New Zealand or AOTEAROA

Aotearoa also known as New Zealand is such a beautiful place with so many different landscapes that it is a kind of paradise. It’s in the South Pacific and it has two islands, Te Ika a Maui on the north, and Te Waipounamu on the south, divided by the Cook Strait. The two of them have very high mountains, although in the southern island there is the most important mountain range, known as the New Zealand’s Alps, being Mount Cook high 12.145 ft. There are also beaches and a preserved submarine park in the north, with great diversity of fish and coral.

Climate is generally mild and humid, almost subtropical in the northern part, although with cold winds in the south. Wellington is a very windy capital situated in the south of the Northern island. If you want to see some geysers go to Rotorua. New Zealand’s economy is based on a modern agriculture, being the world’s first export of wool, cheese, butter and meat.

Maori culture is still present and its philosophy is based on spirituality, nature and ancestors. For many years now they are trying to retrieve their ancestors lands, and it’s been over 10 years that they deal with administering nature, its lands, forests and water reserves. In Maori, natural parks are known as Taonga, which means “treasures”. That’s what they have, out of the 13 natural parks spread around the country, two of them are labelled Unesco World Heritage Site... In Kaikoura, where our friends Kiri and Paora come from, you can see whales and a seals colony, which is run so that tourists do not damage the environment.

Did you know that there are three types of Kiwis in New Zealand? The most famous kiwi is the fruit, but there’s also the animal, which is a bird with no wings – unfortunately they are a threatened species-, and finally the New Zealand people are the third kiwi type. Except for Maoris, the rest of Aotearoa inhabitants are commonly known as kiwis! By the way, Kiwi is a Maori word, and it has an onomatopoeia origin that imitates a bird’s chant.