New Zealand has a small population of four million people spread over two large islands, and one small one. It’s at the end of the earth, in some people’s eyes, yet its connectivity to the rest of the world, and its pioneering are surprising.
Per capita, New Zealand contains more bookshops and more golf-courses than any other country in the world. The image of New Zealand as ‘just a sporting nation’ is actually false. New Zealanders are intelligent too.
Per capita New Zealand has more sheep than any other country in the world. (The Japanese tourists go crazy over them.) In recent years the highest number of sheep the country had was some 70 million in 1981. The sheep population, however, has dwindled since then, so that by 1999 there were only around 45 million. That’s still around 11 sheep per man, woman and child.
New Zealand is the first country to see the sunrise, and consequently was the first country to see in the new Millennium. That’s officially correct only because the first place in the world to see the sunrise each day, the Chatham Islands, belongs to New Zealand. The three islands making up New Zealand itself are some 45 minutes behind the Chathams.
New Zealand has the most southerly railway station, vineyard and pub in the world. These are all in the South Island. The most southerly capital city in the world, Wellington, is in the North Island.
This same capital city, Wellington, has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the world - including New York. Either Wellingtonians are a hungry lot and eat out frequently, or else there are plenty of restaurants that don’t do very well.
Auckland, which some New Zealanders (mostly Aucklanders) consider should be the capital city, has more boats per capita than any other city in the world. Auckland has several fine harbours, and of course, the Americas Cup was hosted there with great success in the past.
Per capita, New Zealanders have more access to the Internet than any other country in the world. This is not to say that every New Zealander has broadband, or even good access to the Net. Some enterprising New Zealanders have found their own way to get access, with more or less success. And Wellington gets in on the act once more: it’s the most wired city in the world - per capita.
Per capita, New Zealanders have the second highest rate of car ownership in the world. Fortunately, New Zealanders are spread over the land fairly thinly, so there are still plenty of places where you can drive for miles without seeing another car.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote, to adopt the eight-hour working day, to operate a tourist board and to introduce the retirement pension. Unfortunately, these great gains have been eroded somewhat over the last few decades. Women, of course, still have the vote - in fact, New Zealand has had two female Prime Ministers - but many people work longer hours for less money now. With the advent of retail weekends, where shops are expected to be open at all hours, many people in retail have lost their right to any sort of proper weekend. And the retirement pension, which used to be set at 60, is now up to 65 - and may climb higher. For better or worse, people in New Zealand are just living longer.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed entirely in New Zealand, in spite of concerns from the American producers, in spite of the fact that the director, Peter Jackson, had never directed one film of that scale before, let alone three, and in spite of the fact that they all said it couldn’t be done. ‘They’ were wrong as usual. New Zealanders aren’t the sort of people who give in easily.
