Contents
Page
Where is New Zealand? 2
Travelling to New Zealand 3
Travelling in New Zealand 4
What kind of place is New Zealand? 5
The weather in New Zealand 8
Birds of New Zealand 9
The Maori 11
A letter from New Zealand 12
Farms in New Zealand 13
Sports in New Zealand 15
Holidays in New Zealand 16
Vocabulary
page. 2
Where is New Zealand?
Wales
New Zealand
New Zealand is in the Pacific Ocean.
New Zealand comprises two large islands - the North Island and the South Island.
Cook Strait lies between the two islands. It is 20 km (12 miles) long.
Australia is to the west of New Zealand.
South America is to the east.
New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga are to the north.
Antarctica is to the south.
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Travelling to New Zealand
By aeroplane
People fly to Auckland airport to go to the North Island.
People fly to Christchurch airport to go to the South Island.
The journey from London to New Zealand takes 20 hours!
The aeroplane must stop on the way to get fuel.
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Travelling in New Zealand
People travel by car, by bus or by train.
A ferry takes people from one island to the other.
Sometimes, it is stormy at sea.
The Pacific Ocean is not peaceful!
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What kind of place is New Zealand?
About 4 million people live in New Zealand.
About 3 million people live on the North Island.
About 1 million people live in Auckland.
Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand, but Wellington is the capital city.
The South Island is bigger than the North Island.
Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island.
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The North Island
There are volcanoes on the North Island.
There are geysers on the North Island.
There are tropical trees on the North Island too.
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The South Island
The highest mountain in New Zealand is on the South Island. The mountain is called Mount Cook or the ‘Aoraki’.
Mount Cook or the ‘Aoraki’ (3754m)
Who was Cook? Captain Cook?
There are fjords and glaciers on the South Island.
And there are excellent beaches on both islands!
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The weather in New Zealand
It is summer in New Zealand in December, January and February.
It is winter in New Zealand in June, July and August.
The South Island is colder than the North Island.
The people of New Zealand have a lot of sun!
Month / Hours of sun every dayJanuary / 7
February / 7
March / 6
April / 6
May / 6
June / 4
July / 3
August / 3
September / 5
October / 6
November / 7
December / 8
How lovely!
But the people of New Zealand also have rain.
Where? / Rain (days) / Temperature in summer (˚C) / Temperature in winter(˚C)Bay of Islands / 12 / 25 / 16
Auckland / 11 / 24 / 15
Rotorua / 10 / 24 / 13
Wellington / 10 / 20 / 12
Christchurch / 7 / 22 / 10
Queenstown / 8 / 22 / 8
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Birds of New Zealand
There are special birds in New Zealand. They can’t fly!
Many of New Zealand’s birds can’t fly because the country is so far from anywhere else.
And there were no cats, dogs or rats there in the beginning!
This is the kiwi.
The kiwi is the symbol of New Zealand.
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This is the black robin.
This is the kea.
The kea is a parrot.
This is the weka.
The weka is nosey!
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The Maori
The ‘Maori’ were the first people in New Zealand.
The Maori name for New Zealand is ‘Aotearoa’.
Aotearoa = the land of the long white cloud
Today the children learn to speak Maori at school.
The Maori were good at crafts.
The Maori liked to dance too.
Today people learn to dance like the Maori.
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A letter from New Zealand
Feilding,
North Island
New Zealand
July 2010
Dear friend in Wales,
My name is Areta. I am 10 years old. I live in Queenstown with my mother, my father, Hiri my sister who is 7 years old and Arana who is 3 years old. I have a cat called Rangi.
I speak Maori and English. I go to Feilding Primary School. I have Maori and English lessons in school.
The summer holidays are in December and January. In the holidays I go with my family to Wanganui city to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.
It is very cold here now and there is enough snow for skiing!
My father works on a huge dairy farm. My mother doesn’t work. She looks after my little brother.
Do you want to be my penfriend?
Bye,
Areta
P.S. Here are some pictures of New Zealand …..
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Farms in New Zealand
There are enormous farms in New Zealand.
This is a dairy farm.
There are 800 cattle on this farm.
This is a beef cattle farm.
There are 350 cows on this farm.
This is a sheep farm.
There are 1,450 sheep on this farm!
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People from Wales go to New Zealand to help shear the sheep.
Rhydian Evans from Tal-y-bont, near Aberystwyth went to New Zealand for 6 months to help to shear sheep.
How many sheep are there in New Zealand and how many people are there?
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Sports in New Zealand
Rugby
Rugby is important in New Zealand.
Just like Wales!
New Zealand’s rugby team is called the All Blacks.
The team wears black.
Before the game, the team dances the ‘Haka’.
Bungee Jump
New Zealand is famous for bungee jumping.
Kawarau Bridge (43m)
This is where the first bungee jump was done!
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Holidays in New Zealand
Come on holiday to New Zealand!
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