The longest placename in the world
— the 85- character Tau mat awhak at angi hang ako au auot am a tea tu ripuka kapi kim aunga horo nu ku po kai w he nu aki tan a tahu—translates as“the place where Tamatea, the man who had big knees, the climber of mountains, the slider, the land-swallower that travelled about, played the nose flute that he had to the loved ones”.
It never seems to astound me that we New Zealanders seem to know so little of our own country. We have everything the rest of world has, in spades (except for really big deserts) enclosed within our three main islands. Example: geysers, mudpools and steaming cliffs (Rotorua as against Old Faithful, US); fiords (think Milford Sounds ahead of Norway). Very high waterfalls (Sutherland Falls, one of the highest in the world). And one I personally like, skiing on a live volcano (Mt Ruapehu). As well as the Aurora Australis (Travel, September 17).
These are just a very small sample of what is available in New Zealand. The point to my story is this: the reason the tour guide (Rod Peterson’s Letter to the Editor, September 17), gave the New Zealanders a free passport stamp was because they are the second longest name (58 letters) in the world, as New Zealand has the longest with the 85-character Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. I just want to let people know that there are things in New Zealand that are better than anything in the rest of the world. And this is one of them. Terry Johnson,
Tauranga
The Travel Editor replies: You’re certainly right about the place name — which translates as “the place where Tamatea, the man who had big knees, the climber of mountains, the slider, the landswallower that travelled about, played the nose flute that he had to the loved ones”. But I like to imagine the free passport stamp came about because of a deeper bond between the Welsh and the Kiwis. Gwlad!