The Aotearoa Deluxe Geocoin celebrates the essence of Aotearoa/New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud, Godzone - it's geography and relationship to the surrounding seas, along with the national flag and icons of culture and kiwiana.
This is the "V6 - Silver & Gold VLE" edition of the coin, with a two-tone silver and gold finish on the map on the front, and featuring transparent red and white glow-in-the-dark colours on the flag on the back of the coin. Just 30 coins exist of this version and it will never be minted again.
On the front of the coin is a highly detailed and accurate 8 level contour map of the 3 main islands of Aotearoa, which rise out of the surface of the coin, as they do out of the sea. They are Te Ika a Maui (North Island), Te Wai Pounamu (South Island), and Rakiura (Stewart Island) in the far south. Surrounding the islands is a precisely detailed bathymetry of the neighbouring Pacific Ocean to the east and the Tasman Sea to the west as the sea floor disappears into the depths.
The back of the coin incorporates icons of New Zealand culture and kiwiana hovering over an intricate New Zealand flora-inspired background pattern, and embedded into an accurately dimensioned representation of the nation's flag.
This is a significantly sized coin, measuring a whopping 3 inches long by just over 1.5 inches high (76 x 39.5mm), and it is a hefty 4mm thick around the border (5mm at the thickest parts of the coin). It is a fully trackable geocoin on geocaching.com including a custom icon.
There are 6 versions of the coin in the initial minting. These are as follows:
