Friday Fun Facts-New Zealand

Since today is a public holiday in New Zealand (if you’re unsure of which major holiday I’m referring to, go over and check out my post on my Facebook page), I thought some Oceanic attention was due. So here are some Friday Fun Facts on one of those dreamlike destinations I would love to visit, that is if I can survive the flight!

-New Zealand’s North Island (the country is made up of a North and South Island) is home to the pohutukawa tree. December is when its bright red flowers bloom thus giving it the title of New Zealand’s Christmas tree.

-New Zealand is home to some of the most incredible landscapes in the world including numerous glaciers, the most famous being the Franz Joseph and Fox on the South Island’s West Coast. They were created out of moving ice over thousands of years and are accessible to mountaineers and hikers.

-The Cook Landing Site National Historic Reserve on Kaiti Beach Road in Gisborne marks the location where James Cook (the same Cook of the Cook Islands) first set foot on New Zealand soil. In 1768 Cook was offered the command of the HMS Endeavor by the British Admiralty to undertake a “discovery voyage” in the South Pacific. After leaving behind Tahiti, he embarked on sealed orders to find a “continent or land of great extent.”