six to 15: this came close to giving the Maori people a representation proportional to their presence in the community as a whole. Relations between the Maori and the mostly British-descended majority of the population are still sensitive in a number of respects. Bolger was supplanted in November 1997 by one of his cabinet ministers, Jenny Shipley, who subsequently became New Zealand’s first woman Prime Minister. Shipley faced the electorate two years later, with another woman, academic Helen Clark, leading the Labor Party. A closely fought campaign was eventually won by Labor, although, lacking an overall majority, Labor relied on the support of the small left-wing environmentalist Alliance Party to sustain the government. The result was all but repeated at the most recent poll, held in July 2002, although Labor is now reliant on the two representatives of the Progressive Coalition to maintain its hold on power. Shipley has since been replaced by Don Brash as opposition leader, who now has the task of preparing his party for the forthcoming general election scheduled for July 2005.
Government
Legislative power is held by the unicameral 120-seat House of Representatives, which is elected for a three-year term. A system of mixed member proportional representation was introduced at the election of October 1996, when the legislature increased from 99 to 120 seats. As in the UK, the leader of the largest party in the House normally becomes Prime Minister and holds executive power at the head of an executive council (cabinet). The British monarch is the Head of State, represented by the governor-general.
Economy
New Zealand is primarily thought of as an agricultural country and, although the sector employs less than 10 per cent of the workforce and contributes just 8 per cent of GDP, it accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s export income, primarily from wool, meat and dairy, and woods products. Barley, wheat, maize and fruit are the main crops. There is also a sizeable fishing industry. Energy-related natural resources, principally coal but also natural gas, have been heavily developed. There are also deposits of iron, gold and silica. From the late 1970s, a new generation of industrial enterprises centered on these natural resources was established to replace the declining traditional industries.
Between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, New Zealand underwent one of the most radical economic transformations of any Western industrialized country, with wholesale privatization, the abolition of subsidies, tariff barriers and corporate regulations, and the dismantling of many welfare systems (although spending has risen sharply of late as the government tackles the pensions crisis afflicting the developed world). The reforms have also meant that New Zealand is much more dependent on foreign trade. Recent economic performance has seen annual growth grow slightly to 3.5 per cent in 2004, mainly due to a fall in agricultural exports. Inflation was 1.8 per cent in 2004. Unemployment has hovered around the 5 per cent mark for several years, although much of it is concentrated in particular areas where it remains a major problem. Australia is New Zealand’s largest trading partner, and the two governments have recently established a completely free trading regime between them. Japan, the USA and the UK are the other major trading partners. New Zealand is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, the international forum for the world’s main industrialized economies), the South Pacific Forum (which aims to promote economic co-operation in the region) and the recently established Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum.
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