Background: The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement. A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars. New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.
June 17th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia The day after the clay pigeon shooting, we went on the Luge and sadly, I lost.. 3-0. In my defence, Alex races dirty and I was unlucky, and the races were close (we have photographic evidence!), but I ... [full story]
June 12th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia The long wait is finally over, but more to come on that later!
Yesterday morning, I hopped on a bus at Sky City, and headed four hours up the road to Paihia, located in the gorgeous Bay of Islands. ... [full story]
June 5th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia Firstly let us apologise in the delay in writing this blog. We only had 13 days in New Zealand so we had to make every second count!
We flew into Queenstown on 24th May through a medly of snow capp ... 27 photos[full story]
June 2nd 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia Umm, the map server isn't working right now, which I tried to use after I wrote everything below. So sorry if I say something is on the map and you don't have one. I'll make a map, as well as add pict ... [full story]
May 27th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia A morning of sunshine made cleaning Tui up a pleasant event. With this being Tui's last adventure, it was time to take inventory and see what we had swept under the carpet.
High in the North at Pa ... 14 photos[full story]
May 16th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia So I was asked to explain why I'm traveling in New Zealand. Here is a quick breakdown:
All around New Zealand. I started in the south island (Christchurch) where my old roommates (James and Julia) j ... [full story]
April 25th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia - Oliver Cromwell.
I had seriously begun to doubt if it would ever come. So much anguish surrounding Freedom, so much time and money, wasted. All the anxieties of my past life in Edinburgh, rearing ... 12 photos[full story]
April 14th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia Going to have to make this brief because I'm miles/kilometres behind on my blogs! I'm in the US of A at the moment, been to Fiji, and this blog is now about things that happened 6 weeks ago!
T ... 15 photos[full story]
April 21st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia How you goin?!
After Coromandel, we had a 6 1/2 hour drive to Paihia, which are where the bay of islands is. Is was a long and twisty drive up and over mountains as much of the driving is in New Ze ... 14 photos[full story]
April 7th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Paihia Couple of days in the bay of Islands. 5 hours on a coach up, 4 hours back, lots of yawning, few nice views though.
The area has quite an interesting history which appealed possibly more than the vi ... 12 photos[full story]
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