Sources – “The Big Book of Kiwi Trivia”, Graham Hutchins & “The New Zealand Book of Lists”, John McCrystal & Steve Barnett (unless otherwise stated). New trivia added to the top of the list periodically.
The Wellington Cable Car's maiden trip was on 22 February 1902. In 1926 two million people were transported - more than the population of New Zealand at that time. (Cable Car Museum)
According to the Guinness Book of Records the town of Geraldine (36km north of Timaru) is home to the world's largest jersey. The jersey weighs 5.5kg, is 4.9 metres wide (from wrist to wrist), 2.1 metres high and 1.5 metres wide. You can see it in the "Giant Jersey Shop" that sells a range of hand crafted New Zealand woollen knit wear. Also on display is a 42 metre mosaic of the Bayeux Tapestry. (www.giantjersey.co.nz)
Death by chocolate - A kea ate more than 20 grams of dark chocolate (thought to have been in a rubbish bin) and fatally fell off its perch in Mt Cook village. (The Dominion Post, 1/1/10)
A 61,214 tonne cruise ship visited Stewart Island in December 2009 raising the population from 400 to 1850. (NZ Herald)
What is the world record for the most socks worn on one foot? Who cares? Kiwi Alastair Galpin, he set the world record at 70 in 2005. That year he also set a new record for the most finger-snapping in one minute – 199 snaps.
New Zealander’s are affectionately known as Kiwis, the real deal Kiwi is a small, flightless bird that comes to life at night. Alternatively we could have been known as moas, flightless birds (now extinct) but found only in NZ. The tallest moa was 3.5 metres high, the largest bird that ever walked the earth.
Get rich quick (maybe), there is still gold to be found in rivers and streams. You can legally pan for gold without a licence in the Arrow River, Lower Shotover River and Nelson creek to name a few.
Janola is a top selling cleaning product in NZ, it was created by two Aucklanders who were married to Jan and Nola. (I wondered why I couldn’t find it in Sainsburys).
NZ invented the Old Age pension, it was introduced in 1898.
Apparently 7,000,000 servings of hot chips are dished out each week and the country consumes around 60,000,000 meat pies a year.
Kiwi Sir Ernest Rutherford split the atom and won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908. Visit Rutherfords Den (www.rutherfordsden.org.nz) at the Arts Centre in Christchurch and if you would like to find out more about Ernest Rutherford and visit his birth place visit www.rutherford.org.nz.
In 1984 the hit song “Poi E” by the Patea Maori Club was on the charts for 22 weeks. Take a Kiwi icon home with you – download Poi E from www.amplifier.co.nz.
“How Bizarre” by OMC (Otara Millionaires Club) was a hit song in NZ in 1995. It went to no. 1 in NZ, Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Austria, and made no. 5 in the UK. OMC lived up to their name and the song made them millionaires, however the fortune came and went.
According to an Auckland mathematician NZ has more places named after scientists that any other country in the world.
What do some visitors have to say about the land down under?
“Terrible tragedy of the south seas. Three million people trapped alive” – Thomas Jefferson Scott
“I find it hard to say,because when I was there it seemed to be shut” – Sir Clement Freud
“If you ever want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick” – John Cleese. The city’s response was to name a landfill Mt Cleese. We’re not as tough on the city as John Cleese but given we have both lived there we know the Tui billboard that said something like - “I’m going to Palmerston North for New Years Eve – YEAH RIGHT!” is right on.
NZ’s first brewery was set up at Kororareka in 1835. These days the top selling beers are – Tui, Heineken, Export Gold and Steinlager.
Aspiring romance authors take heart – Kiwi Essie Summers (1912-1998) wrote 56 Mills and Boon novels. They sold over 19 million copies in 25 languages and 105 countries. Her first book hit the shops the day after her 45th birthday.
Sunniest spots in NZ – Napier (North Island) had 2588 sunny hours in 1994. Nelson (South Island) beat that in 1931 with 2711 sunny hours. These days Nelson sells sunshine in a can and advertises itself as the Sunshine City.
With a population of less than 4 million you would think our impact on the environment wouldn’t be too great, but all our cattle and sheep burp and fart around 13 megatonnes of methane each year.
Over 20,000 people identify as belonging to the Jedi religion according to census information.
Still waiting for the earth to move? Visit Wellington. There were 2362 earthquakes in the region in a six month period in 1996/7. The country shakes, rattles and rolls about 250 times a year, there’s around 14,750 earth quakes too small to be detected by sober individuals.
Hot stuff in the North Island – Ruatoria reached 39.2 degrees celsius on 7/2/73. In the South, Rangiora and Jordan reached 42.4 degrees celsius on the same day.
It's just typical of those Aussies to take something Kiwi and make it their own (Russell Crowe, the pavlova). In Melbourne it was the haka - in 2005 2200 people set the record for the greatest number of people doing the haka.
Things Kiwis are better than Australians at – eating weet bix, shearing, coming second (or third) at cricket. Is that it?
“Delicacies” you can sample at the Wild Foods Festival in Hokitika – horse, huhu grubs, possum pies, pig’s eye set in macaroni cheese.
Forget emailing - find one of the 1st NZ postage stamps that were produced in 1855 and if it’s in good condition you can fly your family over with the $200,000 you’d get for selling it.
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