It’s not just far, it’s far away from everything, including all the major trade routes. In Europe and Asia, a lot more goods are produced close by, and if you ship a product to any country in Europe or Asia, there’s a lot more people to buy it, and a lot more markets close by.

And there are lots of regulations too. For example I sold an oil burner light on eBay to someone in NZ (didn't actually know as there was a UK address that forwarded the package) and I included some oils for free...

Big mistake. Package was returned and I had to remove them.

My only point being it's a poor port in part because of its delicate ecosystem, which necessitates very strict regulations.

My friend living in NZ has a fantastic quote about the distance:

> NZ is a fantastic place. It takes 24 hours to get anywhere around the world.

Yep, it's that far.

It’s far but 24hrs is a bit stretching reality e.g.

~12hrs to Santiago Chile. ~9hrs to Bali, Indonesia. ~13hrs to Los Angeles, USA. ~4hrs to Sydney, Australia.

Add a layover and you could easily be at 20+ hours (which is common since NZ is small so there aren’t that many flights). Europe is well over 24 hours even to the major hubs.

Granted, however the flights I listed are all non-stop.

There’s a non-stop Auckland > Denpasar flight?

> Yep, it's that far.

It'll be handy when the zombie apocalypse occurs though: it'll be quite the swim for any ghouls.