Zip Off to New Zealand

With approximately 4.2 million inhabitants, New Zealand is a small island country with a size of 168 miles squared. The country’s capital is Wellington.

English is the official language, but Maori is also spoken in New Zealand.

About 80 percent of the population is of European descent and the other 20 percent Polynesian, with the Maori being the biggest Polynesian tribe represented.

The English spoken in New Zealand is a bit different from anywhere else in the world, due to the country’s rich nature. This also affects how New Zealanders spend their money, interestingly.

“People reject the consumer mentality and are more connected to the environment,” said Professor Greg Rublee.

Since New Zealand is a geographically isolated country in the southern Pacific, it heavily relies on imports.

This dependency leads to less manufacturing in the actual country itself and therefore helps with keeping the environment unpolluted.

The diverse and authentic natural environment is well liked among inhabitants, who tramp throughout it and sleep in huts along the way.

Besides hiking, climbing mountains such as Mount Cook or Mount Tasman, 12,316 feet and11,476 feet high respectively, and drinking out of the streams along the way is not uncommon.

School life is different as well. Students have to buy fewer textbooks and there is no Greek life on campus.

The country is well-known for its adventurous nature. Extreme sport fans travel to New Zealand to parasail, river drift and bungee jump.

The government even advertises the country as a destination for tourists that like extreme sport, adding that the federal medical Insurance ACC (Accident Compensation Corperation) will cover all expenses.

Coming into the country often requires a significant time investment, since customs tend to search luggage very intensely.

“I have to clean my fishing equipment with bleach and prove that they are free of soil,” said Rublee.

New Zealand can be traveled through comparatively quickly, as a person can literally drive from the beach through the rain forest and to glaciers in about five hours.

JP Busche can be reached at jbusche@ut.edu.

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