Figure 1.--New Zealand has some magnificent temperate rain forest, like this one along the western coast of South Island. |
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New Zealand lies in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, midway between the equator and the South Pole. It faces the Pacific to the north and east, the Antarctic to the south and the Tasman Sea to the west. Its nearest neighbor, located about 1,800 kilometers (km) to the north is New Caledonia. Its largest neighbor, located 2,500 km to the west is Australia with which in the mid-19th Century New Zealanders rejected a proposed union. [DW: draft text: So Pac/Antartica]
New Zealand is comprised primarily of two major islands, North and South Island separated by the often tumultuous Cook Strait. The country also includes Stewart Island and a number of coastal and offshore islets. The area, totaling about 265,000 square kilometers, is comparable to that of the British Isles, Japan, or the American state of Colorado. Nearly all of the country's fertile plains and, as a result, most of the population are located along the eastern coasts of the two main islands.
New Zealand offers some of the world's most spectacular geography. About three-fourths of the land stands more than 200 meters above sea level, highly unusual for an insular country. Much of the terrain is hilly, although there are plains on both North (the Manawatu, the Waikato, and Taranaki) and South Islands (Canterbury and Southland). About 50 percent of the country's land is devoted to grazing livestock. Other uses include: forestry (15 percent), park land (10 percent), and farming (3 percent). A substantial area is often spectacular, but largely unproductive mountain terrain (20? percent).
New Zealand has dramatic mountains and still active volcanos on both main islands. New Zealand is the southern terminus of a ring of seismic fire that frames the Pacific Ocean, running north to Japan and Alaska and south along the coasts of North and South America to Cape Horn.
South Island: Mountains dominate the geography of South Island. About 70 percent of the island is mountainous. The principal South Island mountain chain is the spectacular Southern Alps [Dennis: 300 miles in the sw only?] which bisect almost the full length of the island and has rugged peaks with altitudes exceeding 3,000 meters (m). The country's highest peak is Mount Cook (3,764 m), located at the center of South Island, but 15 other peaks exceed 3,000 meters. In the southwestern corner of South Island, the coastline is broken by magnificent fjords, where the mountains rise abruptly from the sea. The more modest hills along the eastern coast, however, rarely exceed 1,800 meters.
North Island: The North Island has more modest ranges of hills, but the western coast is dominated by towering volcanic Mount Egmont (?? m). The central area of the island is a volcanic plateau surrounded by hill country.
The country experiences considerable seismic and extensive volcanic and geothermal activity, especially along the chief fault line running in a belt from Write Island in the Bay of Plenty to Mt. Tongariro in the center of North Island. [DW: North/South Island?]
The country's relatively small area and mountainous terrain mean that the rivers are of only limited importance. New Zealand rivers are relatively short and rapidly flowing. The longest river is the Waitako (264 miles) on North Island which figured prominently in early New Zealand history. New Zealand's rivers in more recent times have assumed some importance in the production of hydroelectric power.
