What I learned about New Zealand:

The aboriginals of New Zealand are the Maori.  Their name for New Zealand is Aotearoa

Capital City:  Wellington  (but the largest city is Auckland)

Flag:  Introduced in 1869 but not adopted officially until 1902.  The British colonial heritage is reflected.  The four stars represent the Southern Cross, one of the constellations that can only be seen from the Southern hemisphere.

Wildlife:  I don't know too much here...  But they do have Kiwi birds!

And here's some more New Zealand info straight from the horse's..., er, Kiwi's mouth  (thanks Allision!!)

The Maori name for New Zealand (Aotearoa) means "Land of the Long White Cloud"

You could say hello in Maori by saying Kia Ora (Key-or-ah) or Tena Koe (Ten-ah-kway).

New Zealand is made up of two main islands - the North Island and the South Island. We have a huge mixture of natural features....forests, volcanoes, fiords, Glaciers, farm land, cities, lakes, mountains....  I live by a beautiful bluey-green glacier- fed lake in the middle of the Southern Alps....a chain of mountains that runs down the middle of the south island.

The tallest mountain is called Mt Cook....Sir Edmund Hillary trained by climbing this mountain before being the first person to conquer Mount Everest!

Our parliament is called the "Beehive" because it looks....you guessed it....like a beehive!!!!!

Wildlife: No snakes on our islands! Kiwi's are a flightless bird only found in New Zealand, another animal only found here is the Tuatara (a lizard said to be a relative of the dinosaurs!!!).  We also have LOTS AND LOTS of sheep....there are more sheep than people here!

Special symbols for New Zealand: The Silver Fern, Maori Designs, (did you know the Robbie Williams has a tattoo that is a Maori design on his right? arm!) and of course, the kiwi.

Most kiwi people LOVE sports....especially RUGBY.  Our national team colours are usually black with a little white.  Probably our most famous team is the All Blacks...our Rugby team!

Leann had this New Zealand info to share...

February 6 is a national holiday Waitangi (why-tangy) Day.  In 1840 a group of Maori Chiefs and the British Government signed a Treaty so both groups of people could live in peace together.  Unfortunately the Maori version of the Treaty had not been properly translated so there were 2 different copies signed. Since 1840 there have been many claims made against the Treaty, and settlements are still being rectified today.