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.
May 1st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park On Wednesday, we left Raglan (in bright sunshine) and drove south to . We picked up some pies for lunch (yes, there are still pies here in NZ, Tim hasn't eaten them ALL yet!) and then embarked on the ... 12 photos[full story]
February 25th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park I am having some trouble with the inter-net connection so I will just load a bunch of pictures from these 3 days.
Day 9 2/23 Saturday Hewera
Went to the beach and a group of truck drivers wer ... [full story]
February 25th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park Day 8 2/22 Friday Hewera
Visited Lloyd and Anita Burke at their farm. Leaned a lot about dairy farming in NZ. It is very different than the US. The cows stay outside all the time and are rotated t ... [full story]
February 21st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park We picked up a different car that we can drop off in Wellington. Drove down to New Plymouth (About 5 hours). Had a beautiful drive through the mountains. Down here they have one-lane tunnels. The Kiw ... [full story]
February 21st 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park Took our time driving from Whangarei to Auckland. Spent a few more hours in our favorite beach town of Orewa. It is just beautiful and had a bunch of windsurfers. It is amazing how fast they go. ... [full story]
February 14th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Egmont National Park Those of you who know me and my garden have seen my compost heaps and indeed have saved veg waste for me, well I am staying at a place that goes in for this in a big way. It is really interesting and ... [full story]
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