what country is missing from this map I
don't think there's anything missing
from the map
[Music]
obviously I'm familiar with this side
[Music]
New Zealand is disappearing off-world
Maps
forgot to show New Zealand yep there are
maps where we ever sing no this is a
surprisingly common occurrence we should
be right there but it's just like not
there why are so many people don't know
people forget about us
you guys are the first to actually get
it ready yeah picture this you are
moving to another country got your Visa
you've packed your bags you fly all the
way there accept immigration detains you
and they tell you that you must have the
wrong passport because your country
doesn't exist you see behind them
there's a world map on the wall so you
think great I can just show you them my
country on the world map except when you
look on the world map your country isn't
on it and I know that this sounds like a
completely fake story but believe it or
not it's actually 100 a true story for a
New Zealand citizen moving to Kazakhstan
for six months she ended up getting
detained at immigration for a full day
and a half because they said quote New
Zealand is clearly a part of Australia
it was a huge mistake on their behalf
but it's actually one that new
zealanders are quite used to have you
ever seen a world map without New
Zealand on it yeah yes I have once when
I was in America I have quite a few the
Smithsonian National History Museum in
Washington DC famously left New Zealand
off the map with the excuse we ran out
of room there's also the map on the UN
logo airports this geography book air
Lanes movies Universal Studios tattoos
home decor Flat Earth t-shirts cafes
playgrounds board games jewelry phone
cases Robert duckies where does it end
it's bad timing for Ikea because the
company is in the process of opening its
first store there
oops I was actually just looking at the
emojis that cuts off at Australia so
there's actually no Emoji for New
Zealand oh that's so it's quite
depressing yeah how does it make you
feel very depressed yeah New Zealand's
government is even in on the joke with
their 404 page featuring a map with the
text we're sorry something's missing and
they also launched a campaign featuring
the hashtag get New Zealand on the map
but we're going to need some help the
phenomenon of maps without New Zealand
is well known and well documented but
what I want to know is why does this
keep happening and more importantly
how having spent two weeks in a van
traveling around the south island of New
Zealand the best band ever by the way
but I'll get to that later I'm now 100
convinced that New Zealand should be the
absolute top of your travel bucket list
and I will convince you by the end of
this video New Zealand isn't a huge
country especially not next to its giant
neighbor but it's not a small country
either at 268 000 square kilometers it's
twice the size of Greece yet a lot of
people struggle to even point it out on
a map where where's New Zealand supposed
to be normally Europe it's supposed to
be right there by the bottom of
Australia yeah that's weird though right
because it's not that small like New
Zealand is the same size as like the UK
I feel like everyone thinks Australia is
like the most far away place in the
world that's the bottom of the earth
like that's surely there's nothing
possible no yeah yeah and many people
say that it could be due to the kind of
map that we usually use which is the
Makita projection and if you watch
Johnny Harris I'm sure you're already
well and truly aware that no map or
projection is completely accurate
because anytime you try to depict a
spherical surface onto a flat 2D piece
of paper everything's just going to be
warped but in short the Mercator
Projection was chosen just because it's
the most accurate when it comes to
navigating the globe via the ocean so
apart from the way that it massively
distorts the size of countries and the
way that some people say it's fostered
European imperialist attitudes for
centuries and created an ethnic bias
against the third world but it also
places New Zealand way off into the far
right corner so easily cut off by an
unfortunate crop or a map simplification
one theory for why people keep
forgetting about New Zealand is that
it's just really remote it's the
furthest one from everybody's mind we're
exactly 12 hours away from the prime
meridian so in other words we're the
least thought a fact that becomes even
more obvious when you view New Zealand
from a map like this in fact it's the
exact opposite side of the world from
Spain meaning that from London you'll
need to get two 11 and a half hour
flights to Auckland people from La have
no excuse though that's like any
international flight leaving from
Australia is there any reasons why you
think New Zealand is often left off the
map a lot of people think we're just
part of Australia I think because people
think it's part of Australia I think
maybe sometimes people think Tasmania is
New Zealand so then they don't add New
Zealand again they just think it's part
of Australia this is a personal Theory I
don't know a quick Google of is New
Zealand will leave multiple alternative
searches for is New Zealand part of
Australia and sometimes is New Zealand
even a country it's a whole ass country
yeah it's a whole thing another reason
that this could be is just that uh how
do I say this
geography is in a lot of people's strong
points
[Music]
really bad at geography I'm bad again
that is a place that I've been wanting
to visit for so long so you've got to
know where it's at first to be
completely Fair though it can be really
tough to look at a map and figure out
what's wrong with it I've been taking
this world map without 20 random
countries quiz online and the best that
I can do is 9 out of 20 and this was a
particularly easy round so yeah go and
check it out I'll leave a link in the
description let me know what your best
score is it's actually a lot harder than
you'd think
[Music]
to just arrived Milford Sound and we're
gonna go take the cruise like the
popular Cruise everyone goes on oh like
Molly it's so pretty it's like
outrageously beautiful right now if
Avatar was real it would be in New
Zealand
for sure
[Music]
just cruising along the most beautiful
place in the world and then the lady
over the speaker is like if you look to
our left we've got a pot of dolphins
it's like just a casual pot of dolphins
Paradise
Chris and I were just saying that it's
wild that we don't hear more about
places like this in New Zealand to see
so much content about Iceland and all
the waterfalls there and the fjords and
things like that but like
are you kidding but forever are you
kidding it's so it's beautiful it feels
like like I've died and gone to heaven
it's so it's so pretty out here
come on
[Music]
so the way the Mercator map has Europe
situated right in the middle wasn't for
any scientific reason it's just because
it was the most useful to people at that
time in the 15th century Europe was just
the center of map making so that's along
with the fact that Europe was doing a
lot of sea exploration just made the
Mercator map Rising popularity if you
change the perspective to put New
Zealand in the center of the map it
would be a lot harder to forget about
them best map that you can buy while
you're here in New Zealand and Australia
is the world from the view of the
Southern Hemisphere people just cannot
visualize an upside down World I'd like
to call this
the Middle Earth Map
you've nailed it New Zealand's right
there in the middle everything's close
and as wrong as it looks having a map
that's upside down isn't technically
incorrect one cartographer from the
University of Melbourne said many people
don't really think about the planet as a
sphere moving in space where up and down
are purely conventions so having a map
that's upside down or even having East
or West at the top there's nothing
technically wrong with it it's just a
different perspective I've just found it
really fascinating to learn about all
these different other kinds of maps out
there and how our perception of the
world changes when you view the world
through a different lens that's not the
European one I always feel like
Australia and New Zealand we kind of
view ourselves as the the co-stars like
the the side characters in the world but
I don't know I feel like if Australia
was in the center or at the top like
maybe we would have more of a main
character energy I don't know that's uh
that's a question for another time
[Music]
we've got the okay from the Department
of Conservation so we're gonna go hike
to ooh not Mueller Hut no maybe all the
way see what the weather's like let's go
[Music]
it's so crazy it's like the mountains
don't gradually slope up it's like boom
flat
and drive right up close to the
mountains so
[Music]
cool
[Music]
wow the photos did not lie
you know it's good when like the photos
on Google Maps blow you away
we've just been here for like an hour
just taking photos and videos and wow
can't stop saying wow
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
clearly is a country what are they
famous for gotta be Lord of the Rings
we're a very creative and resourceful
people rugby Lord of the Rings also
Justin are doing but she's she's not the
Prime Minister anymore so that's
important I guess we're off
the map oh well it's all it's natural
wonders really cheap yeah and yes there
really are more sheep than people in New
Zealand but to be fair I just think
there's not that many people in New
Zealand like I know we were there in the
off season but for most of the whole two
weeks we were there it felt like we had
the entire country to ourselves with
absolute postcard views everywhere you
looked I feel like heaven exists on
Earth all over New Zealand like every
little town that we go to there's always
like something beautiful we keep on
having to ask ourselves like what's the
catch like how is it this beautiful and
I don't know people just live here are
you crazy are you kidding me amazing
Chris and I really did have the most
amazing time in New Zealand and even
though we were there in the off season
we were there in Winter I feel like our
list of places that we want to visit is
now longer than it was before we even
went to New Zealand because there was
just so many incredible amazing views
and places I want to go back in
different seasons and the next video I
put out is going to be a travel level
itinerary like a two weeks in New
Zealand with a camper van places that
you should go places that we went places
that we we would have gone to otherwise
so there'll be a lot more information
with exact locations and everything like
that in my next video but speaking of
Vans Chris and I got to use the
Rolls-Royce of Camper vans Mountain
dance Camper vans let us use one of
their big events and it was so beautiful
and minimal inside immediately I'm in
love with like the wooden slats on the
top and these LED lights that are
dimmable as well you can change the
intensity of them the heater ran on
diesels so it never used any battery and
it's actually amazing it's so warm and
the battery was so powerful that we
never needed to plug in at a campsite
even though we were cooking every single
night on an induction stove and charging
all of our gear making it completely
off-grid they've provided us with
everything so you don't have to buy any
things at the grocery store there's like
oil and salt pepper and resin seasonings
and chopping board Kettle they didn't
charge for any extras I know that a lot
of other campervan companies they'll
they'll nickel and dime you for every
little thing they can get their hands on
like one my friend used the company and
they charge them extra to be able to use
the heater which is crazy to me they
even have a compost toilet on board as
well which means that you're able to
camp at any of the campsites across New
Zealand and even the completely free
ones as well there's a whole other thing
I'll get into that in the next video so
if you want to do a van trip in the
south island of New Zealand and you also
want to support a small business please
go and check out Mountain dance Camper
vans it was honestly the best decision
we made I hope that I have successfully
convinced you that New Zealand should be
top of your travel itinerary we had a
really incredible time even in Winter we
even got to we swam on one of the days
went to a place called Blue Pools walk
and the water just looked so good it was
raining and freezing cold but the water
looked amazing and then we saw this
other guy doing like a cold plunge that
makes me want to go for a swim and we
were like well I guess we should do it
then
you know it actually like wasn't as bad
as I thought oh it's good I was like
psyching it up so much definitely I was
like
I feel great now though
oh man it was amazing really such an
incredibly unique landscape and they
have really interesting Wildlife they
put so much care and effort into
conserving their nature and it was
just so beautiful I'm definitely
definitely going to go back and I really
hope that more people see this and more
people travel to New Zealand it's yeah
amazing amazing so I hope you like this
video and I hope you're looking forward
to the next one I make that's all for me
and I'll see you guys next time
[Music]
[Applause]