NEW ZEALAND

Interesting Facts About New Zealand

-  New Zealand is one of the world’s least populated countries.

-  New Zealanders love their cars! 2.5 million cars for 4 million people (including the kids) makes New   Zealand’s car ownership rate one of the highest in the world.

-  In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote.

-  Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest in 1953, was a New Zealander.

-  Baron Ernest Rutherford, the first person in the world to split the atom in 1919, was also a New Zealander.

-  New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals per capita, than any other country.

-  New Zealand is thehome to the world’s only flightless parrot, the Kakapo.

-  There are no snakes in New Zealand.

-  There aren't nuclear power stations in New Zealand.

-  The world’s first commercial bungee jump was a 43 metre leap off the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown in 1988.

-  The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a hill in Hawkes Bay.

-  New Zealand is home to the world’s smallest dolphin species.

-  New Zealand has three official languages: English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.

-  There is a giant carnivorous snail living in the South Island