Polls by the Flight Centre show that Australians are ever more keen to visit New Zealand, as it is both a short haul destination and offers benefits such as a weak New Zealand dollar and a European type landscape. When these features add up, choosing NZ over the UK makes sense. Especially in these “recession” times when individuals are worried more about job security and so prefer to take shorter rather than the traditionally long, UK and Europe based holidays.

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According to Herodotus (a historian who lived around 480BC to 420BC), they were the:

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Lighthouse of Alexandria

But today only the Great Pyramid of Giza can still be seen, so there have been a number of new 7 wonders of the world declared in the last few decades.

In 2001 a Swiss organisation called the New 7 Wonders Foundation declared a competiotion for the new 7 wonders of the World. This included, on it’s shortlist of 21, the Sydney Opera House. The new 7 wonders were announced on 7 July 2007 and are:

• Chichen Itza
• Christ the Redeemer
• Colosseum
• Great Wall of China
• Machu Picchu
• Petra
• Taj Mahal

The New 7 Wonders Foundation recently declared a new competition, for the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, and on 21 July will announce it’s shortlist of top 28 from 77 candidates. The current list includes two Australian entries – the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru (Ayers Rock) in  Australia, and one candidate from New Zealand – Milford Sound.

Watch this space for the new shortlist on 21 July 2009.