Currency Archives - New Zealand Geographic

Living World

Kōtuku

The story of the bird on our $2 coin....

Living World

Hoiho

The story of the bird on our $5 note....

Living World

Whio

The story of the bird on our $10 note....

Living World

Kārearea

The story of the bird on our $20 note....

Living World

Kōkako

The story of the bird on our $50 note....

Living World

Mōhua

The story of the bird on our $100 note....

Magazine

Issue 200

Jul - Aug 2026

Solar power
Horses of Huntly
Forget me not
Whaling
Red admirals

When a male South Island robin is in want of a mate, he sings. It’s not a glamorous sound, says ecologist Manaia Pearmain-Fenton. Plee plee plee / chee chee chee. Loud, plinky, like a kid picking at a keyboard. Pearmain-Fenton has whakapapa to Ngāti Hokopū, Ngāti Awa and Te Whakatōhea in the Bay of Plenty. […]...

In the field

The photographic duo who dive by night

When the forecast is just right, Irene and Crispin Middleton wake up in the middle of the night and put to sea....

Great Walks

Otaki River Gorge

Tararua Forest Park, 2 days...

Editorial

Editorial

The wind tore at the wave tops until they stood up stiff, driving spray from their crests which was carried with the breeze and lit up by the early morning sun until the air itself seemed filled with glitter. Though the forecasters had predicted a gentle zephyr for the final day of a voyage around […]...

Profile

Lord of darkness

Charles Alcock and the fate of the universe....

Profile

Deep impact

Marine scientist and freediver Kura Paul-Burke on restoring the moana—with action, not just research....

Features

The town that whales built

The blast of the harpoon may have given way to the click of the camera, but whales are still the cornerstone of commerce—and the subject of many a decorative mural—in the north Canterbury town of Kaikoura. In little more than a decade, marine ecotourism has transformed a coastal backwater into an international travel hotspot....

Data

Whanganui

Whanganui is Aotearoa’s third-longest river. It begins on Mount Tongariro and flows 290 kilometres to the Tasman Sea, joined by thousands of small tributaries along the way. Whanganui iwi have long sought legal recognition of their relationship with the river. They petitioned Parliament in the 1870s for protection of their awa. From the 1880s, the […]...