NEW ZELAND

There is a reason why New Zealand was the last major land mass to be colonized by humanity - it's a very long way from everywhere else. But this is also why New Zealand remains unspoiled - even today there are only four million people in a country larger than the UK, which has 62 million inhabitants! True, not all of that land is habitable, because New Zealand contains such geographical extremes, from the sub-tropical climat of the North Island, with its active volcanoes, to the fjords and 360 glaciers of the South Island. Welcome to a land like no other The origianl Zealand, the place after which this one is named, is a damp and flat province at the bottom of Holland. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that so many New Zealanders prefer to call their home by its Maori name: Aotearoa ( "the land of the long white cloud"). Maoris, who first arrived here approximately 1200 years ago, make up eight pe cent of the population, but when you consider the Samoans, Tongans and Cook Islanders that also live here, then New Zealand has the largest Polynesian population in the world. The culture is now more vibrant than it has been in generations, with the language widely spoken and Maoris potentially holding the balance of power in the island's politics. If you think Maori culture is just about the haka before a rugby game, think again.