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23 unusual facts about South Island


1999 New Zealand island soccer leagues

The two leagues, one for the North Island (the NISL) and one for the South Island (the SISL) were followed by a play-off between the two champion sides to determine the national champions.

Asplenium oblongifolium

A. oblongifolium is found on the North, South, Chatham and Kermadec Islands, and is found from the coast to the mountains.

Brightwater Railway Station

Brightwater railway station was a rural railway station that served the town of Brightwater in the Tasman district of New Zealand’s South Island.

Canterbury rugby league team

The Bulls were the only team from the South Island to ever compete in the Bartercard Cup and were the only club to compete in every season.

Corriedale

James Little was the original breeder and the name comes from a property in the South Island, where he conducted his work under the encouragement of NZALC superindent, William Soltau Davidson.

Domestic sheep predation

The only wild animal known to attack sheep in New Zealand is the rare, unusual kea parrot endemic to the country's South Island.

Duncan Sarkies

Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin and is the brother of Robert Sarkies a New Zealand film director who is also a scriptwriter.

Hope Railway Station, New Zealand

Hope railway station was a rural railway station serving the small town of Hope in the Tasman district of New Zealand’s South Island.

Horace Poussard

They toured the goldfields and major towns in the States of Victoria and South Australia before going to the South Island of New Zealand.

Karocolens tuberculatus

Hadramphus tuberculatus (known as the Canterbury knobbed weevil, Spaniard weevil or Banks Peninsula speargrass weevil) is a rare weevil endemic to the Christchurch area in the South Island of New Zealand.

Lyallia kerguelensis

Its closest relative is the similar cushion plant Hectorella caespitosa which is found in alpine areas of the South Island of New Zealand.

Metrosideros fulgens

It occurs in coastal and lowland forest throughout the North Island and on the west coast of the South Island.

Mount Cook Group

Originally providing services to the Aoraki/Mt Cook region of the South Island, the company grew to take over many other New Zealand bus companies: H&H of Invercargill, Luxury Landlines and Hawkes Bay Motor Co of the North Island.

New Zealand Rockwren

The New Zealand Rockwren (Xenicus gilviventris), or Rock Wren, or Pīwauwau in (Māori, is a small New Zealand wren (family Acanthisittidae) endemic to the South Island of New Zealand.

Powelliphanta gilliesi

This species is endemic to the West Nelson area of the South Island of New Zealand.

Rainy River, New Zealand

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

Reef starfish

Found throughout New Zealand, S. australis is a keystone species in both the North and South Islands, playing an important role in mussel predation.

Rhopalostylis

R. sapida, known as the nikau palm, is the only palm native to mainland New Zealand, and is found in lowland forests on the North Island, in coastal areas of the South Island as far south as Banks Peninsula, and on the Chatham Islands at 44°S.

Tmesipteris tannensis

An example of occurrence of T. tannensis within a tiered phytocoenosis is in Central Westland of South Island, New Zealand.

Tui Railway Station

Tui railway station was a rural railway station that served the small farming settlement of Tui in the Tasman District of New Zealand’s South Island.

Waimea River, New Zealand

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

Wattie's

In Christchurch, on the South Island the company has its third production plant which focuses on producing frozen and dry vegetables.

Wellington Harbour

For more than a century, Wellington Harbour has been a terminal for ferries to and from South Island.


Acaena juvenca

Acaena juvenca is a species of perennial plant found in scrubland and forest margins up to an altitude of 1200 m on the eastern side of both North and South Islands, New Zealand.

Acaena tesca

Acaena tesca is a species of low growing perennial plant restricted to the upper slopes of the mountains of central Otago and northern Southland in the South Island of New Zealand.

Black-fronted Tern

Within New Zealand, the Black-fronted Tern is found from the southern tip of the North Island, and along much of the eastern South Island from Marlborough to Southland, and to Stewart Island.

Bligh Sound

Bligh Sound is a sound of the South Island of New Zealand, named in 1809 by John Grono, after the ship Governor Bligh in honour of the Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh.

Carmichaelia

It occurs only at altitude in the northeast corner of the South Island, particularly along the Clarence and Awatere Rivers.

Chiltonia

Subsequent taxonomic splits have retricted the name to the populations in the Southland and Otago Regions in New Zealand's South Island.

Don Beaven

An advocate of the Mediterranean diet, Beaven helped establish the South Island wine industry, planting vineyards and olive groves around Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

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.

Lake Paringa

Lake Paringa is a small lake 30 kilometres north of Haast on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

Matiri Project

The Matiri Project is a hydroelectric scheme proposed by New Zealand Energy Limited for Lake Matiri and the Matiri River in the South Island of New Zealand.

Muehlenbeckia astonii

astonii is found only at the southern tip of the North Island (Palliser Bay) and on the eastern side of the South Island from northern Marlborough to Birdlings Flat at the south-west edge of Banks Peninsula.

New Zealand Midland Railway Company

The New Zealand Midland Railway Company partially constructed the Midland line between Christchurch and Greymouth and the Nelson railway in the South Island.

North Island Robin

It was once considered a subspecies of the New Zealand Robin of South and Stewart Islands, but mitochondrial DNA sequences have shown that the two lineages split prior to the Pleistocene and supported the split into two species.

Powelliphanta hochstetteri

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

Signals intelligence operational platforms by nation

As of 2013, New Zealand has two ground-based signals intelligence stations at Tangimoana in the North Island's Manawatu-Wanganui region and the Waihopai Valley in the South Island's Marlborough region.

Sinbad skink

It is one of two species of New Zealand Skink found in the Fiordland region of the South Island that lives exclusively in the alpine zone, the other being the closely related and morphlogically similar Barrier skink, Oligosoma judgei.

Sophora prostrata

Sophora prostrata is commonly known as kōwhai, prostrate kōwhai or dwarf kōwhai and grows naturally in the eastern South Island from Marlborough to the Waitaki Valley in New Zealand.

Structure of the Royal New Zealand Air Force

Several training and maintenance units are located at RNZAF Base Woodbourne in the South Island.

Takaka, New Zealand

Takaka is a small town situated at the southeastern end of Golden Bay, at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, located on the lower reaches of the Takaka River.

Tākitimu

Command of the vessel was given to Tahu Pōtiki, who travelled up the Wairoa River, and later to the South Island, where he became the founding ancestor

Te Anau aerodrome

Lake Te Anau is a large freshwater lake located in the southern South Island of New Zealand.

The Luminaries

The plot follows Walter Moody, a prospector who travels to the fledgling West Coast of the South Island settlement of Hokitika, near New Zealand's goldfields in 1866 to try and make his fortune.

Thomas Bracken

It has also been suggested that "Pacific’s triple star" simply means the three main islands of New Zealand -- Northern, Middle and Stewart as they were referred to at that time.

Wellington Hospital, New Zealand

The Hospital is a tertiary referral centre for the lower half of the North Island and the upper half of the South Island, including the Chatham Islands.

Wendel Bollman

The Old Rakaia Gorge Bridge in New Zealand's South Island from 1882 utilized the Bollman truss design and is registered as a Category I heritage item with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.