Flavour of New Zealand
NZ popular culture 1960 onward
NZ popular culture 1960 onward
Excerpts from Strange Facts & True about New Zealand should be seen as having validity as of its publishing date of 1981.
The first and only recorded instance of a telephone in a toilet was a distinction achieved by the Brown Owl Post Office, Upper Hutt. This odd combination of convenience was caused by a lack of space during Post Office alterations carried out in April 1976. The telephone ended up on one side of the wall, and that side was inside the toilet. 1
The smallest New Zealand bird is the acanthisitta, the rifleman or New Zealand wren, often called the titipounamu, which measures on 8 cm from beak tip to tail. The bird inhabits the forests of both main islands, especially the South Island beech forests. 1
No part of New Zealand is more than 128 km from the sea. The furthest settlement from salt water is Garston, Southland. 1
In the southern Hawke’s Bay district of the North Island, about 14 km from Porangahau, is a hill 300 m high which bears the longest placename now in use in the world. The unofficial version has 85 letters; Taumatawhakatangihangakaoauauotamatea (turipukakapikimaungahoronuku) pokaiwhenuakitanatahu and means: “the brow of the hill where Tamatea, the man with the big knees who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as Traveler, played on his flute to his loved one”. The official version does not include the letters in parenthesis, and thus has only 57 letters. For obvious reasons, the name is usually shortened to Taumata. 1