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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.

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By Compass Rose
November 3rd 2009

Traveling up the West side of the Island Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

pUZZELING WORLd

We left the sunny shores of Lake Wanaka. It was warm and had lots of sand flies so thick you breathed them in while just standing. The full moon over the lake last night was magical. We went to Puzzle world just outside Wanaka. It was fun and well worth the couple hours and laughs,.. We went through the maze and Ken won collecting all the towers and getting out before Chad and Laura We stayed at the Wyndem Resort. Washed our laundry, sheets and stinky socks. It was great to have our own rooms and beds and 2 showers within [View Full Entry]

By Sunriseoversea
October 21st 2009

Singing in the rain by a glacier ... Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

That night (Oct 17th) I met German guy called Fredrick who was delighted to be able to have a go on my guitar! He was really good and taught me a lot of stuff, particularly some great songs off 'Into The Wild'. I taught him a couple of songs too and the night seemed to fly by. There was unfortunately one of the tour bus groups in that night who were incredibly loud, they seemed to be touring NZ on some sort of huge piss-up, just getting drunk in every town in NZ seemed to be the plan! Each to their [View Full Entry]

By cleanpairofeyes
October 21st 2009

Who Would Jump Out Of A Perfectly Good Aircraft? Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Smile For The Camera

You have seen the opening picture so you know what I did. I jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet and plummeted at speeds of 120 mph (200km/h) towards the earth. What possessed me to do such a thing is a question you may ask. And that is a good question. Let me try to explain how this all came to be. Living and travelling in New Zealand has given me the opportunity to meet many people. Some adventurous, some less adventurous but many have taken the time to explain how they ended up sky diving and how much fun [View Full Entry]

By Leanne and Simon
October 20th 2009

Ice ice baby Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier

Fox, October 18 - 21 You can't go to New Zealand and not climb a glacier, the only decision is which one? Fox or Franz Josef? We chose Fox because we had heard it wasn't as busy as Franz Josef and we had heard only good things from people who had done it. We met at the Fox Glacier Guiding building (just a short stroll from the hostel because Fox is the tiniest town) at 9.15am to get our gear on. We had to wear thick wollen red hiking socks and hobnail boots - these weighed a ton so it was [View Full Entry]

By Deirdre and Diarmuid
October 16th 2009

New Zealand - South Island Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Diarmuid at Fox Glacier

Hi all, We arrived in Picton around 9.30pm on the 27th May and drove south to Bleinheim, a wine region in Marlborough. We drove around for a few hours looking for somewhere to park outside the town but with nothing but vineyards to be seen for miles we returned to the town and pulled in outside a small park. Time conscious and money poor, in the morning we made our decision to cut out visiting the north coast and Nelson and instead headed straight through the wine valleys and accross to the west coast. Marlborough is New Zealands premier wine producing [View Full Entry]

By Eluned
October 16th 2009

Fox Glacier Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

The sea!

On my way up the West Coast decided to stop in Fox Glacier for a day. It's a natural but it sounds great! Fox Glacier the village is a tiny place, it's basically just one short street with a lot of confused looking hikers wandering about. To get on the glacier itself you'd have to pay at least $100, so we decided to just do a gentle walk to the look-out point to admire from a distance. Ended up being through a jungle, and miles down a road, but it was still nice. Once we got to the look-out, and admired [View Full Entry]

By Nuke
September 24th 2009

Walking on a force of nature Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Bus to helipad

Beating the odds (and the bad weather gods) yesterday, we were able to do the heli-hike onto Fox Glacier. Mere language is vastly inadequate to try to describe the experience. First time on a helicopter, first time on a glacier. First time on a helicopter that lands on a glacier! Our guide, Jeremy, was awesome as he led us up and back down a small portion of the glacier. We spent about 3 hours on the ice and it was unforgettable! We hiked thorough crevasses and snow caves, hopped across fissures that narrowly opened to some of the bluest of blue [View Full Entry]

By Nuke
September 23rd 2009

glacier time Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Crown Range Road

a short entry this a.m. ... getting ready to go up on Fox Glacier (pronounced glassier). Posting a few pics from an incredible drive to the west coast of NZ. will have to add descriptions later ... suffice to say, we experienced 4 seasons in one day and the terrain and the stunning beauty of at least 4 continents. This place is truly amazing. When God was making the earth, he must've had the most fun creating New Zealand. Astonishing scenes that can't really be captured by human-created technology. Gotta see it with your eyes, brain, mind, and heart!! [View Full Entry]

By Ferdi and Talita
September 11th 2009

Day 226-228: Queenstown to Fox Glacier, New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Cordrona ski field

Wednesday, September 9th We survived another night in the wild. By the time we woke the Sandflies were out in full force again. The last time we went shopping we again forgot to get repellent, so we stayed in the van as much as possible and tried to keep the little buggers outside. After breakfast we left the Queenstown area, heading for Wanaka, a small town north of Queenstown. Graham and Rose had told us about it and we wanted to go check it out. Apparently it's like Queenstown but much less commercial. En-route we detoured to Cordrona ski field. At [View Full Entry]

By ChloeU
July 7th 2009

Fun in Fox Glacier Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier

Fox glacier town exists purely because of the glacier down the road and the tourists that come to see it. As such, it's tiny! Literally only a few streets. We got a job at a hostel there. We had to make beds and clean for a few hours in the morning in exchange for our own room and also quite a bit of food. Our boss would buy us milk and bread and also gave us a lot of meat and veg that we wouldn't of been able to get otherwise. She was really nice to us, especially as the local [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fox Glacier