New Zealand Facts

New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote in national elections, in 1893.

Longest officially recognized place name is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.

The New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, went to a doctor and a vet to confirm that he is a human being and not a shape shifting lizard from space.

Sheep outnumber humans in New Zealand 15 to 1.

In 2009, a drunk New Zealander lost a poker bet and legally changed his name to "Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova". He only discovered the change had been approved five years later when he applied for a passport.

The world's officially recognised steepest street is Baldwin Street, with a 35% gradient, in Dunedin, New Zealand.

In 2006, an Australian man tried to sell New Zealand on eBay. The starting price was $0.01 AUD and managed to reach $3000 before eBay closed the auction.

In 2004, four lifeguards were swimming off Ocean Beach, New Zealand when a pod of seven dolphins suddenly herded them into a tight group and started circling. For 40 minutes, the dolphins swam inches from their bodies, slapping the water with their tails. When one swimmer tried to break away, two dolphins pushed him back. Only then did he spot the 9-foot great white shark circling two metres below them.

Hundreds of strangers showed up at Ruakaka Beach in New Zealand when 40 pilot whales stranded themselves at dusk. Volunteers dug trenches around the whales, slid fabric sheets beneath their bodies, and lifted them off the sand in coordinated teams - forming a human wall to guide each animal back into the sea. Thirty-six of the forty whales made it home.

Two whales got stranded on a sandbar at Mahia Beach in New Zealand. A mother and her calf kept beaching themselves for over an hour. Rescuers were close to giving up. Then a wild dolphin named Moko showed up. The whales seemed to answer his calls. They followed Moko through a narrow channel and swam free.