Answer: Australian and Pacific
This position on the edge of two tectonic plates gives New Zealand areas of mountain building, earthquakes and volcanic/geothermal activity. These two plates are moving about 40mm per year relative to each other. There is a subduction zone where the Pacific plate slides under the Australian plate to the east of NZ north of Cook Strait (the centre of NZ) which causes a lot of volcanic activity in the North Island. Through most of the South Island the plates slide past each other along the Alpine Fault (strike-slip zone).
From Quiz: Shaky Isles on the Ring of Fire
Answer: Whangarei
Whangārei (pronounced Fong-A-Ray) is a sub-tropical harbour city in the north of New Zealand's North Island. Whangā is a Māori word meaning harbour.
Located about 160km (100 miles) north of Auckland (NZ's biggest city), the journey takes just over two hours by car.
Visitors to Whangārei will not miss Mount Parihaka, the 241m/790' peak towering over the city center. A road to the summit lookout reveals panoramic views of Whangārei Harbour and the surrounding districts.
From Quiz: You Want to Go... Where?
Answer: Kororareka
Russell, also known as Kororareka, is near where the first government was established in Okiato. Okiato was originally named Russell by William Hobson. When the government was moved to Auckland, Russell burnt to the ground and since Kororareka was part of the Port of Russell it assumed the name.
From Quiz: Epic NZ in 10 questions
Answer: White Island
White Island off the coast of Dunedin is a small uninhabited island. It is 80m long, 30m wide and rises to a elevation of 15 m. It is 2500 metres off the coast and is clearly visible from Dunedin's main beaches St Clair and St Kilda. It is also know to some as Ragged Rock due to a jagged appearance. It was used during the threat of Russian invasion as a target for artillery which may have made it smaller and more jagged than before.
The other White Island is New Zealand's most active volcano. It was active when fist seen by Captain James Cook in the late 1700's and still is.
From Quiz: Physical Geography of New Zealand
Answer: Off the southern tip of the South Island
The North and South Islands are the 14th and 12th largest islands in the world respectively. Stewart Island is quite a bit smaller at 1,746 sq km. It represents 0.6% of New Zealand's land mass. It has a steady population of less than 400 and most live in the only settlement of Oban. The island's Maori name, Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui, means "The Anchor Stone of Maui's Canoe". This places the island in the forefront of Maori mythology.
From Quiz: Quirky New Zealand: The Other Down Under
Answer: Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. The Beehive is an iconic piece of architecture and part of the parliament buildings complex. It is right beside the parliament building itself where the government and opposition hold their arguments.
From Quiz: New Zealand Godzone #2
Answer: Auckland
Russell was known in its early days as the Hell hole of the Pacific. While the Maori tribes in the area tried to battle for dominance the European settlers went almost unnoticed and crime was rife. Governor William Hobson decided due to its bad reputation to move the capital to Auckland a short time later. It was later moved to Wellington because it was about half way down the country.
From Quiz: New Zealand Second Place Getters.
Answer: 13th century
By examining evidence of deforestation and radiocarbon dating of artifacts, researchers believe the first humans landed in New Zealand between 1250 and 1300.
From Quiz: The Long Journey to New Zealand
Answer: Dunedin
Dunedin grew rapidly in the mid 1800s due to the Otago gold rush. It became the capital of the Otago region which, at the time, was all the land south of the Waitaki River. Dunedin's largest industry is tertiary education. Tertiary students make up roughly 20% of Dunedin's population.
From Quiz: The New Zealand God Zone
Answer: Aotearoa
The origin of the term "Aotearoa" within Maori is uncertain, though the translation is correct: Ae - cloud, dawn or world, tea - white or clear, and roa - long. The first time Aotearoa appears in print is in 1855 when the Governor of New Zealand, George Grey, who spent a great deal of time learning Maori history, published his book "Mythology And Ancient Traditional History Of The New Zealand Race" in 1855.
From Quiz: A Tour Around New Zealand in 10 Questions
Answer: Dunedin
Dunedin is the capital of the Otago province and seventh largest by population of the New Zealand cities.
From Quiz: New Zealand, the Centre of the Universe
Answer: Coronet Peak and The Remarkables
Queenstown is the best known destination in New Zealand for skiing, and is also a mecca for tourists throughout the year. The Queenstown area is world renowned for its scenery and abundance of adventure sports.
From Quiz: South Island Ski Fields
Answer: Clutha
The Clutha is 338 kilometres in length. It is also the fastest flowing river in the South Island.
From Quiz: South Island Rivers
Answer: Pegasus Bay
Pegasus Bay was named after an early nineteenth century survey ship, the Pegasus. The Pegasus' survey was one of the first serious attempts to chart the coast of New Zealand "properly". The survey corrected a number of major and minor survey errors from James Cook's survey some 35 years earlier. One of the major errors that Cook made, and the Pegasus survey corrected, was establishing that Banks Peninula was, in fact, not an island, as Cook had suggested. Banks Peninsula was, incidentally, named after Joseph Banks, the naturalist who sailed with Cook.
From Quiz: Aotearoa - Coasting Around the Country
Answer: Russell
Russell was deemed the first capital of New Zealand in May 1840, due to the warm climate and easy access from other countries. It was to be replaced by Auckland as the capital in 1841, however, just one year later, after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (pronounced 'Why-Tang-ee').
From Quiz: A tour of New Zealand
Answer: Four
The NZ flag features a blue background, the Union Jack in the top-left corner and, on the right, four stars representing the Southern Cross.
From Quiz: New Zealand For Dummies
Answer: Kaitaia
Kaitaia is probably best known as the starting point for trips to Ninety Mile Beach, but it's also the centre of the Far North forestry industry. Probably the strangest thing about the place is that it has an old steam railway engine on display. It's strange because the railway never reached Kaitaia ...
From Quiz: Aotearoa II - Te Ika a Maui
Answer: (Land of) the Long White Cloud
Aotearoa is New Zealand's "other" official name.
From Quiz: Aotearoa
Answer: 10%
The Maori first arrived in New Zealand approximately 1000 years ago. Since the arrival of Captain James Cook however many westerners have inhabitated New Zealand too. The Maori have still kept their original customs, beliefs and lifestyles despite this.
From Quiz: New Zealand Trivia
Answer: Neither country
Vegemite is actually a yeast extract - made from the goop at the bottom of a beer brewer's vat. Very tasty to the dinkum downunder-ite (particularly on toast), it is an 'acquired taste' to the overseas visitor. It was immortalised in the 1982 mega-hit by the group Men at Work called 'Down Under' - oldies will recall the lyrics 'I said do you speak-a my language, he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich'.
From Quiz: Australia or New Zealand - Which Down Under?
Answer: Interislander and Bluebridge
The boat journey usually takes about three hours.
From Quiz: The Land of the Kiwis: New Zealand
Answer: Nettlebed
Nettlebed drops 889 metres below its upper entrance, with over 27km of passages. Mt Arthur is a caver's paradise with the Ellis Basin system reaching 775 metres, whilst HH Cave and the Incognito-Falcon systems both exceed 500 metres depth.
From Quiz: Extreme New Zealand
Answer: Whakatane
The Bay of Plenty apparently derives its name from the fact that the British explorer James Cook thought its shores seemed particularly fertile. This is in contrast to the bay which afforded Cook little in the way of provisions and so earned itself the name the Bay of Poverty.
From Quiz: Plenty Remarkable Kidnappers
Answer: 26km
It is approximately 26 kilometres directly across Cook Strait, and currently the record for the youngest person to swim across is held by an 11 year old boy, who crossed it in February 2005.
From Quiz: Various Facts About New Zealand
Answer: Richard Pearse
Pearse, a farmer, was a self taught inventor and aviator.
On or around 31st March 1903 Richard Pearse climbed into a self-built monoplane and flew for about 140 metres before crashing into a gorse hedge on his Waitohi property. There is uncertainty about whether his flight met the definitions of sustained flight, but it came eight months before the Wright Brothers entered the record books at Kitty Hawk North Carolina on 17th December 1903.
Apparantly, his design is still used to some effect today, in what is more commonly called a 'microlite'.
So decide what you will!
Incidentally, the other 3 names are made up.
From Quiz: New Zealand
Answer: Young Nick's Head
Young Nick's Head is located 310 miles north of Wellington. It is believed to be the first point of New Zealand that Captain Cook sighted. It is also the first place where the Maori tribe Ngai Tamanuhiri came ashore.
From Quiz: A Mixture of New Zealand
Answer: Auckland
Russell was capital for a short period in 1840, while Auckland was capital from 1840-1845.
From Quiz: All About New Zealand
Answer: Stewart
Much smaller than the other two islands, Stewart Island is at the far south of the country.
From Quiz: New Zealand Knowledge
Answer: Waikato
The Waikato River is also the longest in NZ.
From Quiz: New Zealand Geography
Answer: Southern Alps
The Southern Alps are being lifted at a rate of 10cm per year, but being eroded at a similar rate. In this range is Mount Cook, NZ's highest mountain at 3724m (12218 ft).
The Kaweka Range is a small range in the North Island of NZ.
The Misty Mountains are from "The Lord of the Rings" and although some say NZ is the home of Middle Earth they do not exist here, nor do the South Rockies.
From Quiz: Shaky Isles on the Ring of Fire
Answer: Hibiscus Coast
Hibiscus Coast is the correct answer. The others are all places in Queensland, Australia.
The Hibiscus Coast is a coastal region on the northern part of the Hauraki Gulf, a large inlet (4,000kmē/1,500 square miles) of the Pacific Ocean.
The area boasts a significant number of beaches and aquatic activities are an attraction.
The distance between Auckland and the Hibiscus Coast is just 40km (25 miles). Normally, that's a 40 minute journey. However, the Auckland region is notorious for its traffic, particularly at peak times.
From Quiz: You Want to Go... Where Again?
Answer: Baldwin Street
Baldwin Street in Dunedin is the world's steepest residential street a gradient of 1:2.86 at the steepest point. Each year a race from the bottom to the top and back takes place known as the Gutbuster. There is also a race where numbered jaffas, a spherical ball of chocolate coated with a candy shell, are rolled from the top and the person whose is first to reach the bottom wins a prize. All the other streets are really steep Dunedin streets too.
There are other streets claimed to be steeper but according to the criteria set by Guinness World Records, the street has to be urban, sealed and be accessible by car and by foot which is why some other steep streets don't qualify.
From Quiz: Epic NZ in 10 questions
Answer: 53
Auckland sits on or around 53 volcanoes the biggest and most recent eruption being Rangitoto Island. It erupted 600 years ago and spewed out more lava than all the other Auckland volcanoes combined.
From Quiz: New Zealand for Experts
Answer: Waikato River
The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand at 425km long. Its origin is Lake Taupo a caldera of one of the world's largest ever volcanic eruptions. It is New Zealand's largest lake.
From Quiz: Physical Geography of New Zealand
Answer: Christchurch
Before a city can be proclaimed a city in New Zealand, it needs to have 50 000 people. With a population of less than five million this means in 2016 there were only thirteen "qualified" cities. Only a quarter of New Zealanders live on the larger South Island with over half living in the two largest cities Christchurch (390 000 - 2016 census) and Dunedin (119 000 - 2016 census).
About a third live in greater Auckland (1 495 000) and another 405 000 in the capital Wellington. The country's fourth largest city, Hamilton, situated in north central North Island, had 230 0000 people in the 2016 census.
From Quiz: Quirky New Zealand: The Other Down Under
Answer: Kiwi
The kiwi is a flightless nocturnal bird. It has the largest egg of any bird in relation to its size and has the unique feature of nostrils at the end of its bill to sniff out grubs in the soil. New Zealanders are often referred to as Kiwis. It's not just a fuzzy brown fruit with a green inside.
From Quiz: New Zealand Godzone #2
Answer: Mt Tasman
Mt Tasman is 3,497 metres high and is also located on the border of Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park and Westland Tai Poutini National park. It is the highest point in Westland.
From Quiz: New Zealand Second Place Getters.
Answer: Lake Hauroko
Lake Haukroko is one of New Zealand's southern-most lakes and has a depth of 462m.
It is in the Fiordland National Park, 25 km northwest of the small town of Tuatapere. It is drained by the Wairaurahiri River into Foveaux Strait, the body of water lying between the South Island's south coast and Stewart Island.
From Quiz: The New Zealand God Zone
Answer: Wanaka
Treble Cone is one of three ski fields in the Wanaka area. It is on the western side of Lake Wanaka, not far past Glendhu Bay. The other two ski fields are Cardrona and Snow Fields NZ, which are on opposite sides of the Cardrona Valley.
From Quiz: South Island Ski Fields
Answer: Tekapo, Pukaki, Ohau
The Waitaki River is about 110 kilometers in length. It is extensively used for generating hydroelectricty.
From Quiz: South Island Rivers
