The world’s largest grand piano was built by a 15-year-old in New Zealand. The piano is a little over 18 feet long and has 85 keys – 3 short of the standard 88.
100 Mind-Blowing Zealand Facts
Disappointment Island is an uninhabited island in New Zealand. Over 65,000 pairs of white-capped albatross live there. In 1868, a steel tanker crashed on the island, killing 68 people, and leaving the 15 survivors waiting 18 months to be rescued. In 1907, another ship ended up crashing there, and 12 men drowned.
The world’s longest place name has 85 letters & is located in New Zealand.
The French-language Scrabble World Champion doesn’t speak French. New Zealand native Nigel Richards memorized the entire French Scrabble dictionary, which has 386,000 words, in nine weeks to earn his title. He has also won the English World Scrabble Championship three times, the U.S. national championships five times, and the U.K. Open Scrabble tournament six times. This comes 20 years after 28-year-old Richards first played the game.
You could buy a town from eBay. Since eBay was founded in 1995, many unusual items have been placed on the online auction site. One of the weirdest fun facts is that someone even tried to sell the country of New Zealand on eBay. Turns out, it was part of the long-known rivalry between Australia and New Zealand – and Australia jokingly posted the auction. However, the bidding was stopped once the bid reached $3,000.
The longest location name on the planet is 85 letters long. Taumatawhakatangihanga-koauauotamateaturipukakapikimaung-ahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, New Zealand officially has the longest place name at 85 letters long.
New Zealanders have more pets per household than any other country. 68% of households in New Zealand have a pet, which is more than any other country in the world.
The French Scrabble World Champion doesn’t speak French Nigel Richards of New Zealand memorized the entire French Scrabble dictionary (386,000 words) in nine weeks to bag the title. Richards had been playing Scrabble for 20 years since.
New Zealand was once auctioned on eBay. In 2006, an Australian man auctioned the country on the e-commerce platform with a starting bid of $0.01. The bidding prices were raised to $3,000 before officials of the website shut it down.
The largest grand piano in the world was built by a teenager. The piano is over 18 feet long and has 85 keys. This is 3 keys short of the standard 88. This grand piano can be found in New Zealand.
There is a bird found in Kea that is over two feet long. This bird can be found in New Zealand. It has also been observed that it enjoys eating the strips of rubber found around car windows.
A man once legally changed his name for losing a bet. After losing a drunken poker bet, a New Zealand man had his name legally changed to “Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova.” in 2009. After five years, the name was approved by the government. Now, all 99 characters of his new name are on his government documents.
New Zealand’s Ninety Mile Beach is 55 miles long. Name a scam, am I right?
Kiwis, from New Zealand, forage at night, in the leaf litter of the forest floor. Unlike any other bird, kiwis have nostrils at the end of their long beaks.
The kererū (New Zealand Wood Pigeon) is well-known for getting drunk off fermented fruit and falling out of trees. Consequently, it has earned the reputation for being “clumsy, drunk, gluttonous, and glamorous.”
Antarctica isn’t owned by any single nation. Instead, the continent is governed by many of the world’s countries through the Antarctic Treaty. The first signatories of the treaty were the seven nations that had some form of territorial claim to Antarctica: The UK, Norway, New Zealand, France, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.
New Zealand has more cats per person than any other country in the world.
The longest place name in the word, at 85 letters, is “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu,” New Zealand. Locals just call it Taumata Hill.
Tech companies often test their products in New Zealand. New Zealand is such a diverse country with English-speaking residents, which makes it a great place for testing. But the main reason is that since it’s somewhat isolated, news about a product failing won’t spread very fast.
Though a lot of people believe daylight saving time was adopted to keep farmers happy, that’s a myth. The first person to seriously advocate for daylight saving time was an entomologist who wanted more sunlit hours to look for insects after work in the summer. He proposed his idea to a scientific society in New Zealand in 1895.