“Can’t we just go to Ź?” 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 Maori name for this 305m high hill in it’s full form can be translated as The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one, though there are a number of other forms with different meanings.

In Wales we find the the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Often shortened to Llanfair PG, the name was invented in the 1860s as a means to attract tourists and can be translated as St Mary’s church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave. Wikipedia has a helpful guide to pronunciation should you wish to visit.

Massachusetts is home to Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaug.

More commonly called Webster Lake, the name comes from the native Nipmuck language and means fishing place at the boundary, though again there are other forms with different meanings.

While the above are all names with a single word, the Guinness World Record for longest official name gives the title to the city of Bangkok: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

This translates as The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam. More info at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Shea Marshall and Dave Lartigue.

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 see how very symmetrical this volcano is. A secondary cone to the south somewhat ruins the effect, but not enough to prevent filmmakers from having used this volcano as a double for Japan’s Mount Fuji in the movie The Last Samurai.

(Wikipedia, aerial photo)

Thanks to Papapenguin and Glenn.

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 tip of a 1600 m submarine mountain.

Notably, even though the imagery here is low-res you can’t possibly miss the impressively huge smoke plume that stretches northwards away from the island.

(Wikipedia, ground-level pic)

Thanks to Henk Bokhoven.

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 Google Sightseeing, Nev, is currently doing a 29000 mile trip around the planet, and yesterday (or today, or possibly tomorrow depending on your time zone) decided to leap off this very tower. Twice.

He was able to achieve this death-defying feat thanks to a “fan descender free fall system” that controlled his descent over 192 metres! Here’s a picture of someone engaging in this utterly ridiculous pastime.

If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit familiar, then you may have read our 2005 post on the Macau Sky Tower, which was commissioned by billionaire Stanley Ho Hung-Sun after he saw the Auckland Sky Tower, and decided he wanted one for himself. A little bit taller, naturally.

You can read more about the Auckland Sky Tower at Wikipedia, or entertain yourself with posts about other members of the World Federation of Great Towers that we’ve featured in the past.

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, that’s it. Sounds cool huh?

In our thumbnail you can see several zorbuses (or should that be zorbii?) gathered at the top of the hill, and there also seems to one being hoisted back to the top using the, er… zorb-lift, just like in this image.

More on Zorbing and links to where you can try it at Wikipedia

Thanks to Mike P.