Ever wondered where in the world is the first place to see the sun rise? Well, wonder no longer! North of Gisborne, New Zealand, around the coast to Opotiki and inland to Te Urewera National Park, The East Cape has the honour of witnessing the world’s first sunrise during New Zealand’s summer and spring months. […]
Jet boating came into being through the inventive genius of New Zealand CWF (Bill) Hamilton, who was looking for a means of boating on the swift, shallow rivers of the South Island high country where he farmed. Bill Hamilton developed the concept of the jet boat when he ruled out as impractical the use of […]
The old town of Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. The town itself became established about 1870 and immediately became an entrepreneurial and prosperous place. With mining came technology and innovation, and in August 1888 Reefton became […]
Karora, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons But wait, wasn’t that the Wright brothers (USA)? They made the first documented flight. However, 8 months earlier Richard Pearse made a flight with a homemade aircraft. But the camera-shy Pearse didn’t want to record it with officials. Popular history has it that the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk […]
The International Dark Sky Association declared the sky above the Mackenzie region in the South Island as the first International Dark Sky Reserve for its clear skies. Perfect for stargazing! Very limited light pollution means the views of the night sky seem to stretch on as far as the eye can see. The reserve, which […]
New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first to reach the summit of Mt Everest – the highest mountain in the world. His face marks the NZ$5 note. Sir Edmund Hillary was the self-proclaimed ‘ordinary’ Kiwi who achieved the extraordinary by conquering Mount Everest. Hillary and his guide, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of […]
Bungy has always been a life-changing experience. It began with a small group of people in Vanuatu. They fearlessly threw themselves from huge towers for centuries with merely a few vines around their feet. They called it ‘land-diving’, and legend says that it started when a mistreated wife threw herself from a tall tree, saving […]
Women’s suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late nineteenth century. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, and after years of effort by women’s suffrage campaigners, […]
Rarotonga is the largest of the Cook Islands, a nation of 15 islands in the central South Pacific. Volcanic peaks, ridges and rainforest dominate its interior. A 32km, round-the-island road links the beaches, coastal lagoon and reefs that make scuba diving and snorkelling popular. The Cross-Island Track is a rugged hiking trail that passes 650m […]
Italy, a European country with a long Mediterranean coastline, has left a powerful mark on Western culture and cuisine. Its capital, Rome, is home to the Vatican as well as landmark art and ancient ruins. Other major cities include Florence, with Renaissance masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s “David” and Brunelleschi’s Duomo; Venice, the city of canals; […]
