I can’t help thinking that it would be better for all of New Zealand if this was the ordinary way to display our fine country on national maps.
The horizontal view seems to create less of an ‘us’ and ‘them’ feeling than I get from the ordinary North/South map, this side-by-side orientation evokes something more familial, inspiring a sense of brotherhood and mateship.
Anyway, isn’t it sort of an old-fashioned world-view to always put North at the top? After all, there isn’t really any ‘top’ on a sphere, let’s just do our own thing.