The emergent North Island sits wholey on The Australian Plate. Further South South island sits on both The Australian and Pacific Plates depending on which side of The Alpine Fault you are. The Australian Plate is moving in a generally NE direction. The Pacific Plate is also moving in a roughly NE direction in the vicinity of NZ but its moving at a slightly faster rate than the Australian Plate. When youre looking at tectonic plate interactions both plates are usually moving but direction and speed will be different for each plate. On maps one plate will usually be portrayed as stationary for the purposes of emphasizing the relative motion of the plates.

Highly underrated subduction zone lol. People worry about the Alpine fault, but the Hikurangi comes with bonus huge tsunamis and the world's lengthiest sideways displacement 😐 We are fully effed.

@@complimentary_voucher More research currently being done on Hukrangi Subduction Zone than on the Alpine Fault at present. BTW Hikurangi is a subduction zone......that means the displacement along the plate boundary is predominantly vertical (thrust) not sideways. The Alpine Fault is predominantly strike slip (sideways) movement along with a lesser thrust component.