New Zealand

The Space Shuttle Endeavour approaches the International Space Station during rendezvous and docking operations. The spacecraft floats over Cook Strait, the body of water separating New Zealand's North Island (on the left) from South Island (to the right). Click on photo to increase resolution. Image courtesy of NASA.

The city of Auckland, the largest in New Zealand, is home to almost a third of the country's population. This is a view of the North Island city at night as seen from its tallest tower.

A view of New Zealand's capital of Wellington, located at the southwestern tip of North Island near the Cook Strait. The city is the second largest in New Zealand (after Auckland), and at 41 degrees south latitude, it is the southernmost capital city in the world. Five major geologic faults run through the Wellington municipality. Recognition of the potential seismic hazard in the metropolitan area has led to the adoption of building codes to maximize structural resistance to earthquake damage. Click on photo to increase resolution. Image courtesy of NASA.

Over the peaks in Fiordland National Park, South Island, the largest of New Zealand's national parks.

Area comparison map

Te Wahipounamu, "the greenstone waters," is a sacred place in the Maori culture of New Zealand. The foreboding mountains and steep-walled valleys on New Zealand's southwest coast are the places of Atua, "the gods." Additionally, the streams that wash down from the glacier-capped peaks carry a highly prized stone, a hard, translucent, green rock that the Maori carved into jewelry and blades, for both tools and weapons. Most New Zealand greenstone is nephrite - a form of jade - though some is bowenite, another mineral. From space, the west coast of New Zealand resembles the greenstone for which it is named. Dark green native forest extends from the mountain tree line to the shore. The forest harbors unique and endangered animals like the kiwi and takahe, both flightless birds, and the kea, the only alpine parrot. The lighter green land in the southeast was once forested, but is now grassland or agriculture. Te Wahipounamu is wilderness, and New Zealand has set the land aside to conserve it. The entire 2.6 million ha (6.4 million acres) that make up the southwest coast of the South Island (about 10 percent of New Zealand's land area) is divided between four national parks, state forests, and other conservation areas. The natural and cultural significance of Te Wahipounamu led UNESCO to declare it a World Heritage area in 1990. Image courtesy of NASA.