A vacation to New Zealand, even with similarities to the United States, requires a certain amount of preparation; it is not a three-hour trip to Disney, it is a 17-hour time difference that requires knowledge of: local customs, location, weather, current issues, and future expectations.

New Zealand:
Having never been to New Zealand, I find it very interesting that it was the last major landmass that humans discovered (Wilson). Though the time line is heavily debated, most scientists approximate that man settled some time 800 years ago. In comparison to North America, which is somewhere around 25,000 years, New Zealand is still young (Warner pg. 47).

Important Considerations

Location, Climate, and Topography:
• Southeast of Australia, New Zealand is similar in size to Colorado; its southern location from the Equator means opposite seasons from Europe and North America.
• New Zealand’s climate is classified as Cbf (Fig. 2).
• Most of the North Island lies on the Australia Plate, where as the South Island is on the Pacific Plate (Fig. 1). This, combined with active volcanoes, creates a hotbed for seismic and volcanic activity (CIA).
• One quarter of the earthquakes have been below a 2.0 magnitude, but within the last year alone, New Zealand has seen 17,246 earthquakes with a majority ranging from 0-5 magnitudes (Geonet).

(Fig. 2) Link: http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/.
Topography
• New Zealand formed after the collision of the Australian and Pacific Plates (Fig. 1).
• This Collision created an extremely undulated landmass.
• The picture to the right, (Fig. 3) courtesy of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, shows the topography of New Zealand. o The green areas indicate a lower area, where as a yellow/tan color shows elevation. o Information for this image gathered through satellite sonar imaging (NASA).