About New Zealand
The following are the musings of the author – a Kiwi passionate about his homeland. You should read this page knowing it was written by someone with a completely biased view of New Zealand.
This video makes me nostalgic about New Zealand every time I watch it.
Welcome to my homeland… Welcome to the youngest country on Earth...
My view is about a culture of people set in an amazing landscape that ranges from sub-tropic to sub-arctic. A small nation that continues to punch above its weight and will continually look to innovate and improve to enable the best.
The Kiwi philosophy is about collaborating, acknowledging achievement and striving to succeed. Our heroes are in all fields: Sport (of course), politics, the Arts, science, education, health, etc.
For more on our heroes please go to: nzedge.com/legends
The following websites provide more information about New Zealand:
Pure New Zealand
KEA New Zealand
I Love New Zealand
Sport
As a Nation we are sport-aholics for sure. Some of our teams are the All Blacks (Rugby), Silver Ferns (Netball), All Whites (Football/Soccer), Black Caps (Cricket), Black Sticks (Hockey), Tall Blacks (Basketball), White Socks (Softball) – notice the theme?
Of course, we also do Fencing, Martial Arts, Yachting, Equestrian, Bowls, Rowing, Athletics, Cycling, Chess, Hiking, Iron Man, go to the Gym, and so on and so on…
Perhaps the most iconic of our sports teams are the All Blacks - New Zealand’s men's national rugby union team. Rugby union is regarded as New Zealand's national sport. They won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and then back to back World Cups, in 2011 and again in 2015. They are the leading points scorers of all time and the only international rugby team with a winning record against every test nation they have ever played. The All Blacks have held the top ranking in the world for longer than all other countries combined and in over 100 years only five of the top twenty ranked test rugby nations have ever beaten New Zealand. Source: Wikipedia.
The Arts and
Science & Innovation
New Zealand is a nation that embraces the arts from music to art, from
literature to film, from theatre to... Famously New Zealand is the venue for films such as the
Lord of the rings and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. New Zealand is also world
class in its pursuit of the arts through organisations such as the New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Ballet.
New Zealand has always been ground breaking and science is no exception. Note that I am taking science in its broadest context. New Zealander Sir Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) the father of nuclear physics, winner of the Nobel prize for chemistry was the first man to split the atom. Sir Ernest is a starting point, but the game changers from this small nation is extensive. The web has a rich vein of New Zealand achievement, however, one of my favourite website to showcase New Zealand rich history of talent is New Zealand Edge. Follow the link to find out more about World Changing New Zealanders.
Kiwiana
There are things that make every country unique and speak to the cultural heritage and history of the country. Kiwiana is the New Zealand term that refers to iconic items that reflect the lifestyle and approach of the New Zealand people.
For more information see wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwiana