District Map of New Zealand

National Flag of New Zealand.  Not to be confused with the Australian flag which has an extra star!

My home is in the Waikato which gets its name from the Waikato River that runs through our town of Hamilton.

Population: Just on the 4 million mark.

System of Government: Democratic with one House of elected representatives.  No upper house.  The Prime Minister, currently The Right Honorable Helen Clark, chooses a caucus or Prime Minister's Counsel amongst whom she distributes the various portfolios.

Parliament debates the issues and when an item is voted on and passed with a majority, it becomes the law of the land. 

Revenue: Collected via taxation.  Currently we are in surplus, which means the Government has been very successful at collecting money from us and has more than it needs -but our health system is still in disarray with huge waiting lists and so on.  Economically, we are in boom, as the surpluses indicate, with many businesses doing extremely well, especially those who export.  More from me...'Where in the world is New Zealand'

Some links to Hamilton web sites
www.hamiltoninfo.co.nz  www.hamiltonevents.co.nz   www.waikatonz.co.nz  www.b2h.co.nz  Backpack New Zealand