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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 Lynsey and Gareth
January 8th 2009

Marlborough Region

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

A. Ferry Crossing 01

We crossed the Cook Strait on a lovely big Interislander ferry known as the Kaitaki, and there couldn’t have been a nicer day for it. We had gorgeous sunshine and a bit of a breeze to keep us cool, so we sat out on the upper deck watching the wondrous sights that go hand in hand with this crossing. The scenery was totally breathtaking, and we were glad we hadn’t suffered the same fate as many people we have met along the way, who had the misfortune of crossing in the bad weather and not seeing any sights at all! The [View Full Entry]

By Lynsey and Gareth
January 7th 2009

Lower North Island

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Taupo & Tongariro Dec 13th - 001

So the final destination for us before we lost our lovely Corolla was Taupo. But before we left her back we ventured down to Tongariro National Park. The weather was unfortunately against us for doing the crossing, which we were both quite disappointed about. But even some of the experienced walkers were deciding against it due to weather warnings. The national park is really amazing and such a clash of landscapes. The route south from Taupo was nice but it was quite mundane when compared to the national park itself. The three snowy peaks of Mount Tongariro (2122m….), Mount Ruapehu and [View Full Entry]

By Enevoldsen
December 30th 2008

Queenstown

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Fra Luge banen

Det tog sin tid at få pakket de sidste ting sammen i camperen og få den gjort rent. Vi kom først afsted ved 9-tiden. Vi afleverede nøglen til camperen i receptionen, der ikke havde hørt Apollo, hvad der skulle ske med den, som Thomas ellers havde bedt Apollo om. Nå det er ikke vores problem længere, så vi kørte glade afsted. Det er noget helt andet at køre i en bil igen i stedet for camperen. Det larmer ikke så meget, børnene sidder pludselig tæt på igen og vi kan snakke sammen. Det går selvfølgelig også meget hurtigere og er knap [View Full Entry]

By Dan n Nic
December 25th 2008

Merry Christmas to us!!!!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

All togged up!

Queenstown and Wanaka. Wow what an adrenaline filled few days....where do we start??!!! Well, another fair drive bought us to Queenstown - the capital of adrenaline sports, in New Zealand, if not the world! Everything you could possibly think of (near enough!) is available, rafting to rock climbing, flying to jumping out of planes...the list goes on. This was our time to tick one of our major boxes of our "Round the World 'To Do' list"!!!! We visited Queenstown to get an idea of what was available, and as usual, wanting to stray from the crowds, we left and headed to [View Full Entry]

By JakeEd1
December 22nd 2008

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... BUNGY !!!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

the Ledge Bungy

CLICK HERE to Watch our Bungy Videos on YouTube !!!! Queesntown, New Zealand. The mecca for all that is reckless abandon. Looking in between your feet through a metal grate at a raging aqua colored river, carving a rocky canyon 100 meters below. Strapped in to a harness equipped with carabiners and tie downs as your only lifeline. Legs convulsing uncontrollably. Heart beating through your chest. Two "certified" operators joke around and nudge you nearly off the suicide drop. This is all part of the game. This is Queenstown. Wel [View Full Entry]

By IanorBaz
December 20th 2008

More from DJ

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Note from Ian - sorry that these blogs are a bit all over the place but we're all kind of at different parts 15/12/08: Wow! The 2nd page! Today, we were the James family version of Top Gear as we drove through Arthur's Pass, and drove through countless villages, shouting “Sheep!”......................OK it wasn't all like that, but we were driving for most of the day, so maybe this post will be short......or not, so lets start with explaining the views.................amazing! Well, i would say that if there hadn't been so much fog and low-cloud. Although there was a h [View Full Entry]

By IanorBaz
December 19th 2008

NZ again

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Mrs J
My lovely missus looking wet and happy!

Day something or other. Song of the day - Theme from the A Team (singing 118 optional) First entry for a few days from me (Ian) so the day count is now out the window. My fellow bloggers have given you plenty of the detail on what we've done and where we've been so I'll just add a few bits.. - NZ people are very friendly and eager to find out where you've come from - scenery is as you'd expect spectacular (ho hum, here's another huge mountain/deep lake/waterfall) - don't feel AT ALL Christmassy! - Monteith's Original is lovely beer [View Full Entry]

By IanorBaz
December 19th 2008

and Thompson gets his hat-trick!

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

GOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! [View Full Entry]

By IanorBaz
December 18th 2008

Jet boating swimming but its not all watery.

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Hello everyone who is reading this! I have had a supercalifragilisticexpealidotious time here in NZ. There is lots to write about so watch out here it comes! We arrived in Cristchurch and then guess what we were stuck in passports yay! Then after all that jaz or clunk as you could describe it we made it to the car rental company and got our brilliant sports car only joking its a Mazda Premacy which by the ways smells badly (actually it really does.) then we drove to our first motel. Once we'd been checked in by a really cool happy Chinese [View Full Entry]

By Harold Bishop
December 15th 2008

New Zealand (South Island)

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

CIMG2222

Once we had found Mike, we were keen to impress him with all our knowledge of New Zealand, however to our astonishment he seemed to know more than us. Nick and Paul didn't arrive in Wellington till around 8pm so Mike had spent all day absorbing knowledge in the Te Papa Museum. After a brief stopover in Wellington we got on the Ferry and headed to the south island. The ferry arrived in Picton and then we jumped back on the bus and made our way to Nelson. Nelson again was quite a chilled out stop and we past our time [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown