 GENERAL INFO (Jump to Diary)New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses: The North Island; Te Ika-a-Māui and the South Island; Te Waipounamu along with over 700 smaller islands. I visited Te Waipounamu back in 1998, but missed the large northern island. It stretches for over 1,600 kilometres in total, and covers and a total land area of 268,000 square kilometres.  The South Island is the largest landmass of New Zealand. It is divided along its length by the Southern Alps. There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres, the highest of which is Aoraki or Mount Cook at 3,724 metres. The North Island is less mountainous but is marked by volcanism. The highly active Taupō Volcanic Zone has formed a large volcanic  plateau,
punctuated by the North Island's highest mountain, Mount Ruapehu; 2,797
metres. The plateau also hosts the country's largest lake, Lake Taupō,
nestled in the caldera of one of the world's most active super-volcanoes.
The volcanic activity is caused by one part of New Zealand being part of Zealandia; a micro-continent, nearly half the size of
Australia while the other part is nestled in the Australian continent. The  human history
started around 1280 and 1350, when Polynesians began to settle in the islands, and
then subsequently developed a distinctive Māori
culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European
to sight and record New Zealand. In 1769 the British explorer Captain James
Cook became the first European to set foot on, and map New Zealand. It
became the Crown Colony of New Zealand in 1841, and New
 Zealand became a
dominion in 1907 and gained its full statutory independence in 1947. Today,
around 5,500,000 call it home. 67.8% of them identified themselves
ethnically as European, and 17.8% as Māori.
The nature bear sign of New Zealand's geographic isolation for 80 million years and island biogeography has influenced evolution of the country's species of animals, fungi and plants  .The fauna were dominated by birds before the arrival of man, and the lack of mammalian predators led to some like the kiwi, kākāpō, weka and takahē evolving flightlessness. They now have a hard time due to imported predators like fox and cats. Here are several interesting reptilians like tuatara, skinks and geckos along with amphibians like Hamilton's Frog. The insects have evolved to for instant the giant wētā. Only two original species of mammals  have made it, both bats. The flora is rich: About 82% of New Zealand's indigenous vascular plants are endemic, covering 1,944 species across 65 genera. The dominate vegetation types consist of grasslands and here are two main types of forest, which are dominated by broadleaf trees with emergent podocarps trees in north, and in southern by beech. Here are only two caudiciforms: Cordyline australis and Oxalis carnosa. I would love to find the Oxalis!
DIARY
Date.
Well, could be around new-year '25-'26. The daily
updates will only be published - in Danish - on
https://www.facebook.com/BihrmannOnTour
Time to head on in Diary 2. |
