X-Nico

99 unusual facts about New Zealand


1860 in New Zealand

The New Zealand Derby is held for the first time, at Riccarton Racecourse.

Alpha 2000

The Alpha Aviation Alpha 2000 is a two-seat, all-metal training and general aviation aircraft built in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Aramoana massacre

Gray then entered the home of Tim Jamieson, killing him and another elderly local, former Green Island mayor Vic Crimp.

Auckland Flower Show

The Auckland Flower Show was a flower and garden show held in Alexandra Park in the suburb of Epsom, Auckland in November 2008.

Auckland Marathon

The course begins in the seaside suburb of Devonport on the North Shore and travels through Takapuna and Northcote before crossing the Harbour Bridge and heading toward the finish at Victoria Park.

Battle of Kororareka

After the Māori had removed the British colors from Flagstaff Hill in Kororareka three times, they came back to remove it again.

BDORT

The New Zealand Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, ruled on two separate malpractice cases against Dr. Richard Warwick Gorringe, MB, ChB, of Hamilton, New Zealand.

Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus

It was isolated from a piece of wood floating in the flow from a freshwater thermal spring in New Zealand in 1987, and tentatively named Caldocellum saccharolyticum.

Camborne

The town name inspired the name of Camborne, New Zealand, a seaside suburb of Porirua City developed by an investment company headed by an Arthur Cornish.

Cavalier Yachts

Under pressure from the New Zealand government, a sophisticated fibreglass production unit was developed in Glenfield, Auckland to meet the new health and safety regulations for fiberglass construction.

Christchurch South by-election, 1939

Macfarlane could increase the Labour vote at one polling booth only (Antigua Street in Sydenham).

Cornwall Park

The park around One Tree Hill, New Zealand (which is distinct from the hill, and much larger).

Coutts Crawford

He settled in Wellington and called his land holding Kilbirnie after the town in Scotland; the name is still in use as a Wellington suburb.

Daniel Gillies

When Gillies was five, his parents decided to return to their native New Zealand, and moved to Invercargill and then to Hamilton.

Decortica

Sessions were later moved to a makeshift studio on a farm in Coatesville, New Zealand.

Delaney Davidson

Delaney Davidson born in 1972, his hometown is Lyttelton, New Zealand.

Dent Island

Dent Island, New Zealand, an island belonging to the Campbell Island group

Duders Hill

Duders Hill (also Takamaiiwaho) was a 20 metre high scoria mound located on the Devonport coast, on the lower south-east slopes of Mount Victoria, in the Auckland Volcanic Field.

Edward Boddington

Edward Robert Boddington was born 29 April 1862 in Wakefield and died 4 March 1897 in Perth, Western Australia.

Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand

A second South Island AGM was held at the mosque (in Riccarton) over 24–25 June 1989 where Dr Sandhu of Wellington was elected president and Dr Al Samahy was made vice-president.

Flag of the Governor-General of New Zealand

The flag is flown at places the Governor-General occupies or resides such as Governor-General's residence, Parliament of New Zealand while attending Executive Council meetings and on official vehicles.

flag of the Governor-General takes precedence over the Flag of New Zealand and is second only to the Queen's Personal New Zealand Flag.

The flag in its present form was adopted in 2008 and is a blue flag with the badge of the New Zealand coat of arms royally crowned.

Frederick Lye

Frederick Arthur Lye (1881 – 3 October 1949) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party then of the Reform Party in the United Party coalition.

Gary S. Schofield

He attended Nawton School, then Southwell and St. Paul's Collegiate School, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Geoff Rabone

Geoffrey Osborne Rabone (born 6 November 1921 in Gore, Southland, New Zealand and died 19 January 2006 in Auckland) was a cricketer who captained New Zealand in five Test matches in 1953-54 and 1954-55.

George Nepia

In 2004 he was selected as number 65 by the panel of the New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers television show.

Gore District

Gore, New Zealand, a town, surrounding borough, and district in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand.

Grafton Bridge

Since 2009 the bridge has formed a core part of the Central Connector public transport route between the CBD and Newmarket, and is closed to private vehicles during the day.

For this project, somewhat controversial due to the interruption of the direct car connection to Grafton, the bridge was tested and in 2008–2009, strengthened.

Hamilton City

Hamilton, New Zealand (Territorial Authority Hamilton City), New Zealand's fourth largest city

Harry A. Ironside

He suffered from failing vision, and after surgery to restore it, he set out on November 2, 1950, for a preaching tour of New Zealand, once more among Brethren assemblies, but died in Cambridge, New Zealand, on Jan 15, 1951 and was buried there.

Henderson Railway Station

It is near the town centre of Henderson and the new Council offices, as well as a major shopping centre, Westfield WestCity.

Henry family of New Zealand

The Encyclopedia of New Zealand recognises the Henry family as being one of the three great Scottish industrialist families that settled in New Zealand in the 19th Century.

New Zealand Forest Products (NZFP) was New Zealand's largest industrial company from its creation (following the consolidation of the New Zealand timbermilling sector) in 1936 until the privatisation of state-owned Telecom New Zealand in 1990.

HMNZS Philomel

Today Philomel is a sprawling land establishment located at Devonport, New Zealand.

Homing pigeon

Possibly the first regular air mail service in the world was Mr. Howie's Pigeon-Post service from the Auckland New Zealand suburb of Newton to Great Barrier Island, starting in 1896.

Horohoro

Horohoro, New Zealand, a farming district 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-west of Rotorua.

Ilam School of Fine Arts

Located in the Christchurch suburb of Ilam, it is informally called the Ilam School of Fine Arts, although this can lead to confusion with the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland.

InterACT Disability Arts Festival

The 2013 edition of the festival is scheduled for 23-25 October and the venue will be Corban's Estate Arts Centre, Henderson.

Jack Afamasaga

Afamasaga originally began playing Rugby union in his youth, playing for the 1st XV team at Waiopehu College in Levin (the same high school attended by former All Black Carlos Spencer) and working his way up through several representative teams before he was eventually selected by the Wellington Hurricanes in their schoolboy team.

Janney coupler

Thus the heaviest coal trains in New Zealand use Janney couplings even though the remainder of the fleet has the "meat chopper" kind.

Jennyfer Jewell

Born in England, her family moved to Wellington, New Zealand when she was a child and was later raised in the nearby suburb of Kelburn.

Jetboat

Queenstown, New Zealand, where jetboats are used extensively for adventure tourism, claims to be the jetboat capital of the world, and jetboats are very common for many coastal and riverine tourism activities in the country, such as the Excitor in the Bay of Islands.

John Falloon

Falloon was educated at Bideford School, Lindisfarne College and Massey University, graduating with a diploma in sheep farm management.

Joseph Greenwood

He served in the first and second New Zealand Parliaments, representing the Pensioner Settlements electorate consisting of the Auckland suburbs of Howick, Onehunga, Otahuhu, and Panmure.

Kuroshio, Kōchi

Every year in late August, during the summer vacation, twelve third year students chosen from Kuroshio's two junior high schools travel to Hamilton, New Zealand.

Lady Musgrave Island

At about 03:40 on 25 March 1985 the Australian registered ship TNT Alltrans grounded on Lady Musgrave Island, while on a voyage from Gladstone, Queensland to the port of Bluff, New Zealand.

Lyttelton by-election, 1933

A later meeting in the Labour stronghold of Woolston was much better frequented, with 200 attendees busy interjecting him during his speech.

Mako Networks

Operating from the front room of a residential flat in Herne Bay, Auckland, the company began by offering managed firewall services for small businesses and enterprise clients.

During this period of expansion the company moved premises to a windowless lower-level office on Parnell Rise, known affectionately as “The Cave” which served as the company server room and office.

Manawatu rugby league team

They represented the Central North Island of New Zealand, playing home games in Palmerston North and Levin and were run by the Manawatu Rugby League.

Martin Krippner

He was chairman of the Puhoi Highway District Board in 1874, and in 1877 and 1878 served on the Rodney County Council.

Mikaelar Whippy

She attended the Church College of New Zealand, a secondary school in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand before pursuing a college basketball career in the U.S. at Long Island University.

Mount Smart Stadium

Built within the quarried remnants of the Mount Smart volcanic cone, it is located 10 kilometres south of the city centre, in the suburb of Penrose.

Murder of Scott Guy

Scott Guy was shot to death at the gate of the family farm in Feilding, New Zealand in July 2010.

My Own Private Amsterdam

"Frankfurt" is the first single released from the album, and has had airplay on New Zealand radio station The Rock

Nadeem Malik

After an injury-hit trip to New Zealand for the 2002 Under-19 World Cup, he spent another two years at Trent Bridge, but in 2003 he became frustrated by the lack of first-team opportunities after playing just two first-team games all summer and signed for Worcestershire at the end of the season, a move he had first considered a year before.

Netconcepts

In 2000 Netconcepts Limited was created, with offices in Browns Bay, Auckland and then later, Christchurch.

New Zealand College of Chiropractic

The New Zealand College of Chiropractic is located in Mt Wellington, Auckland, NZ.

New Zealand State Highway 67

The road passes through alternating areas of farmland and temperate rainforest vegetation as it passes the settlements of Waimangaroa (turn right here for Denniston), Granity (turn right here for Millerton, Stockton and Stockton Mine), Ngakwau and Hector.

New Zealand State Highway 98

State Highway 98 is a New Zealand State Highway connecting the settlements of Lorneville (on State Highway 6 just north of Invercargill) and Dacre (on State Highway 1) in the Southland Region.

New Zealanders

Originally composed solely of the indigenous Māori, the ethnic makeup of the population has been dominated since the 19th century by New Zealanders of European descent, mainly of Scottish, English and Irish ancestry, with smaller percentages of other European ancestries such as French, Dutch, Scandinavian and South Slavic.

Between 1881 and the 1920s, the Parliament of New Zealand passed legislation that intended to limit Asiatic migration to New Zealand, and prevented Asians from naturalising.

North Head

North Head, New Zealand is a volcanic cone headland in North Shore City, New Zealand, at the east end of the Waitemata Harbour.

Northland temperate kauri forest

The landscape is flat when compared with most of New Zealand and includes the regions of Northland, Auckland around the city of Auckland and Waikato around the town of Hamilton.

Onslow College

Onslow College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Johnsonville, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand.

Pentire

As at 2009, Pentire is the foundation sire at Rich Hill Stud, Walton, New Zealand.

Pinehill

Pinehill, New Zealand, a suburb of North Shore City in the Auckland region

Piopio

Piopio, New Zealand, a town in the Waitomo District in the North Island of New Zealand

Pompallier Catholic College

Pompallier Catholic College is a Catholic co-educational Secondary college located in the suburb of Maunu in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Powelliphanta hochstetteri

This species is endemic to the Marlborough and Nelson provinces of the South Island of New Zealand.

Province

Sometimes the term the provinces is used to refer collectively to rural and regional parts of New Zealand, that is, those parts of the country lying outside some or all of the "main centres"—Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton and Dunedin.

Rainy River, New Zealand

Rainy River is the name of two rivers in the north of New Zealand's South Island.

Redwood Railway Station

The original route between Wellington and Porirua via Johnsonville, now truncated to the Johnsonville Line, was bypassed in the 1930s by the Tawa Flat deviation.

RifRaf

RifRaf (born 1965) in Hamilton, New Zealand is an figurative artist and painter based in New Zealand, known for monumental images of large women.

Skin cancer

Australia and New Zealand exhibit one of the highest rates of skin cancer incidence in the world, almost four times the rates registered in the United States, the UK and Canada.

Socialism with no doctrine

"Socialism with no doctrine" (Socialisme sans doctrine) is a phrase coined by Albert Métin based on his observation of the experiments in labour and economic regulation by the nonsocialist governments of Australia and New Zealand that Métin described as effectively being a form of state socialism though these policies did not contain any reference recognizing socialist theory.

St Mary's College, Auckland

St Mary's College is a year 7 - 13 integrated Catholic girls' high school situated at 11 New Street, Ponsonby, Auckland.

Stockton Plateau Hydro Project

Some of the water used will be drained from the Stockton coal mine which is expected to reduce the pollution levels in the Ngakawau River.

Suzuki Swift Sport Cup

The series is made up of Suzuki Swift's sourced through Winger Motor Group in Hamilton, Waikato region.

TAG Oil

TAG operates the Cheal production station, south of Stratford, New Zealand.

Takanini

An old highway, the Great South Road, runs through Takanini, forming its main street.

Taupo Motorsport Park

On 21 January 2007 Taupo Motorsport Park hosted the sixth race in the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season and on 20 January 2008 it hosted the fifth race in the 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season.

The Electric Confectionaires

Sheehan, Smith and Gunn hail from Devonport and first met in primary school after Gunn emigrated from Scotland.

The Morning Rumble

Roger, or Rog as he's known, joined the Morning Rumble in 1994 when The Rock was still broadcast from Hamilton and has been there since.

Unitec Institute of Technology

The main campus is situated in Mt Albert, Auckland City, while a secondary campus is situated in Henderson, Waitakere City, and a third campus in Albany, North Shore City which opened in August 2011.

Venus Bay, New Zealand

Venus Bay is located on Perseverance Harbour on New Zealand's subantarctic Campbell Island.

Waikare River

Waikare River is the name of two rivers in the North Island of New Zealand.

Waikato Draught

From this time production of Waikato Draught was moved to the Lion Breweries in Newmarket, Auckland.

Waikawa

Waikawa is the name of three small settlements and a river in New Zealand.

Waima, New Zealand

The Waima River in Marlborough flows through the Waima Valley into the Pacific Ocean.

Waimea River, New Zealand

There are two Waimea River at opposite ends of New Zealand's South Island.

Wainui River

Wainui River is the name of four rivers in New Zealand.

Waiorongomai River

Waiorongomai River is the name of two rivers in the North Island of New Zealand.

Warkworth AFC

Warkworth AFC or Warkworth Jennian for sponsorship purposes is a semi-professional association football club in the Warkworth, New Zealand.

Westfield, New Zealand

Portage Road is the location of one of the overland routes between the two harbours (and thus the Pacific ocean and the Tasman Sea), where the Maori would beach their waka (canoes) and drag them overland to the other coast, thus avoiding having to paddle around North Cape.

Westpoint Performing Arts Centre

Legend says that the building was named 'Westpoint' because it is located right on the border between three Auckland suburbs - Western Springs, Westmere, and Point Chevalier.

William Lankham

William Lankham was born 4 December 1861 in Auckland and died 2 December 1886 in Devonport.


Acanthochitona thileniusi

The only specimens have been found in Tauranga Harbour in New Zealand.

Addington, New Zealand

The New Zealand Railways Department's Addington Workshops were situated here until their closure in the 1980s; the historic concrete water-tower survives, next to the new Christchurch railway station.

Ali Campbell

In 2012, Campbell was announced as one of the three judges on the judging panel of the TV show, New Zealand's Got Talent.

Anagrams of Desire

) and an unproduced screenplay entitled The Christchurch Murders, based on the Parker-Hulme New Zealand murders, the same incident which influenced Peter Jackson's film Heavenly Creatures.

Arapawa Pig

The Arapawa Pig is a feral breed of domestic pig (Sus scrofa) found on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

Armin Hahne

1988 saw him in a Mark Petch Racing Ford Sierra RS500 with New Zealand racer Robbie Francevic, the car engineered by its previous owner, and Hahne's team boss in the 1988 ETCC, former Wolf Racing Formula One team owner Walter Wolf.

Australian barracuda

The Australian barracuda, arrow barracuda, Australian sea pike, sea pike, snook, or shortfin barracuda, Sphyraena novaehollandiae, is a barracuda of the genus Sphyraena, found between North Cape and East Cape on the North Island of New Zealand, in semiprotected areas.

Benoît Haffreingue

Haffreingue was the principal of a private Jesuit boarding school for boys (now known as "Le collège Haffreingue-Chanclaire") in the town which included among it former students the New Zealand architect Francis Petre.

Brew Masters

Sam travels to New Zealand and collaborates with Epic Brewing Company to brew a special indigenous tamarillo and pōhutukawa brew for Beervana, an annual craft beer competition.

Double-decker tram

Double-deck trams were once popular in some European cities, like Berlin and London, throughout the British Empire countries in the early half of the 20th century including Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand; Hobart, Tasmania in Australia and in parts of Asia.

Drift to the north

Drift to the north is a term used in New Zealand to refer to the internal migration of people from the South Island to the country's main metropolitan area, Auckland, in the northern North Island.

Flag of Kuwait

It was made in New Zealand by Peter Lynn, launched to the public for the first time in 2004 in the United Kingdom, officially launched in Kuwait in 2005, and has not been surpassed since.

Francis Joseph Mace

Chief among his awards was the New Zealand Cross, the highest colonial gallantry award available in New Zealand.

Games '74

Games '74 is a 1974 New Zealand–made documentary film of the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974.

Harry Laurent

Henry John Laurent, known as Harry, was born on 15 April 1895 in Tarata, in the Taranaki region of New Zealand.

Hector Hatch

While visiting New Zealand on 4 January 2007, the Interim Military Government (which had seized power in a coup d'état on 5 December 2006) named Hatch to head the Public Service Commission, replacing Stuart Huggett, who was dismissed for non-cooperation with the military regime.

High Dependency Unit

High Dependency Unit is a psychedelic rock band originating from Dunedin, New Zealand.

Hilda Hewlett

Hewlett had previously spent nine months touring New Zealand, Rarotonga, and the United States, but it was not until the factory site was sold that she emigrated to Tauranga, New Zealand, with her daughter Pia Richards and Pia's family.

Hoyts

Their only well known release was the film version of New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats, entitled Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale.

Imakane, Hokkaido

Imakane Junior High School has an exchange program with Burnside High School, Christchurch, New Zealand.

James Farnell

The gold discoveries in California in 1848 led to his visiting America, and he also travelled in New Zealand before finally returning to New South Wales.

Jasus edwardsii

Jasus edwardsii is found around most of the coast of New Zealand, including the three main islands, the Three Kings Islands, the Chatham Islands, the Snares Islands, the Bounty Islands, the Antipodes Islands and the Auckland Islands.

Jonathan Winter

Jonathan Winter (born August 18, 1971 in Masterton) is a member of the Ngai Tahu Maori tribe and a former backstroke swimmer from New Zealand, who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, for his native country.

Joshua Kadison

It peaked at #19 on the U.S. Billboard charts, and Filipino actor/singer Jericho Rosales recorded and released a version of it on his own 2009 album Change. Painted Desert Serenade went platinum in the US and Germany, and went multi-platinum in Australia and New Zealand.

Madeleine Sami

She has since featured in various New Zealand television shows including Outrageous Fortune, The Jaquie Brown Diaries, 7 Days and the Jane Campion series, Top of the Lake.

Mainline Steam

Mainline Steam is a New Zealand organisation devoted to the restoration and operation of historic New Zealand Railways mainline steam locomotives.

Melodie Robinson

Melodie Robinson (born 25 May 1973 in New Plymouth) is a New Zealand sports journalist and presenter, and former international rugby union player for the New Zealand women's national rugby union team.

Midnight Youth

Midnight Youth came together while at Rangitoto College in Auckland's North Shore with three members of the band playing together in New Zealand's high school Rockquest competition.

Murupara Branch

The Murupara Branch (incorporating the Kawerau Branch) was a branch railway line from the East Coast Main Trunk at Hawkens Junction near Edgecombe via Kawerau to Murupara; built to serve a new pulp and paper mill havesting the radiata pine trees of the Kaingaroa Forest on the Kaingaroa Plateau in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

MV Brigitte Bardot

On 5 January 2013 in Timaru, New Zealand, a distress call was issued in relation to the Brigitte Bardot after an observer mistook the vessel for an overturned yacht.

Nancy Borlase

Born in Taihape, New Zealand, in 1914, Borlase was 16 when she decided that art was her calling and shifted to Christchurch, making the move to Australia at age 22.

New Zealand–United Kingdom relations

Subsequently, separate appointments were made; this distinguished the representation of the British Government in New Zealand from that of the shared monarch, in sympathy with the principles set out under the Balfour declaration thirteen years earlier.

Oceanian nations at the FIFA World Cup

New Zealand, Australia, Fiji got to group 1 and respectively ranked 1, 2, 5 places.

Pokeno

State Highway 1 originally ran through the town, but the upgrading of the highway in 1992 to expressway standards mean that the town has been bypassed.

Polymastia lorum

It is only known from a single specimen found attached to a dead Glycimeris valve on a reef near Ohinau Island, one of the Mercury Islands off North Island, New Zealand.

Rimutaka Tunnel

The Rimutaka Tunnel (officially Tunnel 2, Wairarapa Line) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Rimutaka Ranges, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.

Rory Fallon

After originally representing England at youth level, he has been capped by New Zealand at international level and scored the goal that took them to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Roy Dalgarno

In 1975 he moved to Auckland, New Zealand, where he worked as a Lecturer in drawing and composition at the Auckland Society of Arts.

Shotgate

The Hurricane fighter recalls the incident on 31 May 1940, when RAF Pilot Officer William Henry Hodgson, a New Zealander, engaged hostile bombers and fighters over the River Thames in his Hawker Hurricane, but it was hit and caught fire.

Simon Schama's Power of Art

It aired in Poland on TVP2 in February and March 2008, on PBS in the US and re -broadcast in September 2008 on TVOntario in Canada, ABC1 in Australia, Australia Network in the Asia-Pacific region, TV ONE in New Zealand and on ET1 in Greece.

Starcom IP Asia

Starcom IP Asia consists of 17 countries and 29 offices, with locations in Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane) Bangalore, Bangladesh, China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong), India (New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai), Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington), Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Susan Goatman

Susan Goatman, born 5 February 1945 in Thanet, Kent, is a retired cricketer who has played three women's Test matches for England and 21 women's one-day internationals including the 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup in England, 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup in India and the 1982 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

Tama Canning

Tamahau Karangatukituki Canning (born 7 April 1977 in Rose Park) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played four One Day Internationals but no Tests.

TVSN

From August 20, 2013, Kordia began broadcasting a localised version of the channel on LCN 20 to a national New Zealand audience on the Freeview (New Zealand) terrestrial service, which is taken from the encrypted SKY TV (New Zealand) satellite channel launched at the same time.

Ursula Hall

Residents of Ursula Hall welcomes undergraduate and postgraduate students of all nationalities, religions and cultures—residents are from dozens of countries, including Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

Vivienne Boyd

She had active lay leadership roles in the Epuni Baptist Church, and wider New Zealand Baptist roles as president of the Baptist Women’s League (1966–1968), as a member and later convenor of the Public Questions Committee (1967–1972, 1977–1979), as a member of the Baptist Union Council (1970–1985) and as president of the Baptist Union (1984–1985).

Women's Rugby League World Cup

Women's Rugby League had been played in both Oceania and the United Kingdom for several years but it was not until 1985 in Britain and 1993 in Australia and New Zealand where female only organizations and governing bodies were established and while the Rugby Football League recognized the British women in 1985 it took another five years for the Australian Rugby League to officially recognize the Australian Women's rugby league.

Zealandopterix zonodoxa

It is known from the northern North Island of New Zealand, from Te Paki south to Puketitri, Hawkes Bay and including Poor Knights, Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands.