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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 Laurene
October 15th 2009

First day of "work" Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Picton

I woke up and grabbed some free breakfast (toast, jam and cereal) and waited until 10 am to start my new ‘job”. Peter is the owner of the hostel and gives each of us certain jobs to do that day. I was on odd jobs for my first day. Since there was a lot of people leaving I helped Audrey with making beds. We have to strip the beds first of their old bedding and then put the new stuff on. Pretty simple. Audrey is from Paris, France and has a cute french accent. After I made the beds I vacuumed [View Full Entry]

By the kemps
October 14th 2009

Abel Tasman and Golden Bay - Stairway to Heaven #2 Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park » Marahau

This doesn look real
I love this photo!!

We left Murchison quite early and headed to Motueka to stock up on provisions for the next few days, making sure we raided a deli of at least five different cheeses before we left! We had been told of a really sweet place to stay right on the edge of Abel Tasman NP so after stopping off at a gorgeous bay for some lunch we made our way round the windy roads to the Barn and spent the afternoon getting to know our NEIGHbours over a few beers! The Abel Tasman is the smallest Nat Park in all of NZ but [View Full Entry]

By roesweld
October 14th 2009

New Zealand Sentimental Journey Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Te Aroha

Crumpets for breakfast

We have returned to Te Aroha from a trip that was from Saturday until Wednesday and we are a little zonkered from so much socializing. I didn't take too many pictures because I wasn't able to use the computer much. We did check our e-mail whenever we could to check up on any news of Barb Decker. Saturday afternoon, we ventured back to the big city of Auckland (actually South Auckland) to stay with our friends Grace and Lifi Ikiua whose daughter Anna stayed with us for a month about two years go. It was great to catch up with them. [View Full Entry]

By Leanne and Simon
October 14th 2009

Boozing and tubing Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Greymouth

Paradise duck

Greymouth, October 14 - 18 Having missed out on river tubing in Waitomo because of flooding we decided to stop in the small town of Greymouth on the west coast as this was somewhere we could experience floating down a river in a giant rubber ring. We stayed at Duke backpackers which was a lovely hostel providing free soup in the evening and toast for breakfast. It was run by a friendly Israeli who made us feel really welcome and had its own bar where Simon beat me at pool. Greymouth is not an especially pretty town as we discovered on [View Full Entry]

By Cassidy
October 14th 2009

WWOOFing and other such things... Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » New Plymouth

Let’s see…. Where did I leave off? Janelle and I spent two nights at that awesome hostel in Waitomo. On Saturday we walked the Waitomo Walkway. But don’t let the name mislead you- there is no “walkway” involved. It had been pouring the night before, and the trail was not much of one. It was the muddiest thing, and the path was hard to follow as some parts were under huge puddles of water and other parts were through cow pasture. It was beautiful, and totally worth it ((see pics on the fbook page)) but by the time we were done [View Full Entry]

By greengirl sydney
October 14th 2009

Freedom of free camping Oceania » New Zealand

Free camping is free and a privilege for motorhome goers, who wouldn't want to park right next to the lake, the beach, forest, hill with incredible top view or anywhere spectacular? But as they say you have to add a sense of carefulness in doing the free camping thing. Some areas in New Zealand prohibits free camping for one main reason, New Zealand is a very clean country and would always want to maintain a better environment for its visitors. Make sure to properly park your vehicle and leave your area as clean as you arrived. You might be seeing “No [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 14th 2009

Off to the South Island!! Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Picton

Photo 2

American girl was checking out this morning as well and going to the train station across the street from my ferry terminal so we left together. We left our bags at the hostel and went for some breakfast when I figured out that I left my glasses in the room. So back we went and I luckily found my glasses. We set off on the walk to the ferry terminal with our bags and everything. It was a 20 minute walk but it was soooo hard with all our stuff and the wind blowing so hard at us. I got on [View Full Entry]

By on_the_road
October 13th 2009

New-Zealand : first we rest a bit Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Islands » Russell

The Sky Tower from Queen street

ca y est, apres cette semaine de dingue au States et un vol de 13h au dessus du pacifique, nous sommes finalement arrive en Nouvelle-Zelande...Pays longuement attendu, mais malheureusement l'acceuil de la meteo ne fut pas a la hauteur de nos attentes et la pluie nous attendait a la sortie de l'aeroport. Nous avons attendu en vain pendant trois jours que le soleil fasse sont apparition dans un petit camping proche de Auckland...mais une fois que la tente a commence a montrer des signes de faiblesse face a la pluie incessante et surtout le fait que celle-ci etant minuscule, nos sacs [View Full Entry]

By Feral Mike
October 13th 2009

BAGGAGE HANDLING PROBLEMS MAR START OF SOLO CYCLE TOUR Oceania » New Zealand » North Island

Departure Day
Outside Ponsonby home - and just 7 km away from the first baggage handling problem!

The odometer had just ticked over 7km when the first pannier fell off. There was a thump and a couple of bounces, and it was gone. I could hardly believe it - but there was suddenly a big gap on the front rack where moments ago the pannier had been attached - the one with all my clothes in it. Slammed on ther brakes, propped the bike against the wire netting that seperated the cyclepath from the motorway and walked back. I clipped the pannier back on, figuring I couldn't have fastened it properly to begin with. A couple of hundred [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 13th 2009

Shoe shopping! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Today was shoe shopping day. I went into a store called Farmers which is basically just a department store like the Bay back home. I ended up finding a really good shirt for job interviews that wasn’t too expensive so I bought it. I went into a couple of shoe stores but everything was so expensive! I finally found a store called #1 shoes which is just like payless shoes back home and found a pair of shoes that will work for job interviews. Yeah me! I got back to the hostel in time to listen to the Flames game and [View Full Entry]

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