New Zealand Surrounding Countries

Australia is completely surrounded by water.

As it began

Beautiful fjords, jagged hills, wide open spaces, gentle hills, sub-tropical forests, vulcanic plateaus, kilometres of coasts with beautiful sands... all this can be found here. The island of Stewart Island and many smaller ones are off the coast. North Island is centrally located on the volcano tableland, an area of volcanoes and hot springs. Southeastern Alps are the spine of the South Island.

The hilly farmlands of Otago and Southland and the wide, shallow Canterbury Plains lie to the south of the Southern Alps. There is a large number of islands on the Australian Plate, the northern island and some parts of the southern island, while the remainder of the southern island lies on the Pacific Ocean. Outside Rotorua you can find most of the northern island areas just off Turangi, as well as Hanmer Springs and the west coast of South Island with warm water sources and other thermic activities.

The far northern and eastern coasts of the northern island offer long golden silver beach for bathing, windsurfing and sundowning. On the western shore of the northern island there are deep and ferruginous sands. South Island's northern part has some nice golden sands, while the shoreline around the remainder of South Island is rather wild and rough.

Approximately one fifth of the northern island and two third of the southern island are mountainous. This mountain range extends from the northern part of the northern island to the southern bottom and is due to the collisions between the Pacific and Australia plates. Spread Canterbury plain on the South Island and a series of smaller plain areas in the Nothern were created over million of years by sediments (eroded from the hills by rivers).

Those gorgeous icebergs are easy to access for climbers and walkers. Marlborough Sound and Fiordland are specimens of high mountains sinking into the ocean, producing sensational sound and fjords. Clear, calm, deep waters, encircled by wonderful scrub, make these areas perfect for canoeing.