Famous landmarks:

The Parliament buildings in Wellington, The Bay of Islands, one of NZ's most beautiful and historic areas, in the North Island,The Sky tower in Auckland, The Octagon in the South Island, Nelson Lakes National Park, the Kaikoura coast, In Mount Cook National Park, Lake Te Anau, and the Provincial Council Buildings. All this might sound really boring, but just think of the beautiful sands, Volcanoes on the North Island and the many shops in Auckland, also in the North Island, the Ski resorts, waterfalls, lakes in the South Island.

Money:

NZ currency is $ (Dollars) it goes up in cents:

10 cents, 20, 50.

It then goes to dollars:

$1, and $2.

It then continues onto notes;

NZ$5, NZ$10, NZ$20, NZ$50 and NZ$100.

NZ For Children.

NZ is a children's paradise,and it is difficult to think of anything which is unsuitable to them except bungee jumping. Serious efforts are made to cater for children. One good example is skiing, where every major resort has a children's programme, with clubs, training, minders, the lot. New Zealand is very child friendly, as they realise that children are NZ's future.

Fast Food

Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds, pictured below in the form of a parked aeroplane, in Taupo

On TV, there is Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eastenders, Corronation Street, Neighbours and ER etc. There are lots of British and Australian shows, but movies are about one month behind.

Christmas

The Christmas trees, or rather the pine trees, are somewhat unusual at NZ. The branches on the end actually curl up. As Christmas falls in the middle of summer, it is usually hot and sunny, and the Christmas dinner is usually a Barbie (BBQ). The NZ Santa is the same as the English santa, with a red hat, white beard and red suit.

Activities

New Zealand. . . a land of opportunities, full of the most unusual sports, i.e. Zorbing (rolling down a hill in a giant beach ball!!) White Water Rafting and many more. Click here and here to go to a site which has details about some of the best activities in New Zealand!

Driving!

If you are 15+ you can get a driver's lisence! How cool is that? Go to this website to check out all the details!

School Holidays

Chrismas falls in the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere, during the school summer holidays, which run from mid- December untill the end of January. Other school holidays last for a week in the middle of April, the second week in July and the first two weeks of October.