New Zealand

Country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, southeast of Australia, comprising two large islands, the North Island and the South Island, and numerous smaller islands. Its Maori name is Aotearoa, meaning "Land of the Long White Cloud." It became an independent member of the British Commonwealth in 1931.
Languages: English.
Currency: New Zealand dollar.
Capital: Wellington.
Population: 4,213,418 (2009 estimate).
Area: 270,534 sq km (104,454 sq mi)
Maori Name: Aotearoa
Major Cities:
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand. The urban area is situated on the southwestern tip of the country's North Island, and lies between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. It is home to 386,000 residents, with an additional 3,700 residents living in the surrounding rural areas. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the seat of the Wellington Region - which in addition to the urban area covers the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa. The urban area includes four cities: Wellington City, on the peninsula between Cook Strait and Wellington Harbour, contains the central business district and about half of Wellington's population; Porirua City on Porirua Harbour to the north is notable for its large Māori and Pacific Island communities; Lower Hutt City and Upper Hutt City are largely suburban areas to the northeast, together known as the Hutt Valley. The 2009 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world on its list.
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Auckland

Auckland is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country. Increasingly cosmopolitan, Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, and has seen many people of Asian ethnicity move there in the last two decades. In Māori Auckland's name is Tāmaki-makau-rau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana. The 2009 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 4th place in the world on its list, while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2010 ranked Auckland in 10th place. In 2008, Auckland was classified as an Alpha-City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University, the only one in the country. Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.
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Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch. The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. The river that flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers' farm and flows into the Clyde. The usual Māori name for Christchurch is Ōtautahi ("the place of Tautahi"). This was originally the name of a specific site by the Avon River near present-day Kilmore Street and the Christchurch Central Fire Station. The site was a seasonal dwelling of Ngāi Tahu chief Te Potiki Tautahi, whose main home was Port Levy on Banks Peninsula. The Ōtautahi name was adopted in the 1930s. Prior to that the Ngāi Tahu generally referred to the Christchurch area as Karaitiana, a transliteration of the English name.
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Waitakere
Waitakere is New Zealand's fifth largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. It is part of the Auckland region, and is incorporated in the Auckland metropolitan area. Most residents live near the city's eastern borders with the Waitemata Harbour and neighbouring Auckland City. The forest-covered Waitakere Ranges dominate the city's western skyline, rising from the rugged surf beaches of the Tasman Sea to an altitude of over 400 metres. The name came originally from a Māori chief and was applied to a village near the northern boundary of the current city and later to the county that covered much of the current city.
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Hamilton
Hamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato region of the North Island, approximately 130 km (80 mi) south of Auckland. It sits at a major road and rail nexus in the centre of the Waikato basin, on both banks of the Waikato River.
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Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is also considered to be one of the four main urban centres for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. The city has a population of 123,700 (June 2009 estimate) , is the seventh-largest urban area in New Zealand, and is the largest city by territorial land area (although it will be superseded by Auckland on the creation of the Auckland Council in November 2010). The Dunedin urban area lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour. The harbour and hills around Dunedin are the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. The city's largest industry is tertiary education – Dunedin is home to the University of Otago, New Zealand's first university (1869), and the Otago Polytechnic. The University accounts for about 20 percent of the city's population.
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Tauranga
Tauranga is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand. It was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century and was constituted as a city in 1963. Tauranga City is the centre of the sixth largest urban area in New Zealand, with an urban population of 118,200 (June 2009 estimate). The city lies in the north-western corner of the Bay of Plenty, on the south-eastern edge of the Tauranga Harbour. The city expands over an area of 168 square kilometres (65 sq mi), and encompases the communities of (west to east) Bethlehem, Matua, Otumoetai, Greerton, central Tauranga, Maungatapu, Welcome Bay, Mount Maunganui, Bayfair and Papamoa. Tauranga is one of New Zealand's main centers for business, international trade, culture, fashion, horticultural science, education and entertainment. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic places, with the largest port in New Zealand, the Port of Tauranga. Tauranga is one of New Zealand's fastest growing cities, with a 14 percent increase in population between the 2001 census and the 2006 census.
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Hastings
The city of Hastings is a major urban settlement in the Hawke's Bay Region of the North Island of New Zealand, and it is the largest settlement by population in Hawke's Bay. Hastings city is the administrative centre of the Hastings District. Hastings is located some 20 km inland from the neighbouring port city of Napier.
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Nelson
The city of Nelson is close to the centre of New Zealand. It lies at the shore of Tasman Bay, at the northern end of the South Island, and is the administrative centre of the Nelson region. Nelson is a centre for arts and crafts, and each year hosts popular events such as the Nelson Arts Festival. The annual Wearable Art Awards began near Nelson and a museum, World of Wearable Art, is now housed close to Nelson Airport showcasing winning designs. Brightwater, near Nelson is the birthplace of Lord Rutherford, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who successfully split the atom. His image appears on New Zealand's $100 banknote, the largest denomination in circulation in New Zealand. Nelson received its name in honour of the Admiral Horatio Nelson who defeated both the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Many of the roads and public areas around the city are named after people and ships associated with that battle and Trafalgar Street is the main shopping axis of the city. Inhabitants of Nelson are referred to as Nelsonians. Nelson's Māori name, Whakatū, means 'build', 'raise', or 'establish'. Nelson is one of the few New Zealand cities to have its own flag.
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Napier
Napier is a port city in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It has a population of 58,100 as of the June 2009 estimate. Less than twenty kilometres separate the centres of Hastings City and Napier, and the two are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities". The population of the urban area of Napier-Hastings is 122,600 which makes Napier-Hastings the fifth largest urban area in the country, closely followed by Tauranga (116,000), and Dunedin (114,900). The city is 320 kilometres (by road) north-east of the capital, Wellington. It has a population slightly smaller than the Hastings District, but as Hastings is administered as a district, Napier is the only official city in the Hawke's Bay region. Napier is the largest cross-bred wool centre in the Southern Hemisphere and is the export servicing area for Hastings District which is one of the largest apple, pear and stone fruit producing areas in New Zealand. It has also become an important grape growing and wine production area with the fruit passing from the growers around Metropolitan Hastings and then to Napier for exporting. Large tonnages of frozen meat, wool, pulp and timber pass through Napier’s port. Napier is a popular tourist city, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco architecture. It also has one of the most photographed tourist attractions in the country, a statue on Marine Parade called Pania of the Reef. Thousands of people flock to Napier every February for the Art Deco Weekend event, a celebration of its Art Deco heritage and history. Other notable tourist events attracting many outsiders include the region's annual Wine & Food Festival (named Harvest Hawke's Bay), and Mission Concert at the Mission Estate Winery in the near by town of Taradale.
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Porirua
Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds Porirua Harbour at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast. The eastern (Pauatahanui) inlet of the harbour is notable for its world-class estuarine values. The population at the June 2009 estimate was 51,400.
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Whangarei
Whangarei is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District Council, a local body created in 1989 to administer both the city proper and its hinterland. The population was estimated to be 51,400 at the June 2009 estimate, up from 47,400 in 2001. The Whangarei urban area includes the suburbs of Kamo, Tikipunga, Otangarei, Mairtown, Riverside, Sherwood Rise, Onerahi, Morningside, Raumanga, Parihaka, Maunu, Horahora, Woodhill, Vinetown, The Regent, Kensington, and Whau Valley.
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Queenstown
Queenstown is an international resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin lake formed by glacial processes that is shaped like a staggered lightning bolt, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains. William Gilbert Rees, along with fellow explorer Nicholas Von Tunzelman, were the first Europeans to settle the area. Rees was in search of pastoral land, and after an initial visit returned in 1860 to establish a high country farm in the location of Queenstown's current town centre. However the Rees’ farming lifestyle was to be short-lived. In 1862 gold was discovered in the Arrow River, a short distance from Queenstown. There are various apocryphal accounts of how the town was named, the most popular suggesting that a local gold digger exclaimed that the town was "fit for Queen Victoria". It is now known for its commerce-oriented tourism, especially adventure and ski tourism. It is popular with young international and New Zealand travellers alike. The town is the largest centre in Central Otago, and the third largest in Otago. According to the 2006 census, the usually resident population of the Queenstown urban area (including Frankton and Kelvin Heights) is 10,416, an increase of 22.1% since 2001. Its neighbouring towns include Arrowtown, Wanaka, Alexandra, and Cromwell. The nearest cities are Dunedin and Invercargill. The Queenstown-Lakes District has a land area of 8,704.97 km² (3,361.01 sq mi) not counting its inland lakes (Lake Hawea, Lake Wakatipu, and Lake Wanaka). It has an estimated resident population of 27,100 (June 2009 estimate).
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