22 interesting facts about our new shipping destination, New Zealand!

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

2. Only 5% of NZ's population is human - the rest are animals.

3. Although it's around the size of Japan, New Zealand’s population is just over four million, making it one of the world’s least populated countries.

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

5. Baldwin Street in Dunedin, is the world's steepest street. The road has a gradient of 1 in 2.86 at its steepest section, a 38 per cent grade.



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

7. The longest place name in the world is in New Zealand and is called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a hill in Hawkes Bay.
 
8. While Rugby remains the most popular spectator sport in New Zealand, golf is the most popular participation sport. There's more golf courses in New Zealand per capita of population than in any other country in the world.

9. Auckland also has the largest number of boats per capita than any other city in the world.

10. New Zealand won the first ever Rugby World Cup, held in 1987, and has won more Olympic gold medals per capita, than any other country.

11. Two NZ rescue dogs were taught to drive a car around a track, in order to prove the intelligence of shelter animals.



12. The Hector’s Dolphin,the world’s smallest marine dolphin, which grows to a maximum length of 1.5 metres, is found nowhere else in the world but in New Zealand waters.

13. New Zealand is also home to the world’s only flightless parrot, the Kakapo.

14. Dairy farmers produce a whopping 100 kg of butter and 65 kg of cheese each year, for each person who lives in New Zealand!

15. New Zealand has more Scottish pipe bands per capita than any other country in the world.

16. Wellington is the southernmost capital city in the world.

17. There are no snakes in the country!

18. There are also no nuclear power stations in New Zealand.

19. The Maori name for New Zealand is ‘Aotearoa’. It means “the land of the long white cloud”.

20. Nowhere is NZ is more than 120km from the coast.

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

22. NZ high schools and universities are permitted to keep a pound of uranium or thorium for educational purposes. However, there is a $1 million fine if it explodes.