WEBVTT - Why Does New Zealand Have an Official Wizard? 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.720 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:14.720 Radio Guess What Will? What's that Mango? So you're never 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.520 gonna believe this, but I finally found a new Zealand 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:22.840 bird that's even more endearing than the Kiwi. I actually 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:24.759 feel weird saying this, but I know I need to 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:27.120 congratulate you, because I'm pretty sure this has been a 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.280 dream of yours for a while now, So so congrats, 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.360 thank you. I mean, some days I doubted it was 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:35.319 even possible, but this week I read about these big 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.680 green parrots that lived there, called kias, and they are 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.199 so mischievous and so clever that I just had to 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:44.560 give them the top spot because I know it's a 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.360 controversial pick, but I like to keep things spicy. You're 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.519 saying this is actually controversial, Yeah, So I'm like Kiwi's 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.480 Kaas aren't universally adored. They are kind of these one 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.600 and a half foot tall mischief makers, and they will 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:00.680 steal laces from boots or strip the rubber off your 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.000 windshield wipers. But the wildest prank I've heard is that 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.640 ki has actually dragged traffic cones into the middle of 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.160 the road and leave them there. And some researchers believe 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.320 this is an intentional act, like it's a crafty way 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.640 to get drivers to slow down enough that the parents 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.080 can beg for food. Wow. I mean that is kind 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.600 of a kneetrich. It also does down a little bit dangerous. 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.920 I wonder how many of these get hit. Yeah, I 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.200 mean it's become a real problem. But the good news 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.560 is that there's this conservation team in New Zealand that's 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.840 been testing this ingenious way to keep the kias distracted. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.480 They've installed all these little parrot gyms by the roadside, 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.400 and so it kind of looks like a miniature jungle 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.760 gym with swings and spinning toys and little ladders. I 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.000 guess I kind of feel like everything you've said to 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.559 this point may not actually be true, but I'm gonna 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.080 go with it. So are are these you call them gyms? 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.200 Are these gyms actually helping? Yeah? They are so far 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.680 fewer birds are messing with traffic cones and the roads 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.200 are a whole lot safer. But you know, these parrot 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.600 gyms aren't the only out of the box solution that 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:01.600 news Lin's come up with over the past few years. 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:06.000 From state approved wizards to car driving dogs. The country 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.359 has plenty of eccentricities to go around, so for today's show, 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:33.040 I thought we could dive into some of that. A 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.680 their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.919 Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good friend 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.959 mangesh Ticketer on the other side of the soundproof glass, 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.080 just sipping his way through what he claims is a 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.160 hokey pokey milkshake. That's what That's what he says. At 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.720 least that is our friend and producer Lull. So I 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.079 don't know what a hokey pokey milkshake is. You dip 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.320 one finger in, you dip one figure out, I guess. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.400 So any anytime anyone says hokey pokey, it reminds me 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.480 of that shirt we made at Metal Flass. Oh that 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.560 was I was trying to remember that. It said hokey 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.000 pokey anonymous. Is that right? Yeah? And and and the 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.600 tagline was a place to turn yourself Around, which I 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:10.799 kind of loved. I actually saw someone in that shirt 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.480 this year, which which amazed. Let's keep the focus on 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.720 Lull here the way he likes it. What exactly is 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.680 a hokey pokey milkshake. Yeah, so I've I've I've pulled 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.839 it up here. So hokey pokey is I guess what 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.840 we'd call honeycomb toffee. You know that we always call 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.600 things honeycomb toffee. But it's like this light, crunchy candy 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.320 made from brown sugar and corn syrup. And apparently everyone 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.640 in New Zealand fell in love with the flavor way 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.720 back in the nineteen forties and they have been obsessed 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.960 with it ever since, especially when it takes the form 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.360 of milkshake. So now I see why he just seems 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.000 so happy over there. I mean, it's a great nickname. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.360 I also really like the cup he's drinking from. I 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.000 I wish listeners could see it. It's a white cup 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.360 with a red and blue cartoon giraffe on the side, 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.640 and in big red letters it says the longest drink 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.160 in town. I mean, if you're gonna toll how big 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.040 your beverages. It feels so much cooler than like a 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.840 big goal. Yeah, a long drink. Yeah. Actually I looked 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.119 this up to and the longest drink in the world 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.640 cup is actually pretty iconic. So this design debut in 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.760 the nineteen sixties and for the next several decades, it 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.000 was featured on just about every paper milkshake cup in 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:23.360 the country. He became synonymous with summertime in New Zealand, 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.000 and thanks in large part to that widespread nostalgia, the 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.440 longest drink in the world is still served up at 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.160 New Zealand ice cream parlors today. Also, just because I 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.200 kind of fell in love with the lingo this week, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.279 I have to mention that if you're inspired to bring 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.000 ice cream or cold milk to work, just like LOL 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.240 did today, a cooler in New Zealand is called a 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.120 chili bin. I kind of like that. I like that. 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.280 So where do you want to start today? All right, well, 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.280 how about we start with the country's name? Like this 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.360 is something that's always confused me, because if the country 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.960 is New Zealand, that kind of implies that there is 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.440 an old Zealand out there, right, so maybe just or 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.080 just Zealand. I guess I was curious about this. I 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.440 guess I hadn't really thought about that, Like, is there 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.120 a Zealand in in Europe or somewhere there actually is? 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.440 The original Zealand is all the way over in the 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.680 far west of the Netherlands and just like with the 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.600 names of early American cities and states, it goes back 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.599 to the era of European exploration, and in New Zealand's case, 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.919 it goes back to a Dutch explorer named Able Tasman, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.480 the namesake of Tasmania. So in sixteen forty two, Tasman 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.200 was off exploring the southern Pacific Ocean. This was on 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.080 behalf of the Dutch East India Company, and it was 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.919 on that voyage that he stumbled upon the territories that 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.960 we now know as Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. So 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.200 when Tasman got home, he told his fellow navigators what 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.839 he'd found, and pretty soon the islands were added to 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.760 the charts of their day. So as for the name, 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.520 Dutch map makers were already calling Australia New Holland at 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.760 the time, so they just decided to keep this convention 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:03.279 going and name Tasman's territory New Zealand, after a coastal 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.080 province in the southwest region of the Netherlands. So British 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.000 colonists later settled on the island about a hundred years later, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.719 but by then the Dutch name was so established that 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.520 they just decided to keep it and just anglicize the 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.880 spelling of it. Do we know why the Dutch named 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.839 it Zealand in the first place, Like, was there something 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.760 about New Zealand that reminded them of this old Zealand? Yeah, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.000 I guess it was the geography. I mean, apparently the 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.360 province in the Netherlands is made up of a bunch 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.920 of little islands and peninsulas with rivers crossing through them. 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.400 And because of that that yet it really is I've 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:35.720 actually never been you've been there before, the New Zealand, 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.640 I haven't. I haven't either, And so because of that, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.960 the Dutch called the region Zealand, which translates as sea Land. 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.359 So it's maybe not the most creative name in the world, 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.880 but certainly a fitting one for the area. Well, since 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.360 you brought up geography and Matt Makers, I I think 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.160 it's time we addressed the fact that a lot of 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.440 modern match don't include New Zealand and the country is 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.479 just straight up missing, with nothing more than ocean where 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.599 it's a cluster of six d us islands should be. Actually, 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.080 I had heard about this. I mean, this is a 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.000 pretty widespread error though, right it is. Yeah, there's actually 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.360 an entire maps without New Zealand sub credit, where users 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.040 have cataloged hundreds of examples of places that use bad maps, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:18.720 including video games, magazines, textbooks, hotels, restaurants, ikea, even uh 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.600 for for instance, you know that giant rotating globe that 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:27.240 sits in front of Universal Studios that is missing news. 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.520 Also the map on the risk board missing New Zealand. 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.360 There are even some international airports that have maps without 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.080 New Zealand hung in their terminals, even though they offer 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.680 flights straight to New Zealand. Wow, I mean a country that, 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.160 according to their maps doesn't exist. It gets to it 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.520 gets to a point where people just feel like they 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.440 should just keep going with it just to be jerks 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.040 about it. Yeah, and I'm sure it's some sort of 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:52.480 existential problem for New Zealanders, but it's pretty funny how 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.520 far this goes. So Like, there's a world map in 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.520 front of the United Nations office in Geneva, and apparently 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.640 New Zealand isn't on that, despite the country being a 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.400 founding member. And if all that wasn't bad enough, New 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.840 Zealand actually uses these maps themselves. Gave point me to this, 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.080 but it's on their four or four error page for 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.880 its official government website, and it shows a world map 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.120 that doesn't include its own country, which is intentional. Actually, 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.040 I just pulled this up and it's pretty funny. It 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.679 has this four or four map and says something is missing, 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.720 and you know, it's cute that they've got this sense 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.000 of humor about it. But why does this phenomenon of 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.760 cutting New Zealand off maps keep happening. I mean, they're 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.880 definitely smaller places in the world. Yeah, I mean it's 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.960 mostly because of that Mercater projection, which is the one 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.559 that most world maps are based on, and as you 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.600 might expect, it has a serious old World bias. This 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.600 map places Europe and the dead center often while poor 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.000 New Zealand is shoved way down in the bottom right 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.440 hand corner and there's all is. It's kind of an 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.360 awkward placement, and it's easy to crop, and if a 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.760 designer isn't careful, they might try to turn some of 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.040 the Pacific Ocean from the image and wind up blopping 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.800 off an entire country in the process. But you know, 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.200 judging by the number of places that that these apps 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.000 have turned up, it's apparently something that happens all the time. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.200 But New Zealand just kind of taken and stride. Actually, 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.400 there's this Kiwi comedian re star Be, and this is 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.320 how he puts it. We are quite a fiddly looking 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.960 shaped country, a bit like a half eaten land chop. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.000 Perhaps people are just leaving us off, thinking we're a mistake. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.000 That's such a great line. It's funny what you said 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.880 about European bias, because I guess you could use a 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.800 projection of a Mercator map that places New Zealand at 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.920 the center and it wouldn't be any more inaccurate. That's true, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:32.480 and in fact, many maps in New Zealand classrooms actually 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.199 do that. They place Middle Earth in the actual middle 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:36.840 of the Earth. I mean, it's hard to argue with 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.360 the logic on that one. But well, here's another thing 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.520 I read this week and wanted to talk about. So 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.400 this was in two thousand and sixteen, New Zealand spent 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.439 over seventeen million U S dollars on a contest to 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.200 redesign its national flag, and then the country voted to 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.800 just keep the flag they already had. I guess it 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.160 turned out to be not such a bad flag, so 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.600 that it's seventeen million dollars. That's crazy. I know, it 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.520 kind of makes me want to see the other designs, like, 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:05.720 do you know how bad they were? So well? I mean, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.400 the contest was open to the public and over ten 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.680 thousand people submitted designs, many of which were actually pretty 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.480 elegant and well designed. I mean, there's some really pretty 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.880 ones on there, but yeah, there were also some really 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.000 horrible ones. One of my favorites is this blue and 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.840 red one here. It's it's got this very cruelly drawn 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.120 sheep on the blue half because New Zealand has a 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.679 lot of those, obviously, and then on the red half 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.800 there's an equally crudely drawn ice cream cone. So just 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.240 you know, two things they like to think about. I mean, 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.760 I bet I can guess what flavor that it is. Oh, 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.959 I know you can. It's rum raisin. No, I'm kidding, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.320 it's it's it's a it's hokey pokey, of course. And 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.080 the artist even included little flex of the candy in 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.280 their drawing to make that as clear as possible. Can 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.000 you imagine if that the cand the new flag like 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.400 they cleaned up, the design would be the most beloved 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.319 flag in the world. I think, you know, it does. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.280 I mean it feels like because they're able to sort 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.280 of laugh at their situation, they might have on with 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.440 something like that. But there was actually another one that 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.280 has a black flag with a silver fern, which is 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.160 one of the country's national symbols, which is elegant enough, 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.280 but the real highlight is it's got this Kiwi bird 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.360 on the other side and it's blasting this green laser 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.960 beam from its eyes. So it's probably not the most 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.800 scientifically accurate flag in the world, but you know, it's 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.559 pretty interesting. It might be the most badass though. I 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.360 can see why New Zealand kind of decided to stick 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.960 with their old flag. Why was there like such a 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:32.800 push to change it in the first place. Well, I 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.160 don't know how familiar you are with the real New 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.880 Zealand flag. Very actually a lot of carbon San Diego. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.680 That's right. Well as a refresher for anybody who's listening. 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.840 It's basically a blue flag with a Union Jack symbol 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.319 and the top left hand corner and four red stars 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.000 on the body representing the Southern Cross constellation. So the 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.160 original design is a hundred years older. So and for 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.079 a long time now people have debated whether it was 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:01.320 appropriate to have a British symbol on the New Zealand flag, 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.360 you know, since it's a sovereign country but technically still 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.000 part of the British Commonwealth. So, I mean, the other 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.480 thing that's always struck me is odd is is like 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.960 how close the flag actually looks to Australia's flag. Yeah, 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.120 that was one of the other main contentions, that the 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.160 flag is too derivative and not really representative of New Zealand. 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.440 But despite all these complaints, when the issue was finally 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.480 put to a national vote, of New Zealanders voted to 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.520 keep the original flag versus forty three percent who voted 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.680 for the new firm design. And the reason for that 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.320 upset is pretty interesting. According to interviews conducted by The Guardian, 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.800 many New Zealanders voted against the new flags simply because 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:44.120 they'd grown disillusioned with how costly the campaign was. Dollars 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.560 is a lot of money, yeah, and you know they 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:48.840 didn't want the country to spend more money on top 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.520 of that to produce tens of thousands of new flags 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.360 to replace all the old ones. So anyway, well, now 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.079 that we've gotten the lay of the land, let's zoom 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.440 in a little bit closer and talk about the finer 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.560 details that make New Zealand such a special place. But 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.400 before we get to that, let's take a quick break. 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.280 You're listening to part Time Genius and we're talking about 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.640 some of New Zealand's strangest claims to fame. All right, Mago, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:24.360 the wheel is yours. So where do you want to 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.440 go first? So I really like that fact about where 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:29.680 the new and New Zealand's name comes from. But there's 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:31.760 actually a hill on the North Island of New Zealand 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.439 with an even better story behind its name. It's this 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.920 thousand foot hill. It's named after Tomatea, who's a legendary 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.800 explorer from New Zealand's Maori culture, part of their mythical 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.520 culture there and Tomatea is said to have been one 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.600 of the first ever to step foot on New Zealand, 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.600 long long before any European columnists came along. And the 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.080 sound of the hill is where he supposedly played the 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.800 nose flute for his beloved The nose flute Is that 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.280 what I think it is? Yeah, it's exactly where sounds 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.719 like it's It's a flute you play by exhaling through 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.600 your nose. Wow. You know, I know how we like 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.640 to give tips to our listeners, So I feel good 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.400 about this one. Like if you ever need to charm 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.080 someone with a private nose flute concert, then Tomata Hill 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.040 is that that's the place to go. It seems like 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.560 here's the thing. It's not actually called Tomata Hill. The 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.120 Maori people wanted to really celebrate tomatas exploits and not 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.600 sounding short, so they named the hill using an entire 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.560 sense and roughly translated, it's an eighty five character name. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.160 It means the summit where tomatea, the man with the 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.680 big knees, the slider clyber of mountains, the lance wallower 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.000 who traveled about played his nose flute to his loved one, 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.000 and the name means all of that, Like wouldn't you 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.080 love to be known as the man with the big knees? 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.040 Like that? I feel like that's great. But it's such 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:47.960 such a great title. I do feel like you bury 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.520 the lead here? What what is this eight five character name? 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.680 How do you say it? So I'm gonna apologize a 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.600 little because my my Maori is a little rusty, But 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:04.400 this is how it goes. Tama to Waka Tongua Hanga Cara, 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:10.240 Tomma t I am butchering this right. It goes thin. 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:21.840 It's so long, Paru, it goes you should stop. And 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.480 I'm really not trying to be disrespectful, but it is 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.120 amazing and it makes for a very, very long street sign. 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.440 It's actually the longest place name in the world according 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.200 to Guinness. The wildest part, though, is that there's actually 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.920 an unofficial version of the name that adds an extra 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.960 twenty characters worth of details. So, according to Atlas Obscure, 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.080 the extended version translates as the Hill of the Nose 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.320 flute playing by Tomateo, who was blown hither from afar 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.720 how to split penis, raised his knees climbing mountains, fell 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.360 on the earth and encircle the land to his beloved 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.880 and wore You ask that one part is a reference 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.720 to basically what's in our version of a circumcision? Oh 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.200 got it? Yeah, I was was kind of curious. Well, 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.440 for any geography nerds who find themselves in New Zealand, 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.160 another can't miss landmark on your list should be the 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:14.640 slightly more plainly named Baldwin Street. So it's located in 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.200 the city of Dunedin and Baldwin Street is one of 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.160 the steepest streets in the world. It only runs about 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.560 which is less than a fourth of a mile, but 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.880 for every three horizontal meters there is a rise of 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.880 one meter. So the result is that it takes ten 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.960 minutes or more to basically climb up this relatively short street. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.600 It's pretty crazy. What I want to know is why 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.440 would anyone put a street though to begin with? It 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.000 seems like if the land is that steep, it would 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.600 be easier to just kind of plan around it, right, Yeah, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.600 I mean that's true, and I'm sure that's exactly what 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.360 the city planner would have done had he actually looked 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.960 at the land he was planning for. Instead that the 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.880 city was planned by these London based designers who never 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.520 bothered to see the topography in person. They just laid 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.600 out a grid system on top of a flat map 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.520 and called it a day, I guess, and that oversight 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.879 resulted in a number of these incredibly steep streets, with 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.000 Baldwin being the most extreme of them. Wait, so are 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.359 there houses on Baldwin? There actually our houses, and the 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.120 cool thing is they are all built into this hill 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.080 at an angle. It's worth taking a look at it. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.200 So if you walk down or up Baldwin Street, you'll 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.520 pass a row of these severely slanted houses. I just 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:25.800 put it up. This is insane. It's like you're living 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.800 in like one of those old V eight commercials. It's amazing. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:33.000 It does feel like it would be a dream for Instagrammers, 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.440 but probably a huge pain in the neck for residents. 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.919 But you know what, we've talked about a couple of 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.560 special places that New Zealanders can boast about. But why 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.120 don't we talk about one of their exceptional citizens next? Alright, 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.080 so so who would it be? Let me let me guess. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.600 Is it one of the Flight of the Concordes? No? 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:51.720 I mean that's a good guess. But but this guy's 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.960 birth name is Ian Brackenbury Channel. But today people around 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.119 the world know him simply as the Wizard. And he 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.560 is the Wizard, mind you, not not a wizard, because 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.840 not only does he have the driver's license to prove it, 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.240 he also has the backing of New Zealand's government back 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.600 in the country's Prime Minister and made Channel the world's 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.440 first and still only state appointed wizard. I have so 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.240 many questions about this, but I guess the first one 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.040 is how exactly one gets appointed the official Wizard of 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.520 New Zealand. I think it starts with a wardrobe. But 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.879 but New Zealand's Wizard has a pretty impressive resident. He 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.040 was born in London in nineteen two and later served 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.199 as a navigator in the Royal Air Force. In nineteen 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.840 sixty three, he earned a double b a in psychology 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.560 and sociology and began teaching in the Middle East in Australia. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.000 And given his dual fields of study as a teacher, 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.720 Channel was especially interested in experimental teaching and social reform techniques. 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.040 But as for his wizarding career, that started to take 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.760 off in the mid seventies, and and that's when Channel 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.879 began appearing throughout New Zealand as a public speaker. He 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.920 would dress in a long black robe and a wizard's hat, 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.520 and of course he carried his staff. And then you'd 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.080 go to Cathedral Square in christ Church and you climb 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.480 up on a ladder and share his views on all 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:11.720 sorts of topics with passes by, no matter how taboo 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.879 the subject. So public officials initially tried to have a 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.359 banned from the premises, but eventually they gave up, and 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.960 the Wizard kind of became this weird cultural institution slash 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.600 tourist attraction. Alright, So to to sum this up, you 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.280 had a decorated British veteran turned Australian school teacher who 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.400 made his way to New Zealand, began dressing as a wizard, 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.280 lost his mind and began scaring people in the streets. 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.760 That I had that right, yeah, I mean everything except 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.280 lost his mind part. Like the Wizard was and is eccentric, 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.600 but he still has a firm grip on his mind. 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.080 His body, though, was donated to the National Gallery of Victoria, 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.680 which officially recognizes it as a living work of art. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.639 Of course they did. I mean, nothing about this surprises 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.760 me at this point. But all right, so he's harassing 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.800 people on this ladder and then what well from there, 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.240 the city of christ You're kind of fell under his spell. 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.879 He got super popular. In fact, the director of the 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.280 Robert McDougal Art Gallery and christ Church actually contacted the 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.960 National Gallery of Victoria and they arranged to have the 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.400 living work of Art title transferred to christ Church. You're 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.280 kidding me, no, it's this is all real and the 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.359 Wizard's fame only grew from there, so in he was 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.679 appointed to be the official arch Wizard of Canterbury and 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:25.960 then ten years after that he was appointed Wizard of 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.920 New Zealand by Prime Minister Mike Moore. And remind me 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.159 again what a state appointed wizard actually does. Yeah, it's 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.160 a good question. So this is the official proclamation that 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.920 that that was declared at the time. Quote, the first 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.800 Wizard of New Zealand is entitled to where the appropriate 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:46.199