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West Coast Travel Blogs

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 Spasz
July 24th 2009

journey back to aukland Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Da Zoo

we are on our journey back to aukland to return our rental car ( it really has been abused ) we had to use the interior as an inprompt due dryer for our clothes ( one of the dryers at a hostle failed to dry our laundry at all (after dumping 9 bucks into it) Before we left willington, we stopped off at the Zoo to check out all those crazie NZ animals that we thought we'd see!! (not so tho! there were tiger and bear and bird oh my :S ) We then started our drive back to Aukland. We [View Full Entry]

By Round The World Rach
July 4th 2009

Down On The Farm Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Franz Josef

farm 001

You might remember a while back I mentioned that I'd joined a scheme called WWOOFing - Willing Workers On Organic Farms. The scheme allows travellers to go and work on farms in exchange for food, accomodation and farming experience. I joined up and managed to find a nice sounding dairy farm on the West Coast of the South Island in a little village called Whataroa. The job description was ''Milking cows, shearing sheep, some horse riding and general farm chores'' I decided it sounded okay so I set off to give it a go. When I arrived at the farm I [View Full Entry]

By Kyrias
May 13th 2009

Excellent Adventure (Part II) Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

NZ-roadtrip with kathleen 101

A continuation: Day 5: So when I left off last time, I was in the Marlborough Sounds at Adam’s holiday home. The next day at his place we took out his boat and drove around the sounds for a good chunk of the day, checking out various beaches and such. Sometimes we’d just stop the boat and relax in the middle of the water. When we looked at the water surrounding the boat, we ended up seeing hundreds upon hundreds of clear jellyfish slowly swimming about. It was a very cool scene. We then went for another leisurely hike and just [View Full Entry]

By APB
March 16th 2009

The Wild West Coast Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Lake Hawea

After leaving Cromwell, we drove past Lakes Dunstan, Hawea and Wanaka, on our way to the Haast Pass. These are beautiful lakes. Paua decided that Lake Hawea was her favorite of all the ones we had so far seen. After passing the end of Lake Wanaka, the road wound upwards through bush to the Haast Pass. It didn't feel so very high up, due to the towering mountains which now surrounded us, and as we were in the midst of native forest cover. But soon the rivers were now flowing the other way, towards a hidden West Coast, so we had [View Full Entry]

By NickMar
March 6th 2009

West Coast 1 - 26-28th Feb Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Hokitika

Hokitika Gorge

Overnight at Murchison Follow Buller River thru gorges etc down to Westport. No time for suspension bridge / slide wire trip! Lunch picnic at Carters Beach Down coast to Greymouth, Hokitika and then Lake Kaniere where Jim & Margaret were waiting to meet us. The house is now finished (apart from the odd cupboard door) and a great place to stay. we were lucky that it was fine and next day went with them to see the Hokitika Gorge with fantastic blue water. (pic to follow) [View Full Entry]

By NickMar
March 6th 2009

West Coast 2 - 1/2 Mar Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast » Haast

Haast River

Last time we travelled down the W Coast we stopped to see the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers but it was too cloudy to see the mountains. This time it was too wet and cloudy to see the glaciers either! We compensated by going to watch a short film shot from helicopters showing amazing views of the mountains, glaciers, rivers and lakes. Stopped south of Haast on site at Okuru near the beach - and the sun came out! [View Full Entry]

By Adam and Dais
February 10th 2009

From Beaches to Glaciers! Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Fox Glacier

After arriving into Picton via Marlborough Sounds we headed across to the West coast of the south island to begin our trip down south. The first stop was the Abel Tasman National Park, which we knew would be different from most NZ national parks, as this one was mainly beaches and coast line (and not mountains!), and at first we thoughts it would be good, but nothing special.....how wrong we were. It turned out to be one of the most stunning and memorable days we had. We started our day from the southern section of the park, and took a water [View Full Entry]

By johnh
January 31st 2009

Days 46 - 49 - Cruising Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Hi blog readers! I'm afraid I've been neglecting you in the last couple of weeks. So let's do a few excuses. First of all, the internet access on the ship was very expensive, and also very unreliable. Secondly, I've not had the time or the inclination, as there seems to have been a lot happening, which I'll try and summarise. After leaving Tauranga, we had a day at sea, en route to Christchurch, with excellent weather, so we spent a lot of time on the deck, in and out of the various swimming pools and hot tubs, trying to catch a [View Full Entry]

By Shivers Timbers
January 24th 2009

Faulkner/Blunt visit - Part III Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Jackson Bay

Faulkner/Blunt Visit - Part III and final chapter....must move on to next round of news and guests.... January 8 - 12, 2009 Thursday - Left Queenstown fairly early to head to Wanaka to Puzzling World and quick visit with the Ellis family again. Syd forgot her shoes on Tuesday and we needed to collect them. The weather was nice in Wanaka and we should have stayed there longer. It was 2 days of HEAVY rain from mid day on Thurs until Friday night. The pass from Wanaka to the West Coast (Haast) was gorgeous - lush rainforests, beautiful waterfalls and great [View Full Entry]

By Annalise 13
January 17th 2009

The Wild West Coast! Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast

Pancake Rocks

I've made it through the west coast with only a smattering of rain! This part of the country is amazingly beautiful with high mountains right along the coast line with a few glaciers thrown in there and lots of rivers and gorges! I left the nelson area and headed south to Westport, or as the locals say...Deadport. Basically sums it all up. But I did meet an interesting fellow while waiting for the bus out of town. He was an older chap, he claimed 54 but I suspect older. He was on his way down the coast to go gold mining. [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » West Coast