“Can’t we just go to Å1?” may be the cry of tourists visiting some of these locations with the longest place names in the world. The north island of New Zealand is home to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki- maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. Generally called Taumata, the…

Mount Taranaki/Egmont is another (apparently) active stratovolcano in New Zealand, but this one hasn’t done anything at all since the early 1800s when it reportedly produced “a moderate ash eruption”.1 Most interestingly from our perspective is that we can clearly…

Whakaari/White Island (to give it its official title) is an active andesite stratovolcano 48 km from the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. The volcano reaches 321 m above sea level, but this is actually just the…

The 12th tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers, Auckland’s Sky Tower is 328 metres tall (from ground level to the top of the mast), which makes it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere1. Friend of…

Here in Rotorua, New Zealand, we find the birthplace of possibly the most ridiculous pastime ever – Zorbing. Invented here in 1967, Zorbing involves nothing more than climbing into a giant PVC sphere and being chucked down a hill. Yes,…

For the GGSS team (and many other people), today is the last working day before we get to take some much needed time off for Christmas. So in the only way we know how (and with the help of a…