21 Epic Things You Didn’t Know About Australia & New Zealand

Topdeck Travel is a youth travel company with a passion for creating grand adventures and life-long memories. 

Winter is coming – and you know what that means. Time to plan your next warm-weather adventure.

As the days grow shorter and temperatures cool, most of us look to warmer climes to escape the Canadian winter. It’s no surprise then that a recent study* revealed the top destinations on Canadians’ bucket lists to be Australia and New Zealand.

In honour of our Oceania love affair, here are 21 things you didn’t know about Australia and New Zealand.

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SIZE MATTERS:

1. Australia’s largest private property (Anna Creek Station) is bigger than Belgium.

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2. The world’s longest fence runs for 5,618 kilometers from Queensland to Western Australia and was built to protect sheep from dingos.

3. The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest living organism and covers 2,300 kilometers of Australia’s coastline. It’s also home to six of the world’s seven sea turtle species. #winning

4. No part of New Zealand is more than 128 kilometers from the sea. Surf’s up.

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5. Only 5% of New Zealand’s population is human. The rest is made up of animals and LOTR extras.

AS YOU DO:

6. An Australian man tried to sell New Zealand on eBay once. The bids for the world’s best real estate deal reached $3,000 before the ad was removed.

7. Every kiwi has at least one baby photo of themselves naked on a sheep skin. Don’t ask.

8. While the rest of the world is dreaming of a white Christmas, all Australian’s know ‘tis the time to eat prawns on the beach.

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9. If the mercury drops below 20°C, it’s officially cold. Don’t even think about arguing about this.

10. Name suggestions for Australia’s capital originally included Sydmelperbrisho, Wheetwoolgold, and Federalbus. Righto…

THE WILD SIDE:

11. Koalas are the only animals apart from humans with unique fingerprints.

12. Don’t harass crocodiles. They might harass you back.

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13. The whole cast from Finding Nemo lives on the Great Barrier Reef.

14. If you visit between May-Oct you can see the annual migration of humpback whales travelling from Antarctica to northern Australia.

15. Number of snake species in Australia: 140. New Zealand: 0.

16. Ratio of sheep to humans in New Zealand: 7 to 1.

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MAGIC:

17. New Zealand officially appointed a Lord and Minister of the Rings to cash in on the success of the Lord of the Rings movies.

18. Gandolf was not the first prominent magician the country has seen. A National Wizard was appointed in 1990. #truestory.

19. It’s also the only country with hobbits printed on their currency.

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20. And everyone in New Zealand knows at least one person who worked on the films.

21. Remember Xena the Warrior Princess? Yep, she’s Kiwi too.

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*The study was a global survey conducted by Topdeck Travel – which had more than 31,000 people from 134 countries respond to 26 travel-related questions. A total of 8,836 Canadians were surveyed and in answer to the question of “where is next on your travel bucket list”, 29% said Australia/New Zealand, with Europe coming in a close second at 27%. 

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