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About
New Zealand
Science
& Technology
Sporting Legends
Social
The Land
What's so special about New Zealand?
Because
New Zealand is a nation with a proven record in virtually
every field of endeavor - science, technology, manufacturing,
sport, and social issues. It's a safe country to live in
as well, with stable political and social systems; a secure
place to invest for your future.
New
Zealand is one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the
world. A newly-released report shows that New Zealand is statistically
equal - in first position - to Australia and Mexico, and well
ahead of the United States in 7th position.
New
Zealanders - 'Kiwis' as we call ourselves after the unique
flightless bird that is our national symbol - have what we
refer to as a "can do" attitude. What others may see as a
problem or stumbling block, we see as a challenge to overcome.
It's a national trait often alluded to as the "number 8 wire
mentality" - a reference to the fencing wire with which New
Zealand farmers can reputedly fix anything!
New
Zealand has produced a range of world-renowned achievements
and personalities way out of proportion to our modest population
of just under four million. And we often succeed in the face
of seemingly overwhelming odds - who would have thought such
a small nation could beat the apparently limitless resources
of the United States to win the Americas Cup - and then prevent
them taking it back?
SCIENCE
& TECHNOLOGY
Who was the first person to split the atom? Not an American,
but a Kiwi - Sir Ernest Rutherford in 1919. He also identified
the three main elements of radiation - alpha, beta and gamma
rays - and was first to realize an atom has a dense nucleus
surrounded by orbiting electrons.
Step
forward eight decades and meet Alan MacDiarmid - awarded a
Nobel chemistry prize in 2000 for discovering (with two others)
that plastics can conduct electricity - an astounding discovery
which has led to the entirely new scientific field of molecular
electronics, one which promises to revolutionize all aspects
of technology in the coming years.
Now
jump back again - to March 1903 and New Zealand aviation pioneer
Richard Pearse, who some believe achieved powered flight nine
months before the Wright brothers!
In
more recent years there have been a raft of technological
innovations, big and small, many of which have made their
mark worldwide - the Hamilton
jetboat, Powerbeat
batteries, Trimble
Navigation (now based in the US), Jade
e-commerce software, Reel
Two categorization, search and retrieval software (also
US based now). Bungy
jumping? That's a Kiwi invention. Woolrest
sleepers, spreadable butter? Yes, Kiwi as well.
Often
these advances have crossed over into other areas - most notably
illustrated by New Zealand's recent success in becoming the
first nation to successfully defend the America's Cup outside
the United States.
SPORTING
LEGENDS
Teamwork has been a hallmark of New Zealand sports over the
years, and
New Zealanders have excelled in wide range of sports:
- Our
national rugby football team - the All
Blacks - are one of the world's pre-eminent rugby sides,
and have been for decades.
- Kiwi
Scott Dixonn is currently wowing the Indy Car fraternity.
Last year he became the youngest ever driver to win a race;
this year he set the fastest lap in eight years at the Indianapolis
Speedway, and qualified fourth for the great race.
- New
Zealand is the only country in the world to take the America's
Cup from the US and then successfully defend it.
- We
have produced a formidable array of world-beating track
and field athletes - John Walker, Peter Snell and Jack Lovelock
to name a few.
- Rob
Waddel has turned the rowing world on its head, winning
both the World and Olympic single sculls titles.
- We
have also produced Olympic medallists in a huge range of
other sports - boxing, running, swimming, kayaking, board
sailing, shooting among them.
We've
produced our share of golfing and squash heroes, and so too
in motor sport. Any follower of Formula One knows McLaren
- set up by Aucklander Bruce McLaren - has been one of the
top performing teams for more than three decades. More recently,
the late John Britten
took the motorcycling world by storm with the revolutionary
hi-tech racing machine that bears his name. Built in true
"number 8 wire" style, the bike was made almost entirely from
carbon fiber - even down to its homemade wheels!
SOCIAL
New Zealand has a proud history of social achievement.
We
were the first nation in the world to give women the vote,
and the first to establish a system of social welfare. Our
stable, democratic political environment has done much to
help give Kiwis a standard of living we can be proud of.
Ours
is a diverse culture. Most New Zealanders are of either European
or native Maori descent, although in recent years migrants
from around the world - predominantly from the Pacific and
Asia - have flocked to settle here. There's a reason for this:
like America early last century, New Zealand is regarded by
many as a land of opportunity.
THE
LAND
Physically, New Zealand is a remarkable Pacific island nation
(sometimes referred to as the world's best kept secret). A
compact country, in just a few days' driving you can see everything
from mountain ranges to sandy beaches, lush rainforests, glaciers
and fiords, active volcanoes, sparkling harbors and cosmopolitan
cities. (Visit www.purenz.com.)
New
Zealand's flora and fauna is unique. Isolated from the rest
of the world for millions of years before being settled by
man, New Zealand developed some rather unusual species, particularly
a range of flightless birds.
The
best known is the kiwi, but also flightless are the weka and
the endangered kakapo,
and the world's largest parrot - the cheeky and inquisitive
kea. It's in New Zealand you will find the only true living
relative of the dinosaurs, the Tuatara. We have families of
trees which date back to the dinosaur era too, massive giants
unlike anywhere else in the world.
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