Fun Facts – 20 May 2014

Captain James Cook is said to have discovered a cure for scurvy when he played around with medicines.

Butter – we produce 100kg of butter and 65kg of cheese each year, per person.

We invented the velcro strip, the pop-lid on paint tins, child-proof pill bottles and the crinkle in hair-pins so that they don't fall out.

We have won more Olympic gold medals a head than any other country.

In the 1980s we had around 70 million sheep, but now has about 30 million.

Golf is the most popular sport in New Zealand, followed by netball.  (based on club memberships)

The kea likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.

The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukaka-

pikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, in the Hawkes Bay. This Maori name translates to "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as Landeater, played his flute to his loved one."

Thanks to the NZ Herald.