33 Fun Facts About New Zealand

Last Updated on 3rd December 2022

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When it came to writing a post all about the best fun facts about New Zealand, I could literally go on forever as there are SO many fascinating things to tell you guys!

It’s a country that’s home to some of the most insanely beautiful scenery in the world, incredible wildlife and vast expanses of untouched landscapes. However, New Zealand is also a hub for the weird and wonderful and today’s post is designed to enlighten you on some of my favourite fun facts about New Zealand!

If you’ve got a trip planned there and want to know more about this remarkable country, or you just want to learn a bit of trivia for your general knowledge pub quiz, here are 33 fun facts about New Zealand!

Read more: What Is New Zealand Famous For? 40 Things That Make New Zealand Special

33 fun facts about New Zealand

1. You need your passport to buy alcohol if you’re not from New Zealand

One thing that we didn’t realise when we first landed in NZ is that if you’re not a native Kiwi, you’ll need to have your passport (or a New Zealand driving licence) as proof of age when you buy alcohol.

It’s not a massive issue, it just means you can’t use your UK or US driving licence and instead you’ll have to bring your passport with you every time you buy alcohol.

2. Vegetables have different names (in fact, many things have different names in New Zealand)!

Of course, with any country in the world (or even city or state for that matter!), there are always going to be alternative names for everything; here are just a few I can think of off the top of my head!

New Zealand: English

• Capsicum: peppers
• Kumara: sweet potato
• Sweet as: good
• Lollies: sweets
• Jandals: flip flops
• Togs: swimming costume
• Chur: thanks, great, hello (it has many meanings depending on the Kiwi!)
• Gumboots: wellies

3. Pukeko birds are annoying AF

Often referred to as ‘pukes’, these birds may look rather cute but don’t let their looks fool you; they’re so bloody loud and annoying AF.

We had more issues with these in the North Island rather than the South Island as they were a bit of a pest when we were housesitting. They’re not harmful in any way but they’re just so noisy and get into all the plants and annoy other animals!

4. Fun facts about New Zealand – they were the first country in the world to give women the right to vote!

In 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote which I think is a pretty damn good reason in itself to love NZ!

5. Garlic aioli is much more common (and more delicious!) than mayo

Kiwis bloody love their garlic aioli and it’s much more common to have it served with chips than it is to have mayo (we really didn’t complain however as it’s so good)!

6. Fun facts about New Zealand – the whole “4 seasons in one-day” thing isn’t a lie

I talked about this in my post about what I wish I knew before moving to New Zealand but it really isn’t a lie when you hear that New Zealand can experience four seasons in one day.

Regardless of where you are in the country, you can wake up to gloriously blue skies and beautiful sunshine in the morning, by lunchtime you can have a torrential thunderstorm and then the evening can get so cold you’ll need your thermals out. The weather really is such a rollercoaster in NZ!

7. There are SO many kiwi fruits and avocado orchards on the North Island…

Having spent 6 weeks in the North Island when we were travelling as well as living there for 9 months back in 2011, I can safely say that you can’t go more than a couple of miles without seeing a kiwi fruit or avocado orchard.

If you time your visit to New Zealand with picking season, you’ll be greeted by so many pickers and packagers and you may even get to go around and pick up the leftovers from the orchards (we were lucky enough to be able to do this as we house sat for someone who lived on an entire street full of orchards)!

8. …And vineyards in the South Island

While the South Island is home to many plots of land full of deliciously fresh produce and livestock, its main attribution is its abundance of vineyards.

Head up towards the Marlborough region and you won’t be able to move for vineyards!

9. Fun facts about New Zealand – the speed bumps are INSANE

I’ve got a whole post planned about what you need to know when driving in New Zealand but one of the main things that always stands out for me is just how crazy the speed bumps are.

Almost everywhere you go, whether it be large cities or tiny towns, you’ll find that the speed bumps are far too large for most sized cars so you really do have to crawl over them (and even then, you can feel them scraping the entire underside of your vehicle)!

10. Kiwis (the people) are remarkably friendly

Kiwis can often get a bit of a bad rep for being quite blunt and while that can sometimes be the case, they’re also some of the most friendly and chatty people I’ve ever met.

There were many times during our New Zealand road trip where we got collared by a local who told us their entire life story; it’s a great way to get to know them a bit better but just be prepared for people to talk your ear off (especially older generations)!

11. Kiwis (the birds) are remarkably elusive

While one of the largest associations with New Zealand is the Kiwi bird, Matt and I didn’t actually see any while we were travelling around the country for three entire months!

12. Kiwis (the fruit) are remarkably yummy and popular

As I mentioned above, kiwi fruit orchards are in vast abundance in the North Island so you won’t struggle to find one to try!

Bonus points if you get a golden kiwi as they’re much tastier!

13. Fun facts about New Zealand – it’s home to the longest place name in the world

That word is ‘Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu’ (roughly translating to “The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one”).

I wouldn’t even attempt to try and pronounce it if I were you!

14. More people live in Auckland than the entire South Island!

This was actually a fact that I found out about after I’d left New Zealand and I didn’t believe it until I Googled it (because Google always has the answers, right?!).

Around 1.66 million people live in Auckland whereas only around 1.04 million people live in the whole of the South Island!

15. Facts about New Zealand – small villages have “volunteer” fire brigades

If you’re going to be staying in smaller towns and villages in New Zealand, particularly in the North Island, you’re likely to experience a sound that can only be compared to an air raid siren.

This is in fact the fire alarm that echoes throughout the whole village and it’s to let volunteer fire fighters know that their help is required! The town we stayed in in the North Island (Katikati) had one of these procedures and it took a little while to get used to!

16. Drink driving is very much a thing in New Zealand (unfortunately)

While drink driving is definitely illegal in New Zealand, it seems to be very much the ‘done’ thing for a lot of people.

The reason for this is that public transport is pretty much non-existent in New Zealand so everyone drives (in fact, the driving age used to be 15 and has just been changed to 16!). Unfortunately, when people want to have a drink, as they can’t use public transport, they choose to drive instead which means there’s quite a lot of car accidents up and down the country.

If you’re going to be driving around New Zealand, just make sure you’re sensible and don’t get behind the wheel after you’ve had a drink.

17. Double glazing, central heating and insulation just isn’t a thing (unfortunately)

On a slightly more light-hearted side of the unfortunate scale, double glazing windows, central heating and housing insulation just isn’t a thing in New Zealand.

This means that houses are freezing during the winter and boiling during the summer. I think it might have been made a legal requirement now for all 21st century homes to be built with insulation but if you’re thinking you’ll be treated to lovely heating in NZ’s winter, you can think again!

18. The Māori name of New Zealand is Aotearoa

The native Māoris make up approximately 15% of New Zealand’s population and as that figure used to be substantially higher there are naturally many Māori words still used throughout New Zealand.

The original Māori name of the country was ‘Aotearoa’ which means ‘the land of the long white cloud’.

19. Fun facts about New Zealand – corner shops are called ‘dairies’

If you’re from the UK, particularly from Yorkshire, then you’ll be well accustomed to the phrase “just nipping to the corner shop”. You’d never be able to do your ‘big shop’ here, but you can pick up the essentials like milk and bread.

In New Zealand, they call corner shops ‘dairies’ which is exactly the same premise and you’ll find them in most small towns and villages throughout the country.

20. Wherever you are in NZ, you’ll never be more than 128km from the sea

Despite NZ being pretty huge in terms of land mass, you’ll never actually be more than 128km from the seaside, regardless of where you are in the country!

21. Facts about New Zealand – only around 5% of the living population is human

With the statistic of New Zealand having around 6 sheep to every 1 person, it’s not hard to believe that the human population makes up a very small percentage of the entire living population in New Zealand!

Only 5% of the living population is human, with the impressive remaining 95% being made up mainly of animals!

22. Speed limits fluctuate SO much

Again, this is something that I’ll go into much more detail about in my blog post about driving in New Zealand but I still think it’s a fact about New Zealand that you should be aware of!

Throughout the country, the average national speed limit is 100km but you also have zones and stretches of roads that have drastically varying speed limits.

You can easily go from a 100km to a 50km back up to 70km then 80km all within the space of a few kilometres. It can definitely take some getting used to and it can be tricky to know which speed limit you should be sticking to at which times!

23. There are more than 400 golf courses throughout the country

A fact that my dad is sure to love (and probably one of the reasons he moved us out there in 2011 tbh 😉 ).

Wherever you are in New Zealand, you won’t struggle to find a truly spectacular golf course as there’s one practically everywhere you look!

24. You need to keep a particular eye out for trains…

Speaking of looking… the train system in New Zealand can be pretty tricky to navigate and you definitely need to have your wits about you when driving across train tracks.

Most train ‘crossings’ don’t have barriers, lights or any signals so it’s entirely down to you to ‘look out for trains’. It’s something that can be pretty nerve wracking at first as it can be difficult to look out and listen for trains but you’ll soon get used to it.

25. House numbers are assigned by how many ‘metres times by 10’ down the road the house is

While this isn’t always the case everywhere you go in the country, in most small towns and villages, the houses down the side roads are numbered according to how many metres/kilometres down the road they are.

For example, a house that’s 150m down the road would be house number 15 and a house that’s numbered 210 would be 2.1km down the road.

26. Only 4.9 million people live in New Zealand (despite it being roughly the same size as the UK!)

Despite New Zealand being marginally larger than the UK (268,000 square km compared to the UK’s 242,495 square km), New Zealand’s population is significantly smaller.

As of December 2018, only 4.9 million people live in New Zealand compared to the whopping 65.7 million people who live in the UK!

27. Fun facts about New Zealand – public transport is pretty much non-existent

I mentioned this earlier in the point about drunk driving but if you’re planning on relying on public transport around New Zealand, you’re really going to struggle.

There are numerous buses and taxis in big cities like Christchurch and Auckland, but once you get out into the sticks (or wop wops as Kiwis refer to it!), you won’t find a bus or taxi in sight!

You can take advantage of tour bus companies who will do some routes around the country but generally, the best way to get around is to hire a car or campervan in New Zealand.

28. You need proof of an outbound flight before you go to New Zealand

This is another thing that Matt and I had no idea about when we were flying to New Zealand back in April but if you’re from the UK (I’m not sure about other European countries or America), you need to have proof of an outbound flight out of New Zealand before you even get there.

We had no idea about this and as we’re travelling on a ad hoc basis, we hadn’t even planned the next leg of our trip around the world! Standing at the check-in desk, trying to board the flight and having to quickly book the cheapest flight to Aus was quite an eventful way to start our travels.

Save yourself the hassle and make sure you’ve got your outbound flight booked before you go!

29. There are SO many chocolate choices in New Zealand supermarkets

One fact about New Zealand that I was delighted to discover was just how much variety of chocolate there is in the supermarkets. There are so many Dairy Milk flavours that you could literally spend months trying a new one every single day!

30. You can buy all your takeaway food at one place

This was something that Matt and I found hilarious when we were in New Zealand; it’s not uncommon to have your local takeaway sell kebabs, fish and chips, burgers and Chinese food all under one roof!

Many petrol stations also have a counter at the back of the shop selling the likes of fried chicken and chips; it’s pretty cool but definitely not something you’d expect to find when you’re buying petrol!

31. Facts about New Zealand – there’s an ‘Official National Wizard’

In 1990, New Zealand became the first country in the modern world to appoint an ‘Official National Wizard‘.

‘The Wizard’ is an educator, comedian and politician; could this be the weirdest, wackiest and most wonderful fact about New Zealand?!

32. The Lord of the Rings movies brought in an extra $200 million NZD into the economy!

Speaking of ~otherworldly~ facts, when the LOTR trilogy was first released, the movies brought an extra whopping $200 million into New Zealand’s economy, with 1 in 6 people saying their primary reason for visiting the country was because of the Lord of the Rings!

33. The first person to climb Mount Everest was born in New Zealand

I’m finishing this post on a light-hearted and fun fact about New Zealand and that’s that the first person to reach the Mount Everest summit was a Kiwi!

Sir Edmund Hillary is (naturally) a bit of a legend in New Zealand and his impressive feat of being the first person to climb Mount Everest makes him quite the national treasure!

Pin for later – fun facts about New Zealand!

Do you know any other fascinating facts about New Zealand? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.