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.
Phil Goff
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Philip Bruce Goff CNZM is the Mayor of Auckland, in office since 2016, previously he was a Member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party between 11 November 2008 and 13 December 2011 and he was elected Mayor of Auckland in the October 2016 Auckland mayoral election, succeeding Len Brown, who stepped down after two terms. In the 2017 New Year Honours List announced on 31 December 2016, Goff was born and raised in Auckland. His family was poor, and his father wanted Goff to enter the workforce immediately after finishing high school. Goff, however, wished to university, a decision that caused him to leave home when only sixteen years old. By working as a worker and a cleaner, Goff was able to fund himself through university. In 1973, he was Senior Scholar in Political Studies, while completing his MA, he lectured in Political Studies. He also briefly worked as an Insurance Workers Union organiser, Goff had joined the Labour Party in 1969, the same year he left home, and held a number of administrative positions within the party. In the 1981 elections, Goff stood for Parliament in the Roskill electorate, three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister of Employment, after the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Tourism. Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities, Goff became Minister of Education, in the disputes between Roger Douglas and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade. In the 1990 elections, Labour was defeated, and Goff lost his own seat to Gilbert Myles. While many commentators blamed Douglass controversial reforms for Labours loss, Goff said that the problem had been in communication. In the 1993 elections, Goff was re-elected as MP for Roskill, helen Clark, Labours new leader, made him the partys spokesperson for Justice. In 1996, Goff was part of the group which asked Clark to step down as leader, Clark survived the challenge, and was advised by her allies to demote Goff, but chose not to do so. Goff retained his seat in the 1996 elections, having elected not to be placed on Labours party list, in Opposition from 1996 to 1999, Goff was Labours spokesperson on Justice, and Courts & Corrections. In the 1999 elections, which Labour won, Goff accepted seventh place on the party list, in Clarks new government, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of Justice. He retained this position after the 2002 elections, following the 2005 elections Winston Peters was made Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Goff was made Minister of Defence and Disarmament and retained the Trade portfolio
3.
Auckland
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Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the most populous area in the country. Auckland has a population of 1,495,000, which constitutes 32 percent of New Zealands population, a diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world. It has also been called Ākarana, the Māori pronunciation of Auckland, the Auckland urban area ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. It is not contiguous, the section from Waiwera to Whangaparāoa Peninsula is separate from its nearest neighbouring suburb of Long Bay, the surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. The central part of the area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two major bodies of water. The isthmus on which Auckland resides was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich, Māori population in the area is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. After a British colony was established in 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson and he named the area Auckland for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, British First Lord of the Admiralty. It was replaced as the capital in 1865, but immigration to the new city stayed strong, today, Aucklands Central Business District is the major financial centre of New Zealand. Auckland is classified as a Beta World City because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, education and tourism. Aucklands landmarks such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Harbour Bridge, the Sky Tower, the isthmus was settled by Māori around 1350, and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks, Māori population in the area is estimated to have been about 20,000 people before the arrival of Europeans. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began, there is, however, nothing to suggest that this was the result of a deliberate European policy. Auckland was officially declared New Zealands capital in 1841 and the transfer of the administration from Russell in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842. However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson was seen as a choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island. After losing its status as capital, Auckland remained the city of the Auckland Province until the provincial system was abolished in 1876. Each of the four settlements had about 800 settlers, the men being fully armed in case of emergency but spent nearly all their time breaking in the land and establishing roads
4.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
5.
New Zealand State Highway 1
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State Highway 1 is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand roading network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on maps as SH1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield. SH1 is 2,033 kilometres long,1,081 km in the North Island and 952 km in the South Island, for the majority of its length it is a two-lane single carriageway, with at-grade intersections and property accesses, in both rural and urban areas. These sections have some passing lanes, around 215 km of SH1 is of motorway or expressway standard as of February 2017,191 km in the North Island and 23 km in the South Island. Current road construction will see an extra 102 km in the North Island and 11 km in the South Island upgraded to motorway or expressway standard by 2022. SH1 starts at Cape Reinga, at the tip of the Aupouri Peninsula. The highway crosses into the Auckland Region, and passes through Wellsford and Warkworth, near Puhoi, on the Hibiscus Coast, SH1 becomes the Auckland Northern Motorway, the main road north of New Zealands largest urban area. The first 7.5 km of the motorway is a toll road. At Orewa, the motorway becomes toll-free, crossing farmland to the North Shore of Auckland, the road crosses through suburbs to the Waitemata Harbour, which it briefly follows before crossing it by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The motorway comes off the bridge into Aucklands city centre, at this junction, SH1 becomes the Auckland Southern Motorway, and, after sweeping around the southern end of central Auckland, proceeds in a south-easterly direction. The motorway continues in a broadly southeast direction across the Auckland isthmus, then through Manukau and Papakura to the top of the Bombay Hills, at Bombay, SH1 becomes the Waikato Expressway, a four-lane dual-carriageway expressway. The expressway takes the highway down the Bombay Hills to Mercer, where SH1 meets the Waikato River, the Waikato Expressway temporarily ends at Longswamp and becomes a three-laned dual carriageway, resuming at Te Kauwhata before reverting to single carriageway just south of Ohinewai. SH1 runs as a single carriageway through Huntly to Taupiri, the expressway ends in north-western Hamilton. The highway bypasses the city centre to the west, before crossing to the east side, the expressway resumes at Tamahere, bypassing Cambridge to the north before reverting to a single carriageway east of the town. The highway continues eastward to the town of Tirau, where it turns south to pass through Putaruru and Tokoroa, at Wairakei, SH1 takes an eastern route to bypass Taupo and meet the Lake Taupo shoreline south of the town near the airport. SH1 follows the shore of the lake for 50 km to Turangi. The road between Rangipo and Waiouru is commonly known as the Desert Road, and is closed by snow during winter. At km 794 on the Desert Road, SH1 is 1,074 metres above sea level - the highest point on the New Zealand State Highway network
6.
Mangere Bridge (bridges)
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Completed in 1983, the older portion of the bridge carries a four-lane motorway with a cycle and pedestrian path also suspended underneath the western side of the bridge. In April 2008, work began on a duplication of the 1983 bridge to cater for increased traffic, initial bridge The initial bridge in this location was built of timber and opened in January 1875. Rather narrow, it soon began to be attacked by shipworms. The bridge was also single-lane, and so narrow, even pedestrians could barely pass a vehicle safely, the bridge was eventually considered structurally unsound and closed in 1914, before being fully demolished. Old Mangere Bridge In January 1914, a 246 m long replacement bridge was opened, moore, the designer of Grafton Bridge, it was also built by the same company, the Ferro-Concrete Company of Australasia. This ferro-concrete bridge with driven concrete piles was considered an engineering achievement in its time. With a width of 11. 6m, it allowed for a tram track. The bridge however did not provide for enough clearance to let anything, in World War II, an anti-tank road block was erected on the bridge near the middle of the spans, with a small sentry shelter close by. These structures were removed, and it is unclear whether the bridge had also been mined. However, the bridge proved to have too little capacity. The bridge was closed in the 1970s to motor vehicles and is slowly deteriorating, the collision occurred despite the ships bow thrusters working at full power and a small harbour tug assisting. Due to problems with the quality of the concrete and steel, due to complaints about this course of action, plans for its removal were not finalised until 2012. Construction of a replacement structure, designed for walking, cycling and fishing, was scheduled for 2015, motorway Bridge The older portion of the current Mangere Bridge was opened in 1983, and now carries approximately 80,000 vehicles a day. This motorway bridge took 8 years to build, including a 2-year stoppage due to industrial action, a duplication of the 1983 structure, to increase capacity, was completed in 2010 at a cost of $230 million. It is 650 metres long and provides four lanes. One of the lanes is dedicated to local connectivity between Onehunga and the Mangere Bridge suburb only, the total capacity across the harbour is 10 lanes. That included funds for duplication of the 1983 bridge, to its east, the bridge was at that time expected to cost NZ$330 million. This widening was to take place to the east of the existing motorway
7.
Auckland Airport
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Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, with 16,487,648 passengers in the year ended December 2015. The airport is located near Mangere, a suburb and Airport Oaks. It is both a domestic and international hub for Air New Zealand, and as the New Zealand hubs of Virgin Australia, Auckland Airport is one of New Zealand’s most important infrastructure assets, providing thousands of jobs for the region. It had 71% of New Zealands international air passenger arrivals and departures in 2000 and it is one of only two airports in New Zealand capable of handling Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircraft. The airport is the fourth busiest in Australasia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports, around 2008, the airport was rated in the top 3 worldwide for airports handling 5–15 million passengers annually. It was also voted the 12th best airport in the world in 2013 at the Skytrax World Airport Awards and it has a capacity of about 45 flight movements per hour, using a single runway which is fully Cat IIIb capable. In November 2007 work began on a new runway, to be built in several stages and to be used mainly by smaller aircraft. The timing of the recommencement of construction of the runway will be demand driven relative to the capacity of the existing runway. The expected completion date for the runway is now 2025. The site of the airport was first used as an airfield by the Auckland Aero Club, in 1928, the club leased some land from a dairy farmer to accommodate the clubs three De Havilland Gypsy Moths. The club president noted at the time that the site has many advantages of vital importance for an aerodrome and it has good approaches, is well drained and is free from power lines, buildings and fogs. Prior to rebuilding, this was known as Mangere Aerodrome, in 1960 work started to transform the site into Aucklands main airport, taking over from Whenuapai in the north-west of the city. Much of the runway is on land reclaimed from the Manukau Harbour, the first flight to leave was an Air New Zealand DC-8 in November 1965, bound for Sydney. The airport was opened the following year, with a grand air pageant on Auckland Anniversary weekend,29 January to 31 January 1966. A new international terminal, named after Jean Batten, was built in 1977, prior to this, all flights used what is now the domestic terminal. In 2005, the terminal was altered, separating arriving and departing passengers. Previously taxiway Alpha had been modified and designated as Runway 23R/05L so that work could be completed on the main runway 23L/05R. After the work was completed, the temporary runway reverted to taxiway alpha, in 2007, construction began on a second runway to the north of the current one
8.
Rainbow's End (theme park)
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Rainbows End is a 9.3 hectares theme park in Manukau, Auckland. Rainbows End includes the theme park and also Kidz Kingdom. The park, owned by Rangatira Limited, is currently New Zealands largest theme park, the agreement with the Council also commits the company to re-invest $3 million every three years into new rides or upgrades. Ride History 1982- Park opens with the Bumper Boats, Mini Golf, Can Am Cars, Mirage Cars, 1983- Cinema 180, Pirate Ship, Maze and the indoor play area open. Castle Land closes and the new Kidz Kingdom outdoor covered area is opened on Boxing Day 2012 with 3 new rides, The Choco Express, Surf n Swing, happy Feet replaces Journey to the Centre of the Earth in the Motion Master. 2013- The indoor section of Kidz Kingdom opens which includes The Fortress of Fun, Enzos Country Raceway, 2014- Stratosfear, a Discovery Revolution ride from Zamperla, opened on 17 April. Unlike most Discoverys this version sends riders upside down, one of only 4 of them in the world that do so, 2015- Brand new Family Karts arrive, the karts can seat up to 2 passenger and go up to 22km/hr on the purpose built track. After 32 years of operation, Rainbows End closed and demolished their Cinema 180 and this was the last of its kind in the world. The park announced on their website that they will be building a new attraction around this area in the future, 2016- The Dodgems ride is completely refurbished including all new cars and 1950s drive in theme. Its main attraction is New Zealands only corkscrew roller coaster, a new ride, called Stratosfear, opened on 17 April 2014. Stratosfear is one of only 4 on the planet and it is located near the Fear Fall and Family Karts. AA Drivers Town - A driving experience covering 1, 200sq m where children up to 12 years old drive mini Suzuki Swift vehicles through a town with two way roads, roundabouts and traffic lights. Stratosfear - Billed as the scariest ride yet, sends 30 riders spinning through the air and this was one of only 4 of its kind in the world on opening day. The Invader - The Invader is a DiskO Coaster from Zamperla in Italy which utilises gravity to move across a 15 metre high,80 metre long w-shaped track, Power Surge - The Power Surge is a thrill ride that can spin on both a horizontal and a vertical axis. Dodgems- Dodgem cars with 1950s drive in theme, Kidz Kingdom - An area in the park catered for children 8 years and under. The outdoor covered area has seven rides including the Choco Express, Carousel, the indoor area includes the Fortress of Fun, Enzos Country Raceway and the Small Talk Cafe as well as interactive activities for smaller children. Corkscrew Roller coaster - A roller coaster manufactured by Arrow Dynamics and it is the only one of its kind in the country. It is over 90 feet high, and contains three inversions, a loop and a double corkscrew
9.
Ethnic group
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
10.
Northland Region
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The Northland Region is the northernmost of New Zealands 16 local government regions. New Zealanders often call it the Far North, or, because of its mild climate, the main population centre is the city of Whangarei and the largest town is Kerikeri. The Northland Region occupies the northern 80% of the 330 kilometre-long Northland Peninsula and it is bounded to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the east by the Pacific Ocean. The land is predominantly rolling hill country, farming and forestry occupy over half of the land, and are two of the regions main industries. Although many of the kauri forests were felled during the 19th century. New Zealands largest tree, Tane Mahuta, stands in the Waipoua Forest south of the Hokianga Harbour, the western coast is dominated by several long straight beaches, the most famous of which is the inaccurately named 88 kilometre-long stretch of Ninety Mile Beach in the regions far north. The slightly longer Ripiro Beach lies further south, two large inlets are also located on this coast, the massive Kaipara Harbour in the south, which Northland shares with the Auckland Region, and the convoluted inlets of the Hokianga Harbour. The east coast is rugged, and is dotted with bays. Numerous islands dot this coast, notably the Cavalli Islands, the Hen and Chickens Islands, Aorangaia Island, the northernmost points of the North Island mainland lie at the top of Northland. These include several points often confused in the mind as being the countrys northernmost points, Cape Maria van Diemen, Spirits Bay, Cape Reinga. The northernmost point of the North Island is actually the Surville Cliffs, close to North Cape, Cape Reinga and Spirits Bay do, however, have a symbolic part to play as the end of the country. In Māori mythology, it is here that the souls of the dead depart on their journey to the afterlife. Northland is New Zealands least urbanised region, with 50% of the population of 171,400 living in urban areas, Whangarei is the largest urban area, with a population of 56,400. The regions population is concentrated along the east coast. During the five-year period up to 2006, Northland recorded a growth of 6.0 percent. Northland includes one of the fastest growing towns in New Zealand, Mangawhai, the region of Northland has a sub-tropical oceanic climate with warm humid summers and mild wet winters. Due to its latitude and low elevation, Northland has the countrys highest average annual temperature, however, as with other parts of New Zealand, climate conditions are variable. In summer, temperatures range from 22 °C to 26 °C, in winter, maximum temperatures vary between 14 °C and 20 °C
New Zealand
Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
