2008 The A to Z of New Zealand.

        After looking at Full Faced Queens (last post) what about a bit of a fun issue, a feel-good set if you like. It is an A to Z of New Zealand culture, history, heritage and downright Kiwiana. Each letter of the alphabet is used to present a different subject of New Zealand.
        Personally, I was not too impressed with many of these designs but what captured my interest was the idea of doing an issue of 26 stamps on Kiwiana like this. First I show the set as issued in a single sheet then below that, each stamp will be depicted along with a short description of its subject.
        There are some other sets like this so I might do a post of some of them too.

A is for Aotearoa: 

         This is the most widely known and accepted Māori name for New Zealand. One translation of this name is "The land of the long white cloud" after the appearance of the land when approaching from the sea. Clouds tend to cluster over the land giving the appearance of a long cloud extending the length of the country. I have heard other possible translations too.

        The boat used by Team New Zealand in the 2013 America's Cup was named Aotearoa.

B is for Beehive:

         The Beehive, this is the common name for the Executive Wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings. This was never intended to be an official name but as it caught on to become the common name for the Executive Building where many of the members of parliament have their offices. The main debating chamber is in the older House of Parliament next door. Since the current Prime Minister and high members of the ruling party occupy the upper floors of the Beehive it is often looked upon as the place where the country is governed.

C is for Cook:

       James Cook was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer who recorded the first circumnavigation of New Zealand. He produced the first map of New Zealand and returned twice more to continue the exploration of the country. On his first voyage, he was looking for further landmass so he zig-zagged around a lot. Today in New Zealand, anyone taking a round-about route to go somewhere is said to be "taking a Cook's tour." The fifty-cent included in the design is a reference to the fifty-cent coin which had a picture of Cook's first vessel the Endeavour. When it first appeared my younger brother was receiving fifty cents as his pocket money. He would call this coin a "ship penny." 

See our collection of Capt. Cook stamps - Captain Cook Stamps of New Zealand.

D is for Dog:

         The Dog was the working sheep-dog from Murray Ball's Footrot Flats cartoon strip. The story is about the adventures of a group of characters who live in an imaginary farming location called Footrot Flats. The central character is, of course, the dog. We never knew his real name. The series was first a newspaper carton before becoming a series of books and was even developed into a cartoon movie with the same name. 

E is for Edmonds:

         The Edmonds Cookbook is the quintessential guide to traditional New Zealand cuisine which is now recognised as a Kiwi icon. As a kid, I always remember there was a copy of this in the kitchen and many of the things mum cooked came from this book. Edmonds was a company which produced baking powder and the book was a way to promote the use of their product but as time went by it became New Zealand's most popular cookbook. 

F is for Fantail:

         The lively little fantail. Highly active and agile birds which undertake highly aerobatic and intricate looping flights. They can be quite daring coming up close before daring away again. They can be found anywhere having adaptive themselves to living in the built-up man-made world of the city or living in the more natural environment of the country or forest.

G is for Goodnight Kiwi:

        Goodnight Kiwi was a character in an animated short film which played to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand. Back when New Zealand had only two state-owned television channels they would both close down at around 11pm. This little film was the way broadcasting ended. When the private TV 3 entered the market "Goodnight Kiwi got lost when TV stations began broadcasting 24hr per day. 

H is for Haka:

         For over 100 years the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby team, have had a tradition of performing a haka before all test match games. It is looked forward to and enjoyed by most followers of the All Blacks. The haka is a Maori war dance performed by worriers before going into battle. These days a haka could as often be used to celebrate sporting success, honour a dead person or greet special visitors. It is often performed by Maori concert parties for tourists. Over the summer I took family visiting from Malaysia to such a concert at the Auckland Museum and they loved seeing the haka being performed by this group.   

I is for Interislander:

        A ferry service across Cook Strait between the North Island and South Island. These ferry service is run by the railways and carried both rail vehicles and road vehicles. It is an important link between the two main islands. I have crossed a few times as a passenger but never driven my car on one. Must try it sometime.

J is for Jelly Tip:

         Very popular ice-cream first produced in the 1950s. I used to like those, still do actually when my wife isn't looking. Made from ice-cream on a stick with a tip made from pink jelly. The whole thing is then covered in chocolate. Now the New Zealand chocolate makers, Whittier's has produced chocolate with the same jelly inside and white chocolate on the outside.

K is for Kia Ora:

         This is a Māori language greeting which has entered common New Zealand vocabulary - it means "be well/healthy" but is often used as an informal "hi" It is very common today, used in Government Offices and in the media too. Over the summer I tried teaching this to my visiting niece, a Malaysian Indian. She tried using it at the ticket office to a Maori attraction. She made a mess of it but the girl in the office was so impressed at the attempt we were given a free child ticket.

 L is for Log o' Wood:

         The Ranfurly Shield is the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. The 'log o'wood' is closely fought for by the various provincial teams around the country. Once a team takes the shield they are challenged by other teams until they lose it. The contest can be a bit uneven with stronger teams holding it most of the time.
         See my Rugby on New Zealand Stamps post.

M is for Mudpools:

         This stamp is synonymous with the Geothermal regions of the North Island, particularly around Rotorua. If ever you get the chance don't miss the chance to view these pool where gas comes up through the soft slimy mud, making plopping noises as they burst the pool's surface. Sometimes blobs of mud appear to jump through the air like frogs.

N is for Nuclear-Free:

         In 1987 a law was passed to "establish a Nuclear Free Zone in New Zealand to promote and encourage an active and effective contribution to the essential process of disarmament and international arms control." Nuclear Free has been an important issue in New Zealand with protestors being very active preventing USA warships entering the country. The Rainbow Worrier a Greenpeace boat was bombed and sunk in Auckland by French agents because of Nuclear Free protesting.

O is for O.E.:

        An O.E. is an extended overseas working holiday sometimes referred to as "The big OE" - typically at least one year and often far longer. I just heard today that my friend's daughter is going to the United Kingdom for two years on her "OE."

P is for Pinetree:

         Colin Meads nickname - a former New Zealand rugby union footballer who played 55 test matches as an All Black from 1957 to 1971 - named Player of the Century in 1999. Colin was also a dairy farmer until only a few years ago when he retired and sold his farm.
         See my Rugby on New Zealand Stamps post.

Q is for Quake:

         New Zealand is on the Pacific Ring of Fire - an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that is home to over 75% of the world's volcanoes. We regularly get earthquakes in New Zealand and have active volcanoes and geothermal regions through the central North Island. The last time this happened was when a series of earthquakes destroyed the centre Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island. 

R is for Rutherford:

         New Zealand physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics. An example of how kiwis can be found in many parts of the world doing some amazing things.

S is for Southern Cross:

        This constellation appears on New Zealand's flag. In New Zealand, we include the four major stars which make up the cross while in Australia they add the extra star found within this constellation. I like showing visitors this constellation which can not be seen from most northern countries of the world. They are always happy knowing they have seen this famous sight. There are a couple of other crosses nearby so you must be careful to find the right one.

T is for Tiki:

         Tiki is the incorrect name Māori neck pendants - a tourist staple. The proper name was Heitiki but popular use had shortened it to tiki. You may want to see my post on the Heitiki in stamps or my Matariki / Maori New Year collection.

U is for Upham:

         Captain Charles Upham was a New Zealand soldier who was the only person to earn the Victoria Cross for extreme bravery twice during the Second World War. There is a stamp set featuring every New Zealand soldier who has won the Victoria Cross which I have to include a post of in this blog. 2011 The Victoria Cross

V is for Vote:

         New Zealand was the first major nation to grant universal suffrage to women (however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919). This is another example of this country being a leader in so many areas.

W is for Weta:

         The Weta is among the largest and heaviest insects in the world. Weta are nocturnal and spend the day hidden away out of sight. They can give a painful bite when discovered but mostly they would rather retreat back into shadows if they can. Their bite is not poisonous so in spite of their fearsome appearance they are fairly harmless. The famous Weta Workshops created many of the special effects for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies.

X is for extreme sports:

         New Zealand has been promoting a variety of extreme sports such as bungy jumping are available in New Zealand. There is a good tourism market for among younger people who are looking for more exciting and adventurous activities than normal tourist things.  

Y is for Yarn:

         Māori traditional textiles were woven from a number of plants, including harakeke, wharariki, pingao, kiekie and toetoe.

Z is for Zeeland:

         The islands of Aotearoa were named Nieuw Zeeland by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman who is claimed to be the first European to discover New Zealand. After a few disagreements with Maoris, he sailed away and New Zealand waited to be re-discovered by the British navigator James Cook.

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/