The capital of New Zealand since 1865, and one of its busiest ports, Wellington is at southern end of North Island, lying among hills on the western side of a natural harbour. They knew the winds, the ocean currents and the stars, and this earned them the name of Vikings of the Sunrise. They sailed in double canoes open to all weathers. After long stays in Indonesia and the South Pacific, which they explored for many years, they made their great journey to New Zealand about the middle of the 14th century. The Maoris, a Polynesian people, are the aborigines of New Zealand. North Island is where you find the Maoris, the fine people who lived in these islands hundreds of years before the white man came. There are many factories there too, with hydro-electric stations to produce the power for them. New Zealand ranks second only to Australia as an exporter of wool. Dairy products, meat and wool are the main exports. New Zealand does not have the terrible heat of Australian summers the oceans temper its climate and the mountains bring down quite a lot of rain. The climate is pleasant at all seasons, without much difference between winter and summer. Plenty of things to do for tourists, because New Zealand is also famous for its fishing, snow sports, mountaineering, sailing and hiking. So you can see there is plenty to look at in New Zealand. Down there, too, are the Sunderland Falls, where water drops six hundred metres, making these falls one of the highest waterfalls in the whole world. Have you ever heard of Milford Sound? That is one of the most picturesque of the fiords, with cliffs rising straight up out of the water, the whole scene reflected in the water.
South Island is very beautiful with its Alps and lakes, its glaciers and fiords.
There you can find the snow-capped Southern Alps, rising 3.764 metres to the tip of Mount Cook (named after Captain Cook, of course, because he visited the islands before sailing on westwards and discovering the eastern coast of Australia). South Island is larger than North Island and has the highest mountains. Auckland, Christ church and Wellington are the biggest cities. Most of its people live in North Island, and that is where you find big volcanoes like Egmont and Tongariro and the boiling pools and geysers and lakes of bubbling mud. It is made up of three islands: the North and South Islands and Steward Island, a small land mass just to the south of (he South Island. It is New Zealand, called the Land of the Long White Cloud by the Maoris. What is the name of the country which has volcanoes and rivers of ice, deer and sea-elephants?
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