Well... excuse me for being a pedant, but New Zealand doesn't count as part of the Australian continent, so Mt Cook, while a zillion times more impressive than Australia's Mt Kosciuszko, is not the tallest mountain of that continent. Kosciuszko is a mere pimple (2200 or so meters) and mountain baggers have often appealed for Cook to replace it as the official tallest mountain of the area, but it's just not on the continent.
You would know better than I. I went strictly by the information provided on this web site, that stated that NZ is part of the Australasian continent.
And Wikipedia claims: "Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania, Australia, New Zealand and neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean."
But, I've never been anywhere except Cancun, so what do I know?
I'm bummed. I really do try to be accurate when I post about places I've never been and I erroneously went with information I found online (in 2 different places!), which I thought was accurate (because I saw it in 2 different places!).
So, I asked someone who is from New Zealand and this was her reply - Which I did NOT ask if it'd be OK to post, so I hope she doesn't mind - but I feel so bad about getting Mount Cook wrong because I take a lot of pride and pleasure in these field trip posts.
Anyway, she said:
"Yeah, NZ is a tricky one. It's not actually on the same continental shelf as Australia, IIRC, so it's not really part of australasia (although I've seen it lumped in there). It's on its own submerged continent, zealandia (yeah, bet you're never heard of that one!) but it's generally said to be part of Oceania, but I don't think that's really a continent per se either (more of a general region)".
I could rename the post The Tallest Mountains FROM each continental REGION.........
Nah, I wouldn't. Mt Cook is far more beautiful. As I said, I am being a pedant. :P Yeah "Australiasia" is used variably, but in terms of tectonic plates and geological definitions of continents, Australia is on a different continental plate - as your friend said.
I know what you mean about being bummed though, I mean - which bit of information to you believe. I only really knew this because I went through a spate of reading mountain climbing stories earlier in the year, and there were so many accounts of climbers doing peak bagging and doing the seven continents, and complaining about travel costs and inconvenience of going to Australia to do a two hour stroll up this pimple. lmao. I'm thinking maybe the websites you saw are a reaction to that - mountain lovers trying by force of numbers to get Mt Cook in instead, which would make total sense in the climbing world.
I love this about you - that you are so passionate about finding the correct info.
Really though, I didn't used to care, but statcounter has enlightened me as to how often these field trip posts get looked at (and it is frequently, much to my happy SURPRISE!), so I figured I had better take accuracy a bit more seriously in case someone actually goes by any information I provide. I would hate to ruin someone's real life field trip or to appear as if I post erroneous information because I am too lazy to find accurate factoids!!!!
Well exactly, and that's kind of why I like pedantry in general. The trouble with net research is that once something gets started, everyone starts perpetuating the same "facts" - including the errors. Not that this one was an error, just a matter of exactly what criteria were being used to define a continent or area of the globe.
Having read as much of you as I have so far, I would never think something was in error because of laziness, lol. You put a lot of effort into these posts.
So I guess I should get off of my pendantic high horse and make the REAL point - I too love your field trips. They are really great. Thank you.
Hey! that is not only true for the internet! It happens in real life all of the time, but I don't want to discuss what a joke the US government is right now and what lies they perpetuate.
Actually, I kinda tilted my head at the screen when I was typing Austalasia, feeling that just didn't seem quite right somehow.... but I went with it...
Sorry to confuse the subject further but in climbing circles, the tallest mountain in Australasia is in fact Indonesia's Carstensz Pyramid (16,023ft/4,884m). However, some consider Australia proper to be the seventh continent as opposed to Australasia, in which case Australia's 7,000 ft walk up Mount Kosciuszko is the Australian continent's summit.
Comments
Well... excuse me for being a pedant, but New Zealand doesn't count as part of the Australian continent, so Mt Cook, while a zillion times more impressive than Australia's Mt Kosciuszko, is not the tallest mountain of that continent. Kosciuszko is a mere pimple (2200 or so meters) and mountain baggers have often appealed for Cook to replace it as the official tallest mountain of the area, but it's just not on the continent.
You would know better than I. I went strictly by the information provided on this web site, that stated that NZ is part of the Australasian continent.
And Wikipedia claims: "Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania, Australia, New Zealand and neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean."
But, I've never been anywhere except Cancun, so what do I know?
I'm bummed. I really do try to be accurate when I post about places I've never been and I erroneously went with information I found online (in 2 different places!), which I thought was accurate (because I saw it in 2 different places!).
So, I asked someone who is from New Zealand and this was her reply - Which I did NOT ask if it'd be OK to post, so I hope she doesn't mind - but I feel so bad about getting Mount Cook wrong because I take a lot of pride and pleasure in these field trip posts.
Anyway, she said:
"Yeah, NZ is a tricky one. It's not actually on the same continental shelf as Australia, IIRC, so it's not really part of australasia (although I've seen it lumped in there). It's on its own submerged continent, zealandia (yeah, bet you're never heard of that one!) but it's generally said to be part of Oceania, but I don't think that's really a continent per se either (more of a general region)".
I could rename the post The Tallest Mountains FROM each continental REGION.........
Nah, I wouldn't. Mt Cook is far more beautiful. As I said, I am being a pedant. :P Yeah "Australiasia" is used variably, but in terms of tectonic plates and geological definitions of continents, Australia is on a different continental plate - as your friend said.
I know what you mean about being bummed though, I mean - which bit of information to you believe. I only really knew this because I went through a spate of reading mountain climbing stories earlier in the year, and there were so many accounts of climbers doing peak bagging and doing the seven continents, and complaining about travel costs and inconvenience of going to Australia to do a two hour stroll up this pimple. lmao. I'm thinking maybe the websites you saw are a reaction to that - mountain lovers trying by force of numbers to get Mt Cook in instead, which would make total sense in the climbing world.
I love this about you - that you are so passionate about finding the correct info.
Really though, I didn't used to care, but statcounter has enlightened me as to how often these field trip posts get looked at (and it is frequently, much to my happy SURPRISE!), so I figured I had better take accuracy a bit more seriously in case someone actually goes by any information I provide. I would hate to ruin someone's real life field trip or to appear as if I post erroneous information because I am too lazy to find accurate factoids!!!!
Well exactly, and that's kind of why I like pedantry in general. The trouble with net research is that once something gets started, everyone starts perpetuating the same "facts" - including the errors. Not that this one was an error, just a matter of exactly what criteria were being used to define a continent or area of the globe.
Having read as much of you as I have so far, I would never think something was in error because of laziness, lol. You put a lot of effort into these posts.
So I guess I should get off of my pendantic high horse and make the REAL point - I too love your field trips. They are really great. Thank you.
Hey! that is not only true for the internet! It happens in real life all of the time, but I don't want to discuss what a joke the US government is right now and what lies they perpetuate.
Actually, I kinda tilted my head at the screen when I was typing Austalasia, feeling that just didn't seem quite right somehow.... but I went with it...
I am just happy anyone even looks at my blob!!!