Earthquake brings Australia and New Zealand closer together

It was amazing that nobody was hurt in last week's earthquake in New Zealand. But there were other unexpected results of the quake – and maybe even unwanted ones. The huge earthquake occurred in the Tasman Sea, just south west of the town of Invercargill on New Zealand’s South Island. And this week scientists have found that it has brought New Zealand 30 centimetres closer to Australia!

Rather than move the whole of New Zealand closer, the earthquake actually stretched South Island. "Basically, New Zealand just got a little bit bigger," seismologist Ken Gledhill told the BBC. While there are sometimes rivalries between New Zealand and Australia, Invercargill’s mayor Tim Shadbolt is actually happy about what has happened. “I’m delighted,” he said. “I built an international airport here because we're the closest city in New Zealand to Australia and now it’s becoming even more realistic."

However, it's very unlikely that airlines will be offering cheaper airfares!
(Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/philwolff/ / CC BY-SA 2.0)