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.
July 2nd 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Dunedin It's been a crazy couple of weeks, with probably too much to fit in to one blog, so sorry if i race through a bit... Firstly after my night in Wellington I headed north-west to Wanganui where my frien ... [full story]
May 27th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Queenstown It has been a slow time at the hotel so it was a good time to take off for a while. It also happened that I decided to apply for a new position in the hotel. So I've transfered from Housekeeping to F& ... 29 photos[full story]
April 5th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Dunedin Well, after our doubts over whether we would ever see the sun again in our last blog - we did!! On a tip that the weather was coming from the south we went south to the tourist town of Hokitika (alth ... 7 photos[full story]
April 5th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Dunedin So after spending a little longer on the the rain soaked and sandfly infested (but otherwise beautiful) west coast, eating chips and looking at lakes we headed off to Christchurch to pick up the long ... [full story]
February 5th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago So after the Catlins we arrived in Dunedin. Being back in a city we did the usual timesucking city acivities of updating ourselves online for hours, sorting out bank transfers and then we checked out ... 31 photos[full story]
March 23rd 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Dunedin So first blog in quite a while i think this one. It's been a great few weeks, have been on two great trips (Longbeach and Christchurch) and am also actually loving my lectures in general, one of our l ... [full story]
March 22nd 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago Paasin lahtemaan jo yhdeksan jalkeen. Ensin ajoin sademetsassa pari tuntia. Sitten maisemat muuttuivat kuivemmiksi. Wanakassa viivyin jonkin aikaa. Kavin nettilassa ja limsalla. Sitten ajoin Cronwelli ... 3 photos[full story]
February 13th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Queenstown Adrenaline pumpimg & it was time to move on. Queenstown next stop. The party town of the South Island apparently. It's not a massive town but there are backpackers everywhere. There are a few nice ... [full story]
March 2nd 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Dunedin Nothing like a painfully bad pun on the NZ weather to start a blog entry. As you've guessed its wet here, and so there's been no chances to go to the beach, surf or any of that stuff lately. Still we ... [full story]
February 5th 2008Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Central Otago Day 99: Dunedin to Middlemarch to Ranfurly. The first 60km through the Central Otago Goldfields
I arrived at Dunedin's impressive railway station at nine this morning ready to catch a train along t ... 28 photos[full story]
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