The Geographic Lie of New Zealand

If you stand right here at the very northern tip of New Zealand, you're in a subtropical paradise. It's warm, there are these really large sand dunes, and you can literally watch two oceans colliding in front of you. But travel just a few hundred miles south, and you are suddenly swallowed by this. Towering, freezing, ice-carved fjords that look like they belong in Norway, or the Alaskan archipelago. New Zealand is roughly the size of Colorado, yet it contains almost every extreme geography on the planet. But how? The answer lies in the fact that New Zealand isn't just a couple of islands. It's the battleground of two huge tectonic plates tearing the Earth apart. And we traveled from the sunny volcanic north to the deep glacial south to see how fire and ice created the ultimate geographic anomaly. Hey, I have a book coming out in 2027 called Badlands. Stick around to the end to learn more about it. It's really not as cold as Alexa makes it seem. Pretty stop, but still not at the far north. So also, can I just say my hair? Wild. We've made it as far as the car can take us to the northern point of New Zealand so now we have to hike to the actual most northern point that we can get to today. As we start our hike I gotta say I'm actually kind of impressed by how many people are here. You guys don't know this but this is quite out of the way from everything else here in New Zealand. It takes a long drive to get up here. The nearest town is about an hour and a half away so just for reference. To understand New Zealand, you first have to understand just how insanely isolated it is. We are currently at Cape Ranga. From here, if you sail west, it's about 1,200 miles just to hit Australia. If you sail east, there is virtually nothing until you hit South America. We're gonna make it all the way over. There. As Alexa and I are making our way to the lighthouse here at the very far northern tip of New Zealand, one of the things you're going to see is a bunch of placards that say basically how New Zealand was discovered by Europeans. So of course the usual suspects, Abel Tasman, Tasmania is named for and the Tasman Sea. Our good friend Captain Cook. who is just everywhere but of course there were people here long before the Europeans but probably not as long as you might expect the Maori of course are the original people of New Zealand and while Europeans didn't come until about the 1700s the Maori are only theorized to have arrived in New Zealand around the year 1200 which is Significantly later than the Aboriginals of Australia, who have been there for about 40,000 years, and certainly a lot later than other places in the Polynesian Islands, including Hawaii, which just makes you think that the human history here of New Zealand is just not that old. And there is a good reason for this. Even though Hawaii is much farther away, you look at a global map and you focus on New Zealand, you're going to see just how far south and out of the way it is. There's really nothing to suggest, especially in the early 1300s, 1400s, even up to the 1600s, that there was anything down here. So it's kind of not surprising Think about it, but it is very interesting. We are almost at the lighthouse, so let's keep on truckin'. So that right there is the actual northernmost point of New Zealand. Unfortunately, we can't really get to it. And actually, actually, if we're getting really persnickety about it, this isn't the northernmost point of New Zealand at all. There's another place that is even farther away and even more inaccessible. We can't even get close to that one. Makes for a fun video. It's a really interesting site behind me. This is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. And right behind me, you can actually see where these two huge bodies of water start to converge. Super cool. Ultimately, this maritime climate keeps the North Island relatively warm and subtropical. It's why over 75% of New Zealand's entire population lives on this one island. But to understand why all of those people are packed into the North, we have to head to the country's biggest city, Auckland. Really is like Seattle. We just arrived in Auckland, which is home to about a third of the country's population. And geographically, this city is weird in a way that few cities in the world are. You see, it's actually built on a tiny isthmus of land between two massive harbors. Oh, and it's also sitting on top of a dormant, volcanic field made up of over 50 different volcanoes. Whole top floor of the bus, all for us. What'd you think of the bus ride, Alexa? That was rough at times. We were on the very top and it just looked like we were about to hit any car, any pedestrian in our way. Bus driver is very qualified, but that was a rocky ride. Not a fan of the double decker. Alexa and I have made it to our first and kind of only stop here in Auckland. We don't have that much time here. Just like with Taipei, when we climbed Elephant Mountain, here in Mount Eden, we are presented with a whole bunch of steps. And hopefully some good views. That's always the hope. We'll see when you see. First impressions of Auckland. It reminds me so much of Seattle. The downtown Auckland area has the Sky Tower which looks a lot like Seattle's Space Needle. The buildings look very similar. I don't know, just gives that vibe. But then as we're walking up Mount Eden right now, it actually reminds me a lot more of Portland. There is a neighborhood in Portland called Mount Tabor and there's a similar mountain with great views of the city and it is also a dormant Dormant volcano. Kind of making me feel a little homesick. Okay I know the video is not going to do it justice but that right there is a very impressive looking city skyline. I do want to take a moment to just call out the fact that while that does look like a very large city, Auckland is not that big. All told there's about 1.7 million people who live here which would make it the fifth largest city in the region of Oceania. Far behind the likes of Melbourne or Sydney both with about 5 million people. It's also not the capital of New Zealand. That's Wellington which we're going to show you in a little bit. Very pretty though. Auckland is one of the Very few cities in the entire world where there's an actual active but dormant volcano in it. And right behind me is the actual crater from when this volcano last erupted about 28,000 years ago. It could still erupt, in which case Auckland would be in a world of hurt, or it could lie dormant for thousands of more years. That's just the way volcanoes work. The North Island sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire. And unlike the South Island, the North Island is essentially a massive, highly active volcanic plateau. Below the surface, the Pacific plate is subducting. We're diving under the Australian plate. That friction creates magma, which then punches through the crust, giving the North Island its geysers, hot springs, and perfectly cone-shaped mountains. But to really get a sense of this volcanic landscape, we're skipping the flight and taking a 10-hour train ride right through the volatile heart of the North Island, all the way down to the capital city of Wellington. Good morning! Alexa and I have made it to our train station here in Auckland. We had a wonderful time in New Zealand's biggest city. We are now ready to board the train all the way to Wellington. It's about 12 hours to get from Auckland all the way to the very far south of the North Island. Hopefully it's a lot of fun. We opted for the scenic plus, which means we get a little bit of extra food, a little bit of extra goodies, maybe some extra storytelling. But let's go! I wish I would have brought my jacket. So this is the viewing car here on the New Zealand. Auckland to Wellington train. What's really interesting about this one, in comparison to something like, well, Amtrak, is that it is totally open air. You can't tell by my hair. But it's actually kind of nice if you need some fresh air. I'm enjoying it. We're a few hours into the journey and the landscape has completely transformed. We've climbed up onto the central plateau. Out the window, you can actually see Mount Ruapehu, which is an active stratovolcano. In fact, it last erupted back in 2007, shattering a dam that was holding back a lake and sending an estimated 1.9 to 3.8 million cubic meters of mud, rock, and water down the Wangaehu River. Needless to say, it will erupt again at some point in the near future. In fact, it seems to erupt once every 20 years or so, so it could So one of the things that I find most interesting about New Zealand is the difference between the North Island, which is where we're at now, and the South Island, which is where we're going to be. But the North Island is unique in its own right. For one, it has all of these hills everywhere that really provide a, not mountainous, but but interesting topography and it's mostly because the North Island has a lot of volcanic domes which cause these sort of slightly uplifted hills rather than the very steep mountains of say overall I think the North Island gets kind of a bad reputation for not being as interesting but I think it's still very very cool of course riding a 12-hour train helps see a little bit more We'll get more of that. So one of the things that's most interesting about New Zealand is how topographically interesting it is. Now of course the South Island is the one that gets most of the attention, but the North Island actually has quite a bit of topography to call its own, including three really large volcanoes right in the middle of the island. The big one here in New Zealand is called Tongariro and it last erupted only in 2012. Just tells you that this is still a very volcanically and seismically active region of the world. A little wine, a little cheese, crackers, it's quite good. It's a perfect pairing. Alexa and I get closer and closer to Wellington and we're not very far out at this point I thought it was worth talking a little bit about the train system here in New Zealand so there are trains that you can ride obviously because we're on one right now we're on the longest train we could possibly take which goes from Auckland down to Wellington in theory you could then take a ferry over to Picton you could then ride another train south to Christchurch from there you could take We're going to take one from Christchurch West to Greymouth and finally you could take a last train from From Greymouth all the way down to Queenstown. All that's to say is, in theory, you could take a train all the way from, well, basically the very far north all the way to the very far south. However, it's not actually possible because New Zealand's train system has not organized their trains in such a way as to actually allow for that to happen. So you would have to take a number of days off here and there to actually, well, ride the train all the way from the very north to the very south. I guess all I'll say is that it's an inefficient system at best, but really, It's a system that's made for relatively short trips for tourists rather than anything that's actually transportation related. Still very nice though. I have really enjoyed the train. Building a railway through this terrain was an absolute nightmare in the late 1800s. They had to engineer viaducts over deep volcanic gorges and cut through dense ancient forests. But it was the only way to connect the economic hub of Auckland with the political capital of Wellington, which sits at the very bottom tip of the island. After a long train trip, we made it to Wellington. And immediately when you arrive, you notice two things. First, the harbor is absolutely gorgeous. Second, it is insanely windy. This is because Wellington is perfectly positioned right on the Cook Strait, a wind tunnel that separates the North and South Islands. Thankfully, our stay in Wellington was almost picture perfect, which was great because there's a truly special place in Wellington that helps really tell the biologic story of the country. Getting to an incredible place like New Zealand requires some serious travel, which means having reliable gear is essential. Speaking of travel, Jeff and I are actually getting ready to take a small trip to celebrate after our wedding. Of course, I am packing everything in my Level 8 Hegent luggage. I absolutely love Level 8 and it has easily become my favorite luggage to use. The Hegent series has this gorgeous, minimalist, premium aesthetic with a durable polycarbonate shell. But my favorite feature is the zipperless design. Instead of standard zippers, it uses a frame with TSA approved locks, which is so much more secure and looks incredibly premium. It glides perfectly Thanks to their iconic ultra quiet yellow spinner wheels that are built with a steel dual bearing structure. And the Hegent features a super sturdy four stage telescopic handle with a soft touch rubber grip that makes it incredibly comfortable to maneuver through the airport or really anywhere you are trying to go. If you want to upgrade your travel setup, use code GELUX to get a 12% discount. Shop the Hegent series using the link in the description. Huge thanks to Level 8 for sponsoring this video. Now, let's get back to New Zealand. Good morning from Wellington. Alexa and I had a really fun time on the train yesterday, but we got in at night, which means we couldn't actually show you all that much. And unfortunately, we're still not going to show you all that much because we simply don't have enough time in this episode to show you all of Wellington. But take a look at that view. Wellington Bay. Beautiful area. But instead of showing you the actual city, we do have one special thing we do want to show you. A place called Zealandia, which is an area just around Wellington where they're trying to restore the area to what it was like before humans came to New Zealand. Should be really interesting. And as a plus, we get to take a cable car. When the Maori first arrived in New Zealand, it was mostly just inhabited by birds. But after the Maori arrived, and then definitely after the Europeans arrived, other creatures arrived with them. Rats, possums, weasels, and other animals all made their way to the islands and they decimated the native bird populations. Which is why Zealandia is so important. It's a literal return of the island to its native habitat. Jeff and I made it to Zealandia. First impressions, it is absolutely beautiful. I'm so excited to go and explore. This area is huge. It is over 500 acres large and just a natural area for wildlife to live. But what also is interesting is it's the first urban conservation area, not just in New Zealand, but the world. So let's go explore and hopefully we'll see some cool wildlife. We've been in New Zealand for over a week and just something that we want to acknowledge and really point out and uplift is that no matter where you are, you're going to see both the Maori language and English. For example, here's a sign right here which shows both languages, bus or train or airplane. They say everything in Maori first and then in English. I think it's just something that's really interesting and special that they do here in New Zealand. So close to being able to go into a cave in New Zealand, but it's closed. So right here is a very, very large fern. It's basically like a tree. It's not. It kind of looks like a palm tree. It's very cool, very beautiful. We just saw a large brown parrot. They are nationally a very vulnerable species here. What's really cool is here they're thriving, which just shows how important Zealandia is here in New Zealand. I am not really a birder, but if I was, this place would be paradise. There's a lot of really cool birds here. That all right there is part of Zealandia and if you can believe it keeps going on all the way up there. Really big area, very pretty. If you look at a map of New Zealand, you'll notice something interesting. The country's two largest, most economically important, and most populated islands are very close to one another. The gap between them, the Cook Strait, is only 14 miles wide at its narrowest point. So why isn't there a bridge? Why is the ferry the only way across? In the U.S. state of Louisiana, there's a bridge that spans 24 miles continuously over water. So surely this must be possible, right? Unfortunately, no. As it turns out, the Cook Strait is one of the most dangerous, unpredictable... All of this is to say, a bridge here is basically an engineering impossibility. We've crossed over to the South Island, and we are heading deep into Fiordland National Park to a place called the Doubtful Sound. And as you can see, the subtropical weather from Cape Ranga is officially gone. While the North Island was built by volcanoes, the South Island was built by tectonic collision. Here, the two plates aren't sliding under one another, they're smashing head on, buckling the earth upward to create what we call the Southern Alps, a mountain range taller than the Rockies of North America. These mountains create a brutal geographic phenomenon called a rain shadow. As wet ocean air hits the Alps, it's forced upward, dumping biblical amounts of rain on the west coast. Because of this, the Fiordland gets over 20 feet of rain a year. This constant water combined with millions of years of freezing temperatures created the ultimate carving tool, glaciers. Alexa and I have made it to the Doubtful Sound all the way here in the far southern tip of New Zealand's South Island. Maybe we'll do a little kayaking. We're gonna see a lot of waterfalls, but one thing's for sure, it's gonna be a lot of rain because this area gets between six and eight meters of rain every single year. Welcome to our room. Ta-da! We've got a nice queen-sized bed. It's soft. We've got some towels, some chocolate, got space heater. Apparently underneath the bed we have some plugs. On this side there's a little nightstand so we can put our phones and books or whatever we have. Got some Awesome windows with pretty beautiful views of the Doubtful Sound. A hairdryer, I don't think we'll be using that. Oh this is heated. And we can put our clothes on and so it's heated. And in here we have our own little bathroom. It's pretty small. We have a toilet, a cute little shower, a nice mirror, and a sink to wash our hands. I'll say it's gonna be a pretty comfortable and cozy two-night here on our cruise. Very excited. This is absolutely amazing topography. The sounds of Southern Island New Zealand is unspeakably cool and dramatic. I don't know if the video is ever going to do this justice, but I hope you guys can see a little bit of what we're able to experience right now. It's almost impossible to describe the scale of this place. We're sitting in water that is hundreds of feet deep, surrounded by vertical rock walls that shoot thousands of feet straight up into the clouds. Alexa and I just received notice that we are about to hit the ocean, the Tasman Sea, Let's see. and oh boy can you feel it. It is a lot. It is very rocky. I kind of regret drinking my wine right now. It's beautiful though. Can confirm the wine is safe. Well we just had our first taste of the front of the ship and the doubtful sound weather here and it is incredible. The rain is blowing so hard that it feels almost like hail hitting you. Right behind me is the Tasman Sea, which is the large body of water that separates, well, New Zealand from Australia. Well, we also happen to be situated in the Roaring Forties, which Alexa and I experienced back when we were in Tasmania. It's not quite as extreme when I'm on the side of the boat here, but as soon as I get to the front, it is howling. Oh, boy. First thoughts on the boat, Alexa? It's awesome. The boat is so cool. These mugs don't really keep my tea warm, but that's okay. We're getting close to sunset so we are going to cruise around the Shelter Islands and see what we can see before it gets too dark. But if anything, even if we don't see anything, I don't know what we're looking for maybe some animals. The sunset's really pretty. I don't know if you can tell but that rock right there is absolutely littered with seals. They are just swarming over it. Believe it or not, it is now morning. Today, well, I'm not really sure what to expect. It is really raining right now. Hopefully we're able to get on some kayaks and then just kind of show you what it's like to be here in the Doubtful Sound. It all starts with breakfast, so let's go get some eats. Now you might be wondering how does the Doubtful Sound get its name? There's quite a funny story about how the Doubtful Sound was called the Doubtful Sound and it starts all the way back in the 1770s. Captain Cook was the first British explorer to explore this area but he didn't actually make it inside the Doubtful Sound. He saw how big the fjords are and was worried that if he went in that the ship wouldn't be able to sail out so he said doubtful conditions. Let's call it the Doubtful Harbor. So from 1770 to about 1998, it was called the Doubtful Harbor. But with the Ngai Tahu Settlement Act of 1998, the name switched to the Doubtful Sound, or Patet. So while Captain Cook was doubtful if he would be able to make it out, we're now doubtful that we're gonna be able to get off this boat and go kayaking because of how rainy it is today. I'm currently hiding underneath a covered area so I can still get views, but protect the camera and myself from the rain. Unfortunately, it is now raining sideways, so I'm getting a little wet. As Alexa and I are now, I believe, heading towards the Tasman Sea again, so we'll see if we actually get to it because of all this wind, I feel like this would be a good time to talk a little bit about the Fiordland National Park here in New Zealand. Now, there's only a few places in the world that are anything like this. Fjords of British Columbia, sort of near where Alexa and I are from in Portland. And then there's the fjords in Norway. And there's some fjords other places as well. But this place is truly unique. For one... There's not a whole lot of exploration and discovery that's ever happened by human beings here which makes this a not only a UNESCO World Heritage Site but one of the very very few places humans haven't really done anything with. We're here of course on a boat and we had to take a shuttle to the boat on a road but there's just so much land that is really unexplored and very natural. You can't say the same thing for Norway or British Columbia's fjords but also These fjords are not in the north, they're in the south, which means, and because it's in the south, these fjords were created by much bigger and much more dramatic ice sheets from Antarctica rather than the Arctic, which just means that the Fiordland National Park fjords are that much more dramatic. This is by far the windiest we've felt it. Alexa and I are sufficiently wet. I even have an extra layer of pants on, and I think the rain has soaked through both of those. So I really need to dry up. Well, it's a couple hours later. Alexa and I had a good lunch. I beat her in another game of cribbage. We were told that we were heading back out to the Tasman Sea. Well, as we were getting closer, apparently the waters were getting way too rough, way too early. The captain just up. Right and turned around. Basically said something to the effect that's not worth the risk, which I kind of agree. The waters were getting really rough and we were still quite a ways into the sound. I'm not sure if we're going to head back out to the Tasman Sea for the rest of this journey. We'll see. What's crazy is that because of the insane amount of rain here, there's a permanent layer of dark freshwater sitting on top of the ocean water. It blocks out the light, meaning deep sea creatures actually live fairly close to the surface. It's one of the most isolated, raw and untouched ecosystems on the planet. It couldn't be more different from the warm beaches we started on in the north the weather was so dreadful on our second day that Alexa and I didn't know if we would get the opportunity to do any of the off-boat activities so when the crew announced that we could take a smaller boat for a bit of a tour albeit a very wet one we jumped at the opportunity now make no mistake it never stopped pouring rain while while we were out there. It's obviously better if it was built in black. And while this might seem like a bad thing, it actually provided us with some of the best views of both our home ship and the Doubtful Sound. With all of that rain came all of the amazing and majestic waterfalls that completely surrounded us. We spent about an hour cruising around the crooked arm of the Doubtful Sound, just taking everything in. Because we were already so wet, we figured we might as well take a bit of a polar plunge as well. Some fun facts about the sound while I wait for my own shower. Alexa's in the shower right now. The Doubtful Sound is directly connected to the ocean and therefore is a body of salt water. What's perhaps most interesting about it is that because it rains so much and there's so much water coming off of the mountains into the sound, it's that the top three, six, sometimes up to 50 meters of water in the sound is fresh water. So you actually have to dive Pretty deep to get to the saltwater. And saltwater and freshwater don't mix here. Technically, what we were swimming in was a freshwater sound, which is quite interesting. The other thing to note though, is that we actually got really lucky. And I know it doesn't seem like that because it's been raining so, so much, but because of all that rain is why we get all of those waterfalls. Well guys, if you can believe it, and it's finally stopped raining. We've had a long day, but there's still more to do tomorrow. So we're gonna go ahead and call it, So it is dry this morning, which is very nice, but it is much, much colder. I'm realizing the shell of a rain jacket and my hoodie is not nearly enough. Thankfully, we won't be out in too long today. Well, maybe unfortunately. One last thing to show you guys here before we leave the Doubtful Sound. If you look behind me, you can see a literal crack heading up into the top of the mountain. That is a literal fault line here in New Zealand. And that just shows you just how tectonically active this region is, because that wasn't created that long ago. At some point, it'll probably rupture again. According to our guide here, it is more of a branch off the main fault line here in New Zealand. But still, the fact that it could do that, that's very powerful stuff. What an amazing experience. I don't think I've ever been to someplace as beautiful as the Doubtful Sound. At every moment, it looked like you were in a postcard. It was so pretty. So you have two islands, one forged by volcanic fire and the other carved by glacial ice. But there is one final geographic secret about New Zealand. It's not actually an island chain at all. If you drain the ocean, you realize that New Zealand is just the highest peaks of a submerged continent called Zealandia. It's about half the size of Australia, but 94% of it is... The mountains, the volcanoes, the deep fjords, they are just the tiniest sliver of the land that managed to fight its way above the surface of the Pacific. And it resulted in one of the most geographically spectacular places on Earth. If you enjoyed this deep dive into New Zealand, let us know what country we should explain next in the comments. Next week, we are heading back to the US to see the Rockies that nobody talks about. So come back next week for another adventure. See you then. This is my book Badlands. The geography of cities that shouldn't exist and why they do. It's all about cities like Phoenix, Tokyo, and more which are geographically in a tough spot. Whether it's water scarcity, seismic activity, sinking land, or huge volcanoes, this is the deep dive you've always wanted about the places that feel like they shouldn't exist at all. So let's go get a geography book on the New York Times bestseller list and Pre-order it today. There's a link in the description below, and of course, head over to my site, thebyte.co, for even more details.