New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific are not considered part of a continent, but New Zealand is variously grouped (as is New Guinea) with the continent of Australia or with the larger conglomeration of Oceania, which, by definition, is not a geographical continent. New Zealand consists of two main and some smaller islands, and most of this territory sits on the Australian tectonic plate but straddles the plate boundary.

Australia and Oceania are two completely different things. Australia (a continent) lies within the political region known as Oceania, which comprises also the islands of New Guinea, New Zealand and various other island nations in the South Pacific.

New Zealand is the above-water part of a continental mass called Zealandia, about the size of India, and most of which has never been above the water's surface.

Continents are defined by their landmass block, which is generally taken to be out to the edge of the Continental Shelf, where the contours drop off steeply to the abyssal deeps.