Monday, March 4, 2013

Beautiful New Zealand


Each year from 1972 the New Zealand Post Office has issued a scenic or tourist set of stamps to show the beauty of our country. One of the most famous of these sets was issued in 1983. It was called Beautiful New Zealand and was very popular with overseas collectors. That, New Zealand - from its coastline to its high country, from bush-fringed bays to majestic peaks - is a land of great and diverse beauty is amply demonstrated by these four lovely stamps on this First Day Cover issued on 1st June, 1983.
Mt Egmont / Taranaki - 35c
Mount Egmont which is located on the West Coast of the North Island is an andesite (mineral rock) volcano characterised, like Fujiama in Japan, by its symmetrical cone.  Mount Egmont is regarded as a dormant volcano having last erupted about 350 years ago.  The peak rises to 2518 metres from the plains of the surrounding province, Taranaki.
Egmont was named in 1770 by explorer James Cook as he sailed past but the Maori name Taranaki (Barren Mountain) was given equal and official status in 1986.
Cooks Bay - 40c
Cooks Bay is a popular summer resort situated on the Coromandel Peninsula on the East Coast of the North Island.  Locally, the sandy cove is known as Cooks Beach.  The whole area is picturesque with golden beaches, sparkling water and native pohutukawa trees.
Lake Matheson - 45c
Lake Matheson is a small bush-surrounded moraine lake on the north side of the Clearwater River near Fox Glacier on the South Island's West Coast.  The lake was formed by the retreat of Fox Glacier some 14,000 years ago which left behind a massive slab of "dead" ice insulated by a deep layer of moraine gravel.  In time, this separated from the mainstream of the glacier, the ice melted and the lake was created.
Lake Alexandrina - 70c
Lake Alexandrina is a small and beautiful satellite of Lake Tekapo in South Canterbury.  These lakes are just two of a number of glacial lakes in the South Island McKenzie country.  Lake Alexandrina is a wild life refuge, an exceptional trout fishing resort, and home for the South Island Acclimatisation Society.
Thank you My Dear Maria for this superb FDC.

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