Genesis 
So here's a random thing that I learnt yesterday. Compasses are region-specific and the needle will "stick" if a normal compass is used in the wrong region! Australia and New Zealand are in magnetic zone 5. If you want a #compass that works anywhere in the world, it needs to have a "global needle", which is built a bit differently to account for the problem of the magnet aiming directly through the earth to magnetic north and dragging the needle down with it.
Mike Typo@Genesis I don't mean to be pedantic but I think this is the wrong explanation for zone balancing? Compasses don't technically "point to" magnetic north, they just align themselves with Earth's magnetic field. That's why you can throw them off with any electrical current, despite a length of wire not having distinct "poles". Zone balancing has to do with the fact that the field itself is increasingly vertical in alignment as you approach either pole.
@Genesis Ironically it's actually the north end of the compass needle that needs to be weighted in the southern hemisphere, in general, as the needle will "dip" towards the south (or the north end of the needle will try to point upwards towards the sky, if you prefer).