NEW ZEALAND - GEOGRAPHY

    New Zealand (called AOTEAROA in the Maori language) is in the Southern Hemisphere, in the South-west Pacific Ocean, south-east of Australia. It is 1,600 km long from the north to the south. Wellington is approximately the antipodes of Saragossa in Northern Spain. New Zealand's area is almost the same as that of Italy - 270,534 sq. km. The nearest neighbours are Australia on west, Fiji and Tonga on north.
    The main islands, the North (111,000 sq. km) and the South (151,000 sq. km) are separated by narrow Cook Strait. Stewart Island, south of the South Island, and many small islands, both populated and unpopulated, lie around the coast. The four main cities (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin) are even spaced down the length of the country. Each has a good port and is an industrial centre.
    Although there are several fertile lowland areas around the New Zealand coast (e. g. the large Canterbury Plains in South Island), the country is mainly rolling and hilly with a chain of high mountains rather like the Apennines, more or less down the centre of both islands. South Island has glaciers  (e.g. Fox Glacier) and 15 peaks over 3,000 m. In the mountains of the South Island the highest peak is Mt. Cook (3,764 m high). Its opposite in the North Island is Ruapehu (2,795 metres) which is one of several volcanoes still mildly active in the centre of the island. Almost all the rivers are short and most of them run to the sea. The largest lake Taupo (618 sq. km) is in the North Island.