There are 8 sheep to every New Zealander!

The longest place name still in use, and the name of a hill in NZ is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupo-kaiwhenuakitanatahu

No matter where you are in New Zealand, you're never more than one hundred miles from the ocean.

New Zealand is the first country to begin each new day.

New Zealand has no snakes or dangerous wild animals. It has one poisonous spider, the katipo, but bites are rare. No poison oak or ivy! Hike easy.

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of ethnic intermarriage, reflecting our diverse demographic mix.

George Bernard Shaw visited New Zealand in 1934 and when asked his impression of the place, after a pause he answered:  "Altogether too many sheep"

Maui discovered New Zealand according to Maori legend. A mythology refers that he fished the North Island out of the sea using a fish hook made from his grandmother’s jawbone.

Due to the moderating effect of the ocean, summer and winter temperatures in most NZ locations differ by less than 10 ^oC.

NZ invented bungee jumping.

If you dug a hole directly through the center of the earth starting in New Zealand, you would end up in Spain.

The kiwi is the only known bird to have external nostrils at the end of its bill and one of the few to have a highly developed sense of smell. A kiwi literally sniffs out its food.

The kiwi bird lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind, and lays only one egg each year. It's been around for more than 70 million years.

Another native bird of New Zealand (the Moa) was one of the largest birds in history - standing up to 3.6m (12 foot) tall and weighing 300kg. Unfortunately they were hunted to extinction by the Maoris by the end of the 1500s.

New Zealand is home to the largest flightless parrot (kakapo), oldest reptile (tuatara), biggest earthworms, smallest bats, heaviest insect (a weta), some of the oldest trees and many rarest species birds, insects, and plants, in the world.

Curious Kea: The kea bird, native to New Zealand, likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.

Auckland has three harbors, two mountain ranges, 48 volcanic cones and more than 50 islands.

Kiwifruit was known as the Chinese Gooseberry until 1959, when New Zealanders gave it the name “Kiwifruit,” after their beloved national symbol, the fuzzy, brown Kiwi bird.

As far as the geography of New Zealand is concerned, 30 percent comprises of forests.

Clever Kiwis: A New Zealander invented the tear-back velcro strip, the pop-lid on a self-sealing paint tin, the child-proof pill bottle and the crinkle in hair-pins so that they don't fall out.

Sir Edmund Hillary - the first man to reach the peak of Mount Everest was a New Zealander (born in Auckland) and his face is on the New Zealand $5 bill.

No capital city in the world is further south than Wellington. It is called the windy city. It isn't considered to be a truly windy day in Wellington if you don't have to hold on to the ground.  :)

More fresh water flows up from cracks in the limestone at Waikoropupu, near Takaka, than from any other freshwater spring in the world - more than 2100 million litres every 24 hours.  

Lake Taupo (one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist destinations) was the source of the largest known eruption in the world in the last 70 thousand years. It had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. It released over 530 cubit kilometers of magma.

New Zealand has more punk rock bands per head of population than any other country.   It also has more Scottish pipe bands :-)

New Zealand is part of 'The Pacific Rim of Fire'. Mount Ruapehu, situated in central North Island, is the most active volcano of the country. 

New Zealand was the last major landmass to be populated (with the exception of the polar regions).

New Zealand, before European arrival, had no predatory animals. Thus, it was like a heaven for birds, many of them flightless.

New Zealand was the first country to have its three top positions of power held simultaneously by women: Prime Minister (Helen Clark), the Governor General (Dame Silvia Cartwright), and the Chief Justice (Sian Elias)  

The weta is an insect endemic to New Zealand that is a relic from the time of the dinosaurs. It has incredible survival instincts

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

A gumboot day is held annually in Taihape. It is an event, that was born in 1985, to draw country wide attention to Taihape.

A giant carrot statue at the entrance of Ohakune stands for its market gardening history. The yearly Carrot Carnival is celebrated on the last Saturday in July.

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

New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals per capita, than any other country.