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COINTEST: Share What you know about New Zealand & WIN!


Team chelmo

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Pristine Landscapes

New Zealand has known human habitation for less than a thousand years. Before then, it was a land of forests, mountains and beaches. The loudest sounds were birdsong, wind and waves.

 

Fourteen spectacular national parks preserve New Zealand's natural heritage. Enshrining a huge variety of landscapes, vegetation and wildlife, our parks allow you to discover the heart and soul of a country that will never be totally tamed.

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Many people think of New Zealand as two islands, when it is actually three. Subantarctic Stewart Island, which lies 30 kilometres south of the South Island, has a land area of nearly 2000 square kilometres, and 85% of it is included within the boundaries of Rakiura National Park.

 

The most recent addition to New Zealand's national park portfolio, Rakiura is an enchanted world of unmodified ecosystems and habitats. From dense coastal rainforests and freshwater wetlands to vast sand dunes and granite mountain ranges, the park provides an exceptional opportunity to see native wildlife and primeval landscapes

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Home of the highest mountains and the longest glaciers

The Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is alpine in the purest sense - with skyscraping peaks, glaciers and permanent snow fields. Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand's tallest mountain, helped Sir Edmund Hillary to develop his climbing skills in preparation for the conquest of Everest.

 

According to Ngai Tahu legend, Aoraki and his three brothers were the sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father. While on a sea voyage, their canoe overturned on a reef. When the brothers climbed on top of their canoe, the freezing south wind turned them to stone. The canoe became the South Island (Te Waka o Aoraki); Aoraki and his brothers became the peaks of the Southern Alps.

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Arthur's Pass National

s26151_3.gif </H1>Arthur's Pass is the highest pass over the Southern Alps. Long before surveyor Arthur Dudley Dobson found his way over the pass in 1864, it was known to Maori hunting parties as a route between east and west.

 

The eastern side of Arthur's Pass National Park is characterised by wide, shingle-filled riverbeds and vast beech forests. The western side of the park, where wet weather is more common than dry, has deeply gorged rivers flowing through dense rainforest. Down the middle of 'the great divide' is an alpine dreamland of snow-covered peaks, glaciers and scree slopes.

Edited by OshnDoc
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Polynesians settlers arrived in Aotearoa/New Zealand around the tenth century, and by the twelfth century settlements were scattered over most of the country.

 

What the Polynesians found was a land much different to the South Pacific tropical isles of Polynesia. Instead they found a land of mountains with a more seasonal climate. There were no large mammals to hunt for food, but there was a large flightless bird called the Moa. The Moa stood up to 15 feet tall and the Maori found it easy prey. By the time Europeans had reached New Zealand the Moa was hunted to extinction.

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Nelson Lakes National Park

A compact area of mountain ranges separated by forested valleys, the Nelson Lakes National Park promises all levels of challenge for keen hikers and mountaineers.In Maori mythology the lakes were created by the great chief Rakaihaitu digging holes with his ko (digging stick). One hole became Lake Rotoiti (small waters) and the other became Lake Rotoroa (large waters).

 

Known for its magical honeydew beech forests, which feed a variety of tuneful nectar-eating native birds, the park provides an easy wilderness escape. The nearby village of St Arnaud is a comfortable, well-equipped base for visitors.

 

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Just a quick post previous, the very second I snuck home from work to see if the courier had been. And just as I pulled up so did he :D I really have to get back to work now so congrats to OshnDoc for being last to post before I did. Give me 5min to go generate a random number to find the winner of the XLE, back soon... :blink:

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And the winner of the XLE is...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Congratulations Dressel Dragons! :D:D:D (let me know your address and there will be a Chelmo NZ residents coin on it's way to you!

 

The other winners were:

 

#1 Crowesfeat30 (Two Tone LE Chelmo) for correcty guessing "Footrot Flats" was the other idea I had for my coin.

 

#2 Stellarscape (Gold Chelmo) for posting on the number of cache finds I have

 

#3 Ble68 (Gold Chelmo) for correctly guessing the bird in the print I have hanging on my wall (The Chatham Island Black Robin)

 

#4 OshnDoc (Silver Chelmo) for being the last to post before I did to say my coins have arrived.

 

and last but by no means least...

 

#5 "Dressel Dragons" the winner of the XLE Copper/Silver Chelmo for being the random post number :huh:

 

Thankyou everyone for getting in to the spirit of this compitition, it has been awesome to see the response of you all (I wish I could give you all a coin), I hope you have had fun learning and seeing some of the beautiful country I live in.

 

Thanks and Congrats again to the winners,

Mark (Elmo)

 

Oh OshnDoc & Dressel Dragons make sure you e-mail me you address :blink:

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Well...this looks like an interesting activity...

 

I must apologize, Dressel Dragons! My response about the Echidna came off way more abrupt than I'd intended. I did not mean it that way at all! I just wanted to point out the difference between the two animals. :D:blink::D

 

 

CF30

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Yep...congrats Buuuuuuudy!

 

This was a fun cointest too...Very informative aswell. Now when Sweetpa gets back to teaching, ill just give her a copy of this thread for Kiwi history month! :ph34r:

 

well there aint exactly a Kiwi history month, but maybe there will be now!

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New Zealanders are generally gregarious and friendly, and exceptionally erudite and well-travelled. Of course, being laconic and self-effacing, they'd never tell you that. I hope a fellow Kiwi got one of the coins, and that the rest end up here at their turangawaewae at some point :ph34r:

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We've been to New Zealand and drove 4 weeks around:

IT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL COUNTRY WE HAVE EVER BEEN TO!!!!

Here is the fact:

They have a camping site in Rotorua with a floor heating (geothermal energy). Gosh, that was hot in the night :rolleyes:;);)

Edited by yanagi
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HaHa...I'm going to start out by quoting one of my favorite movies, which I'm sure none of you have EVER heard of, and my answer will not be true anyway, but if will make me laugh(but none of you wil even get it), so that will make me laugh too.

 

"The only thing I know about New Zealand is that Bjork comes from there"

 

Not to hijack anything, but the first one to tell me the name of that movie might also win something.

Of course I've switched the name New Zealand in place of another country.

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In New Zealand is the place with the longest name in the world:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaktanatahu

This place name is a shortened form of "The brow of a hill where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, knowed as Land Eater, played his flute to his lover"

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