I was thinking this morning about how New Zealanders just know, by linguistic osmosis, that certain geographical areas of the country get a “the” in front of them and others don’t.
For example, it’s always “the North Island” and “the South Island”. If I ever see anyone refer to “North Island” with reference to New Zealand, I know they’re not from around here. But the third-largest island is “Stewart Island”. No “the”.
Then, regional names: it’s Northland, Southland, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Poverty Bay, Taranaki; but the Waikato, the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty, the King Country, the Mackenzie Country, the Maniototo, and the Wairarapa. (The) Hawkes Bay can go either way. As far as I can work out, there is no rule operating by which you can tell whether to use a “the” or not, but any geographically aware New Zealander will know which is which, and use the right version without thinking.
This is the kind of thing that a local just knows, but you won’t usually see written down anywhere for non-locals. (You won’t usually, maybe won’t ever, see the above distinctions made on maps, for example.) So, if you’re setting a story outside your own locality and culture, it pays to check with someone who knows that place and culture as an insider.
