1.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
2.
South Island
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The South Island or Te Waipounamu is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, the South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres and has a temperate climate. In the early stages of European settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population, in prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite article. Charcoal drawings can be found on rock shelters in the centre of the South Island. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles, some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haasts eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, early inhabitants of the South Island were the Waitaha. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāti Mamoe in the 16th century, Kāti Mamoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāi Tahu who migrated south in the 17th century. While today there is no distinct Kāti Mamoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Mamoe links in their whakapapa and, a notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship. In the early 18th century, Kāi Tahu, a Māori tribe who originated on the east coast of the North Island, There they and Kāti Mamoe fought Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the Clarence River to Kāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering Kaikoura. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Banks Peninsula, from there they spread further south and into the West Coast. In 1827-1828 Ngāti Toa under the leadership of Te Rauparaha successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikoura, Ngāti Toa then visited Kaiapoi, ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha, Te Rauparaha returned to his Kapiti Island stronghold. After destroying Te Maiharanuis village they took their captives to Kapiti, John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction. In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi pā, Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully sapped the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula and took the pā at Onawe, in 1832-33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of Tūhawaiki and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at Lake Grassmere. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped, fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made an incursion into Kāi Tahu territory
3.
Lake Wakatipu
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Lake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland, Lake Wakatipu comes from the original Māori word Whakatipu wai-māori. With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealands longest lake, the lake is also very deep, its floor being below sea level, with a maximum depth of 380 metres. It is at an altitude of 310 metres, towards the end of the Southern Alps. The general topography is a reversed N shape or dog leg, the Dart River flows into the northern end, the lake then runs south for 30 kilometres before turning abruptly to the east. Twenty kilometres further along, it sharply to the south, reaching its southern end 30 kilometres further south. The lake is drained by the Kawarau River, which flows out from the lakes Frankton Arm,8 km east of Queenstown, until about 18,000 years ago the Mataura River drained Lake Wakatipu. The Kingston Flyer follows part of the river bed now blocked by glacial moraine. Queenstown is on the shore of the lake close to eastern end of its middle section. It has a seiche of period 26.7 minutes which, in Queenstown Bay, causes the level to rise. Lake Wakatipu is renowned for its beauty, being surrounded by mountains. The Remarkables mountain range lies along its southeastern edge and it is a popular venue for adventure tourism, with skifields, paragliding, bungy jumping and tramping tracks within easy reach. A vintage steamboat, the TSS Earnslaw regularly plies its waters, several vineyards are nearby in the Gibbston Valley. The original form and meaning of the name are not known for certain, the name is believed to originate from the Waitaha people, who were later displaced by Kāti Mamoe. Taken literally, Wakatipu would mean growing canoe or possibly growing bay if the original was Whakatipu, the dialect is also known for dropping final vowels, and Wakatipua or Whakatipua have also been recorded historically, as has Wakatapu. A legend says that the bed was formed when a giant ogre. Lake Wakatipu is a habitat for the eel, brown trout, salmon. These and other fish predators such as the pied shag
4.
Invercargill
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Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff. Many streets in the city, especially in the centre and main shopping district, are named after rivers in Great Britain, mainly Scotland. These include the main streets Dee and Tay, as well as named after the Forth, Tyne, Esk, Don, Thames, Mersey, Ness, Yarrow, Spey. The 2013 census showed the population was 51,696, up 2. 7% on the 2006 census number, Southland was a scene of early extended contact between Europeans and Maori, notably whalers and missionaries – Wohlers at Ruapuke. In 1853, Walter Mantell purchased Murihiku from local Maori iwi, Otago, of which Southland was itself part, was the subject of planned settlement by the Free Church, an offshoot of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Settlement broadened with the discovery of gold in Central Otago in the 1860s, today, traces of Scottish speech persist in Southland voices, with R often pronounced with a rolling burr. This is more noticeable among country people, in 1856, a petition was put forward to Thomas Gore Browne, the Governor of New Zealand, for a port at Bluff. Due to the Otago gold rush, the population grew during the 1860s with the settlement of Bluff. Browne agreed to the petition and gave the name Invercargill to the settlement north of the port, the settlements chief surveyor was John Turnbull Thomson, a British civil engineer. Under the influence of James Menzies, Southland Province seceded from Otago in 1861 following the escalation of political tensions, however, rising debt forced Southland to rejoin Otago in 1870 and the provincial system, and with it the province of Otago, was abolished entirely in 1876. This debt was caused by a population decline stemming from poor returns from pastoral farming, in 1874, Invercargills population was less than 2,500 which reflected the drift north to large centres. In the 1880s, the development of an industry based on butter. In December 1905, Invercargill voted in local prohibition of alcohol sales and this lasted for 40 years until voted out by returning servicemen in the Second World War. When prohibition ended, a committee of citizens persuaded the Government to give the monopoly on sales in Invercargill to the specially formed Invercargill Licensing Trust. Based on a scheme in Carlisle, England, it returns profits to city amenities, even today, alcohol is not sold in supermarkets. In recent years, publicity has been brought to the city by the election of Tim Shadbolt
5.
Dunedin
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Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. It is named for the capital of Scotland, generally Anglicised as Edinburgh, Dunedin was the largest New Zealand city by territorial land area until superseded by Auckland on the creation of the Auckland Council in November 2010. Dunedin was the largest city in New Zealand by population from the 1860s until about 1900, the city population at 5 March 2013 was 120,246. The Dunedin urban area lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, the harbour and hills around Dunedin represent the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour. The citys most important activity in economic terms centres around tertiary education – Dunedin is home to the University of Otago, New Zealands first university, and the Otago Polytechnic. Students account for a proportion of the population,21.6 percent of the citys population was aged between 15 and 24 at the 2006 census, compared to the New Zealand average of 14.2 percent. In 2014 Dunedin was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature, archaeological evidence shows the first human occupation of New Zealand occurred between AD 1250–1300, with population concentrated along the southeast coast. A camp site at Kaikai Beach, near Long Beach, has dated from about that time. There are numerous sites in what is now Dunedin, several of them large and permanently occupied. The population contracted but expanded again with the evolution of the Classic culture which saw the building of several pā, fortified settlements, notably Pukekura at, there was a settlement in what is now central Dunedin occupied as late as about 1785 but abandoned by 1826. Maori tradition tells first of a people called Kahui Tipua living in the area, then Te Rapuwai, semi-legendary, the next arrivals were Waitaha followed by Kāti Mamoe late in the 16th century and then Kai Tahu who arrived in the mid 17th century. These migration waves have often represented as invasions in European accounts. They were probably migrations like those of the European which incidentally resulted in bloodshed, the sealer John Boultbee recorded in the 1820s that the Kaika Otargo were the oldest and largest in the south. Lieutenant James Cook stood off what is now the coast of Dunedin between 25 February 1770 and 5 March 1770, naming Cape Saunders and Saddle Hill and he reported penguins and seals in the vicinity, which led sealers to visit from the beginning of the 19th century. Permanent European occupation dates from 1831, when the Weller brothers founded their whaling station at Otago, modern Otakou, epidemics badly reduced the Maori population. By the late 1830s the Harbour had become an international whaling port, johnny Jones established a farming settlement and a mission station, the South Islands first, at Waikouaiti in 1840. After inspecting several areas around the eastern coast of the south island, the name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland
6.
New Zealand Railways Department
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The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. The role of operating the network was subsequently separated from that of the networks construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways and he was often also the Minister of Public Works. Originally, New Zealands railways were constructed by provincial governments and private firms, the largest provincial operation was the Canterbury Provincial Railways, which opened the first public railway at Ferrymead on 1 December 1863. Following the abolition of the provinces in 1877, the Public Works Department took over the provincial railways. The Railways Department was formed in 1880 during the premiership of Sir John Hall and that year, the private Port Chalmers Railway Company Limited was acquired by the department and new workshops at Addington opened. Ironically, the first few years of NZR were marked by the Long Depression, as a result, the central government passed legislation to allow for the construction of more private railways. A Royal Commission, ordered by Hall, had removed plans for a line on the west coast of the North Island from Foxton to Wellington. The Act had the effect of authorising the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to build the Wellington-Manawatu Line, the most important construction project for NZR at this time was the central section of the North Island Main Trunk. Starting from Te Awamutu on 15 April 1885, the section - including the famous Raurimu Spiral - was not completed for another 23 years, the economy gradually improved and in 1895 the Liberal Government of Premier Richard Seddon appointed Alfred Cadman as the first Minister of Railways. The Minister appointed a General Manager for the railways, keeping the operation under tight political control, apart from four periods of government-appointed commissions, this system remained in place until the department was corporatised in 1982. In 1895, patronage had reached 3. 9M passengers per annum and 2. 048M tonnes, NZR produced its first New Zealand-built steam locomotive, W class, in 1889. Along with opening new lines, NZR began acquiring a number of the railways which had built railway lines around the country. In 1886 the Waimea Plains Railway Company acquired, at the same time, a protracted legal battle with New Zealand Midland Railway Company began, and was only resolved in 1898. The partially completed Midland line was not handed over to NZR until 1900, by that time,3,200 km of railway lines were open for traffic. The acquisition in 1908 of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, a new locomotive class, the X class, was introduced in 1909 for traffic on the line. The X class was the most powerful locomotive at the time, gold rushes led to the construction of the Thames Branch, opening in 1898. In 1906 the Dunedin Railway Station was completed, architect George Troup, a. L. Beattie became Chief Mechanical Officer in April 1900
7.
TSS Earnslaw
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The TSS Earnslaw is a 1912 Edwardian vintage twin screw steamer plying the waters of Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, the Earnslaw was designed by naval architect Hugh McRae and was based on a Siemens-Martin steel hull design and using Kauri for the decking. Propulsion was provided by twin coal-fired triple-expansion, jet-condensing, vertically inclined engines, the keel was laid on 4 July 1911. The ship was named after Mount Earnslaw, a 2889-metre peak at the head of Lake Wakatipu and she was to be 51.2 metres long, the biggest boat on the lake, and the largest steamship built in New Zealand. Transporting the Earnslaw was no easy task, when construction was finally completed, she was dismantled. All the quarter-inch steel hull plates were numbered for reconstruction much like a jig-saw puzzle, then the parts were loaded on to a goods train and transported across the South Island from Dunedin to Kingston at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu. Six months later, after being rebuilt, on 24 February 1912 and she then became a valuable vessel for the New Zealand Railways and was known as the Lady of the Lake. In 1968, the Earnslaw was very nearly scrapped but she was fortunately rescued and she was leased by Fiordland Travel in 1969, and later purchased by the same company in 1982. She was taken out of service for a makeover in 1984. Her 12 metre high funnel was painted red, with the hull a snow white. During her long years on the lake, the most serious accidents to occur were two groundings on the shores of the lake. In March 1990, the Earnslaw carried Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, other royalty to travel on board have been the King and Queen of the Belgians and the Prince of Thailand. The TSS Earnslaw made a cameo appearance in the movie Indiana Jones. A plaque commemorating the ship was erected by IPENZ and the Otago Heritage Trust in 2008, the ship has had many captains over its 100-year history. Amongst them are the following, George Herbert Tom Luckie Alexander Munro Patrick Bennetts Patrick R, the ship works fourteen-hour days in the summer months and cruises for eleven months of the year, despite being over 100 years old. Visitors to the region can undertake a 1. 5-hour cruise on board the TSS Earnslaw and view the workings of the steam engine and stokers. Each year, the TSS Earnslaw undergoes an annual survey – typically from late May to early June – with every year being taken out of the lake. Each of the Earnslaws screws is turned by a driveshaft driven by a steam engine
8.
Rail transport in New Zealand
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Rail transport in New Zealand consists of a network of 1,067 mm narrow gauge railway lines in both the North and South Islands. Rail services are focused primarily on freight, particularly bulk freight, only Auckland and Wellington have urban rail systems, both of which are being upgraded and expanded. The railway network was constructed by the provincial governments of New Zealand from 1863 onwards. New Zealands first public railway was opened in that year at Ferrymead by the Canterbury Province, the first steam-powered railway operated between Christchurch and Ferrymead. The Canterbury Provincial Railways were built to the gauge of 1,600 mm. On 5 February 1867, Southland Province opened a branch from Invercargill to Bluff to the standard gauge of 1,435 mm. From 1870, the government of Sir Julius Vogel proposed infrastructure including railway development. The central government also adopted a gauge of 1,067 mm. The first narrow-gauge line was opened on 1 January 1873 in the Otago Province, Aucklands first railway, between Auckland and Onehunga, opened in 1873. Vogel also arranged for Brogdens of England to undertake several rail construction contracts, a Minister of Railways was responsible for the department, and was a member of the New Zealand Cabinet. The first major route was completed between Christchurch and Dunedin in 1878, later extended to Invercargill the following year, the North Island Main Trunk, linking capital city Wellington with largest city Auckland, opened in 1908 after 23 years of construction. At the networks peak in 1952, about 100 branch lines were operating, large-scale closures of branch railway lines began in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1982, the Railways Department was corporatised into a new entity at the time land transport was deregulated. The Railways Department became the New Zealand Railways Corporation, the Corporation embarked on a major restructuring, laying off thousands of staff and cutting unprofitable services. In 1987 the Railways Corporation became an enterprise, required to make a profit. New Zealand Rail Limited was privatised in 1993, with the new owners adopting the name Tranz Rail in 1995, during the period of private ownership of the network, Tranz Rail was widely accused of diverting rail freight to its trucks and forcing other freight off the rails. Rail freight volumes increased between 1993 and 2000 from 8. 5m tonnes to 14. 99m tonnes carried annually, Tranz Rail was also accused of deliberately running down some lines through lack of maintenance. The Midland Line, which carries coal from the West Coast to Lyttelton, was assessed to be in a safe but poor state by the LTSA government safety body in 2003
9.
Steamboat
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A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S. S. or S/S or PS, the term steamboat is used to refer to smaller, insular, steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers, particularly riverboats. As using steam became more reliable, steam power became applied to larger, Early attempts at powering a boat by steam were made by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented the steam digester and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed in by atmospheric pressure, Papin proposed applying this steam pump to the operation of a paddlewheel boat and tried to market his idea in Britain. He was unable to convert the piston motion into rotary motion. Newcomens design did solve the first problem, but remained shackled to the inherent limitations of the engines of the time, a steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat, William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having learned of Watts engine on a visit to England, made his own engine. In 1763 he put it in a boat, the boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed, presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries and this boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour and traveled more than 2,000 miles during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a boat made 30-mile excursions, and in 1790. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual version,100 feet long. Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a steamboat the next year. The boat was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symingtons design with a cylinder engine. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth, in 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to a crank
10.
Queenstown, New Zealand
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Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealands South Island. It has an population of 14,300, making it the 27th largest urban area in New Zealand. In 2016, Queenstown overtook Oamaru to become the second largest urban area in Otago, the Queenstown-Lakes District has a land area of 8,704.97 square kilometres not counting its inland lakes. The region has a resident population of 34,700. Its neighbouring towns include Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Kingston, Wanaka, Alexandra, the nearest cities are Dunedin and Invercargill. Queenstown is known for its tourism, especially adventure and ski tourism. The area was discovered and first settled by Māori before non-Māori arrived, the first non-Māori to see Lake Wakatipu was European Nathanael Chalmers who was guided by Reko, the chief of the Tuturau, over the Waimea Plains and up the Mataura River in September 1853. Evidence of stake nets, baskets for catching eels, spears and it is likely Ngāi Tahu Māori visited Queenstown en route to collect Pounamu. European explorers William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first non-Maoris to settle the area, many Queenstown streets bear names from the gold mining era and some historic buildings remain. Williams Cottage, the Lake Lodge of Ophir, Queenstown Police Station, the miners and especially the Irish had taken an interest in the ceremony held for a small town called The Cove in Ireland which was renamed to Queenstown in honour of Queen Victoria in 1850. They may have had their own ceremony at the intersection of Rees, by 9 and 10 January 1863 the town was being reported with the name of Queenstown from several reports written by a correspondent in the Otago Witness on Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th. It was during the meeting there may have been a reference by a miner of the town being fit for a Queen, the Māori name for Queenstown of Tāhuna means shallow bay. A resort town, Queenstown boasted 220 adventure tourism activities in 2012, skiing and snowboarding, jet boating, whitewater rafting, bungy jumping, mountain biking, skateboarding, tramping, paragliding, sky diving and fly fishing are all popular. Queenstown is a centre for snow sports in New Zealand, with people from all over the country. Cross country skiing is available at the Waiorau Snowfarm, near Cardrona village. The 100-year-old twin screw coal fired steamer TSS Earnslaw traverses Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown lies close to the centre of a small wine producing region, reputed to be the worlds southernmost. The Two Paddocks vineyard is owned by local actor Sam Neill, neighbouring, historic Arrowtown features restaurants and bars. In 2013, examples include Bike Festival, Winter Festival, jane Campions six-part drama mystery Top of the Lake was shot during 2012 for pay TV release in 2013
New Zealand
