Monday 29th December-Little known facts about New Zealand

Well, today was a very quiet day and we did not do too much, not even a walk which is pretty poor really, but sometimes you need a day off work or vacation. However we though we would regail you with the following little known facts about New Zealand life. We hope you find it interesting.

• >>24% of New Zealand families have only one parent.
  >> Over 40% of Maori children live in one-parent families.
  >> 17% of NZ European children live in one-parent families.
  >> 26% of children in both the US and UK live in one-parent families.
  >> 14% of children in Germany live in one-parent families.

It's a fact: at 41.2^o South, Wellington is the most southerly capital city on the planet. Cities on similar latitudes in the Northern hemisphere are Barcelona, Istanbul and Chicago.

• >> Since 1990, total tobacco consumption in NZ has fallen by over one-third.
  
  >> One in five deaths in New Zealand is caused by tobacco smoking.
  
  According to the 2006 census:
  
  >> 18% of New Zealand's adult population classed themselves as regular smokers.
  
  Older surveys had found that:
  
  >> 50% of Maori, 30% of Pacific Islander and 20% of European people smoke
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• The highest rainfall in a year in New Zealand was a drenching 18.4 metres (60 feet) in 1997-1998 at Cropp River on the west of the South Island. By contrast, the lowest rainfall was a miserly 167 mm (6.6 inches) in 1963-1964 at Alexandra, Central Otago.
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• > With 2.5 million cars for four million people, including children, New Zealand's car ownership rate is one of the world's highest.
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  • New Zealanders make only about 2% of their journeys by bus and fewer than 1% by rail.
  
  
• Where Have All The Sheep Gone?

From the early 1980s, when NZ was home to over 70 million sheep, the population has declined to around 39 million in 2008. This means the oft-quoted statistic, that NZ has 20 sheep for each human, is wrong! Nowadays it's only about 9 to 1. This decline hasn't stopped NZ from cornering 50% of all international trade in sheep meat.

Old Cars:

NZ roads don't need to be salted so cars rust very slowly.

• >> Around a fifth of cars are less than seven years old.
• >> Around two thirds of cars are between seven and 16 years old.
• >> Around a sixth of cars are more than 16 years old.

Born Overseas:

Little known amongst facts about New Zealand is that 22% of its residents were born overseas. This compares with 24% in Australia, 20% in Canada, 12% in the USA and 8% in the UK.

New Zealand Facts:

New Zealand is one of the top five dairy exporters in the world. The top five countries supply around 90 percent of dairy products on the international market. There are over nine million beef and dairy cattle in NZ.

God Save The Queen:

To become a New Zealand citizen, you must swear an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth.

Happy Schools:

New Zealand's school students reported better relations with their teachers than the average for students in the OECD. New Zealand's students also reported more pressure to achieve good results is applied by their teachers than the OECD average.

More Happy Families:

For New Zealand families who have children;
41% have one child
36% have two children
23% have more than two children.

Prisoners:

96% of those in jail in NZ are males.
50% are Maori.
36% are European.
12% are Pacific People.

Compared with other countries, New Zealanders are not heavy drinkers. The average New Zealander drinks:
>> 5% less alcohol than the average Australian.
>> 12% less alcohol than the average Briton.
>> 30% less alcohol than the average German.
>> 40% less alcohol than the average Irish.

Continental Climate:

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

The most continental climate is found in the South Island, in Central Otago, inland from Dunedin.

Here the temperature reaches 24 ^oC on an average day in summer while in winter it falls to -2 ^oC on an average night. Rainfall is a semi-arid 350 mm a year. In comparison, rainfall in other New Zealand locations is:

>> Christchurch 635 mm.
>> Wellington 1250 mm.
>> Auckland 1200 mm.

Many of New Zealand's stone fruit crops, such as peaches and apricots are grown in Central Otago.

Intelligence?

"New Zealanders who go to Australia raise the IQ of both countries." Former NZ Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, who made this superbly cutting comment, did not provide any numbers to back it up. Unfortunately, therefore, we cannot claim it as a true New Zealand fact.

Latest annual road deaths for every 100,000 of population show that New Zealand's roads are getting safer:

>> UK: 5 per 100,000
>> Canada: 9
>> Australia: 9
>> NZ: 10
>> United States: 14
>> Spain: 15

Not so many years ago, New Zealand had 13. The major reason for more deaths in NZ compared to the UK is fewer multi-lane highways in NZ.

Some local Northlands information for you.

There are NO Traffic Lights in this part of the world and only about two traffic islands hence no traffic jams.

The favourite New Zealand food seems to be Chips, or Fish and Chips or Burger and Chips, actually anything with chips really.

The ice cream is very good and a single scoop is three times what you get in England and also much cheaper.

Fishing is the most important sport and with boat ownership in Auckland per capita the highest in the world.

So when we get back to UK we will organise an evening of ‘Question time’ based on the above. Anyway we hope that you find this as interesting as we did.

Oh and by the way

FULHAM 2 CHELSEA 2 What a load of old rubbish!!!