The Land
New Zealand is geologically active with high mountains, frequent earthquakes, and active geothermal and volcanic areas. This is due to New Zealand's position on the boundary of the Australian and the Pacific Plates. The collision of these plates caused the Pacific plate to subduct underneath the Australian plate which carries the North Island. To the south of the South Island, the situation is reversed.
The islands forming New Zealand developed as part of a broader continental landmass made up of Antarctica and Australia, which was also part of Gondwanaland. New Zealand separated from these landmasses about 80 million years ago.
Today many mountains continue to be thrust higher by tectonic plate movement while the land gets eroded and carved by glaciers, rivers, wind, and sea.
Flora and Fauna
New Zealand separated from Gondwanaland about 80 million years ago, before the evolution of mammals and many of our plant and animal species evolved in isolation until about 1000 years ago with the first arrival of man. This has resulted in many unique species. There are only two land based mammals native to New Zealand and both are types of bat.
Many native New Zealand animals evolved in a predator free environment where they became relatively defenceless.
With the arrival of man many new species were introduced and this had the effect of decimating many native animals unused to predators and the competition. Many species have become extinct and many only survive on a handful of predator free islands. This decimation is continuing today and some are predicting that the New Zealand icon, the flightless bird the kiwi, will become extinct in the North and South Islands.
Some of the introduced animals doing the most damage to native species are: rats, possums and stoats.
Introduced plants are also clogging our waterways, moving into the edges of native forests and wild pine trees are taking over some of our tussock grasslands.
It should also be noted that a lot of native flora and fauna has been destroyed intentionally by man and replaced with pasture or exotic forests. Before people arrived, 80% of New Zealand was forested. Today, only 20% of our native forest remains.
New Zealand is fortunate to be free of snakes, has only one rare species of poisonous spider and no animal that is any real threat to man.
With the constant arrival of imported produce the threat still exists of more unwanted species arriving.
People of New Zealand
New Zealand along with Madagascar was the last significant landmass outside of Antarctica to be inhabited by man.
The first inhabitants arrived about 1000 years ago from the Polynesian islands. These people now call themselves Maori and legend has it they set sail from their mythical homeland of Hawaiiki. They called their new land "Aotearoa" - Land of the Long White Cloud.
The majority of Maori lived in the warmer North Island and established tribal based societies based on hunting, fishing, gathering and subsistence agriculture.
The Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman was the first European to site New Zealand in 1642 and in 1769 the English Captain, James Cook, landed on our shores. First European sealers and whalers arrived and then came traders and profiteers.
In 1840, New Zealand became a British colony with the signing of the "Treaty of Waitangi" between Maori tribes and the British Crown. This resulted in a great increase in the number of British migrants coming to New Zealand, who were seeking a better life and greener pastures.
The Maori were ravaged by new diseases and their way of life changed forever. Through the periods of chaos and conflict, a new order began to emerge in New Zealand. At one stage (~1900AD) the Maori population dropped to about 40 000.
Today the New Zealand population numbers 4 million, of which about 70% are European, 14% Maori and 5% Pacific Islander.
Weather
New Zealand being islands in the middle of the South Pacific experiences a maritime climate. Our predominant winds are from the west (typically warm and moist) but in winter we also frequently get icy polar winds from the south.
Because of New Zealand's geography and the fact that we have mountain chains running across the predominant winds we have many different micro-climates, that is the climate varies a lot with different parts of the country and the changes can be quite marked even over some quite small distances. Our weather is also less predictable than in most parts of the States and Europe.
Typically the west, exposed to the moist westerly winds, is famous for its rain, often in summer, and the east side is correspondingly dry. However when the weather flows in from the south, as in winter, this feature is often reversed with sun on the West Coast and rain in the east.
From October to March you can expect daytime temperatures to lie between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius (mid 70s Fahrenheit) and even higher in mid-summer. During winter and the cooler months, daytime temperatures are typically between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius (mid 60s Fahrenheit).
People living in cities to the south of the country may occasionally experience snow in winter but generally snow is restricted to higher places in the mountains. Frosts can occur throughout the country on winter's nights.
Effects of our Guided Walks and Backpacking Adventure tours on the Wilderness
Nature is neither your friend nor enemy. The wilderness can be hard on those who venture beyond their ability or come unprepared, yet is itself fragile to the pressure of expanding humanity.
At present there is discussion between tourism and environmental interests. Although tourism operators make our natural areas more accessible and bring greater appreciation of the value nature has to offer, they also bring the potential to over populate and over develop these areas. If this happens then the initial "get away form it all" experience is lost.
Hiking New Zealand plans its Guided Walking tours and Backpacking Adventures to be as unobtrusive as possible. This is done by travelling in small groups to less busy, off the tourist trail areas, and by trying to leave no trace of our visit. When we do go to major tourist icons such as Milford Sound then we time it to miss the crowds.