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Cities
Wellington. Situated at the southern end of the North Island is New Zealand’s capital city, geographical centre, seat of government and also a major port.

With a population of 345,000 (430,000 for Greater Wellington region), Wellington is home to 11.22% of the country’s population. Less populated than Auckland, Wellington is considered the cultural centre of New Zealand and is famous for its blustery weather (winds often reach gale force) and as the home of the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa.

Wellington’s location makes it a gateway to both islands from the Asia Pacific. As a business location it also benefits from close proximity to government, the New Zealand Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank.

Dubbed the ‘call centre capital’, Wellington is supported by the region’s intelligent workforce, technologically advanced telecommunications infrastructure and the availability of a full range of market products and services. It is home to some 200 call centres employing an average of 30 employees.

Wellington offers world-class public transport, and is only an hour away from New Zealand’s other major cities by air and several hours from Australian east-coast cities.

Auckland. It may not be the capital, but Auckland is definitely the driving force of the country’s economy. The size of Greater London (but with only one-eighth of London’s population), Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city. With 382,000 people within the city boundary and a total of 1.18m in the greater Auckland area (including North Shore, Waitakere, Manukau, Papakura, Rodney and Franklin), the city is home to more than 30% of New Zealand’s population.

The city’s economy is dominated by one sector – business and financial services account for about a quarter of gross domestic product and employment. It is home to nearly 40% of New Zealand’s business enterprises, more than 20 banking groups, and 40% of financial and business services. The city ranked fourth in Fortune magazine’s 2000 list of Top Business Centres in the Asia Pacific, ahead of Tokyo and Melbourne.
The Auckland region is also New Zealand’s manufacturing centre, producing 40% of the country’s products, including petroleum/chemicals, metals, machinery and equipment, electronics, boats, plastics, construction, printing/ publishing, and food processing.

To support its role as industrial and commercial centre, Auckland is a major sea port and has the country’s main international airport, serving 45 airlines. Auckland is the point of entry for more than 80% of the country’s tourists.

Auckland is also the hub of distribution throughout the country and to the world, with nearly 45% of the country’s wholesalers based there. The port handles more than 60% of the value of New Zealand’s imports, and nearly 30% of exports.

Christchurch. Known as the ‘Garden City’, Christchurch is the centre of the South Island, lying at the heart of the Canterbury region.

Home to more than 309,000 people (nearly 500,000 in the greater region of Canterbury), Christchurch is the main entry point for visitors to the South Island. A hot tourist destination, Christchurch attracts 750,000 overseas visitors a year, and has recently enjoyed a spate of new hotel construction. It is famous for its Arts Centre, its government-sponsored Wizard, and the Avon River which winds through the city. Widely considered the “most English city outside of England”, it has also become a gateway to the Antarctic continent for New Zealand and international research groups.

The Canterbury region’s economy is considered a barometer for the country, usually taking an early lead in the economic cycle through its focus on manufactured exports. Its regional economy represents about 14% of New Zealand’s economic activity. It is export oriented, with niche market manufacturing supported by high-quality education and research institutions, and a strong and growing base in science, information and communication technology sectors. Christchurch and the Canterbury region are key players in the country’s agricultural and industrial sectors as well, aided by Christchurch’s international airport and the port of Lyttelton, only 12km from Christchurch’s city and one of the country’s two deep-water ports.

Middle Earth
The overwhelming success of New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s first instalment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (nominated for 13 Oscars) is showing the world how the small country can offer not only a fantastic location, but a complete film-making package. In the process he has turned the country into Tolkien’s fantasy world Middle Earth.

New Zealand now offers a talented pool of actors, directors and behind-the-scenes staff from state-of-the-art effects and top script writers through to post-production. The Colmar Brunton Screen Production Survey released in December 2000 reported screen production company turnover exceeding NZ$1bn (£296m). The film industry generated about 14,000 jobs in 1999, and included the major productions of The Lord of the Rings and Vertical Limit.

New Zealand films seldom go unnoticed at international festivals. A record number of New Zealand films have been selected for the Sundance Film Festival in 2002: the acclaimed feature Rain, documentary Hotere and three short films – The Hill, Beautiful and Still Life, which won Best Short Film at the Montreal Film Festival.

Other films which have attracted international attention range from the gritty adaptation of Alan Duff’s novel Once Were Warriors and Jane Campion’s The Piano (which netted young Anna Paquin an Oscar) to Jackson’s earlier splatter films Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Brain Dead. However, it was the true story of teen murderesses in Heavenly Creatures (starring a young Kate Winslet) which catapulted Jackson into stardom, while it was The Frighteners (based in Christchurch’s port of Lyttelton and starring Michael J Fox) which set a record for the most computer-generated effects in a feature film and secured the Rings’ trilogy.

More recently New Zealand has received acclaim for Scarfies, The Irrefutable Proof about Demons, Topless Women Talk about their Lives and The Price of Milk, which won the grand prize at both the Tokyo and Puchon International Fantastic Film Festivals and Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea.

However, it is the international success of Fellowship of the Ring which has exposed New Zealand’s film potential. New Line Cinema will spend an estimated NZ$600m on the trilogy.

Picture: New Line Cinema

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