Hello, friends! Welcome to Window on the World. Today we'll visit an interesting country that is made up of two large islands and several smaller ones. It is located to the south east of Australia. Can you guess what country it is? If you said, New Zealand, you are correct! New Zealand is located in the South Pacific Ocean about 1900 kilometers away from Australia.
New Zealand's two large islands are named North Island and South Island because of their locations. The combined area of both islands is about 270,500 square kilometers. Both islands are very mountainous. There are over 200 mountains that exceed 2,280 meters in height!
North Island has three active volcanoes and one that is extinct. Located near these volcanoes are hot water springs and geysers. A geyser is a stream of boiling water that pushes up out of the earth in a tall column at different times during the day. You must be careful not to get to close to them or you could get injured. The hot springs of water, though, are often helpful for hurting muscles. The capital city, Wellington, is located on North Island.
South Island has the highest mountain in the Southern Alps on New Zealand. It is called Mt. Cook and rises 3754 meters. You could also see a number of glaciers there. A glacier is a large mass of ice and snow that floats in very cold waters. A large part of it is usually under the water with a smaller section visible above the water. It looks like a large floating mountain.
The climate is very different from one island to the other. North Island has generally mild weather and often is much warmer than South Island. This is because South Island is much closer to the colder waters near Antarctica.
New Zealand's two islands have many interesting things to discover. So come back next week when we'll open our Window on the World to find out about the people who live there. Goodbye for now, friends.
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