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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 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 sarah n matt
October 21st 2009

Turkey and Tooks Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Whangarei

Chipmunk
Ryan having fun.

It has been a while since we had our last update, its not that we have been really busy, it’s just that we haven’t done anything really crazy. It’s taken this long to accumulate enough info to make it worth a blog. Spring has definitely sprung, the sun shines between clouds and the rain has just been hosing down. When we get a chance on the odd nice day we try to get out for runs and on weekends we still manage to get the odd hike in. The rainy days in between are filled with movies, reading and Robert Harris [View Full Entry]

By Sushijas
October 21st 2009

Coromandel and More South Island Splendor Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

The Church
The restaurant at the lovely B&B we stayed at in Coromandel.

Coromandel and More South Island Splendor Hello again... Here's what we've been up to... We recently took a quick weekend trip to the Coromandel Peninsula. The peninsula is northwest of us, and is a hugely popular summer destination for Aucklanders. We decided to check it out before high season starts. It takes about 2.5 hours to get to Hahei Beach, where we were staying. The drive was filled with a few small towns along the way. Each are famous for their own reasons: one has great natural spas, another has an original railroad system, and so forth. All of them were [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 saranakash
October 21st 2009

Raglan - Oct 21 Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Raglan

On October 21, we made our way to the surf town of Raglan. Raglan is popular among surfers especially because the waves tend to come ashore to the left instead of straight ahead. A few of the people on the bus took a surf class. I opted out of this one as well - I wasn’t about to spend $75 on something I knew I wasn’t going to be good at. So those of us who didn’t surf went to the beach anyways to watch the surfers and play some Frisbee. Frisbee didn’t work out so well since it was very [View Full Entry]

By jujubee
October 20th 2009

Days 34 to 38 Oceania » New Zealand » North Island

Queenstown from up high...

Day 34 7th October- Te Anau to Queenstown Seeing as we’d seen both Milford & Doubtful Sound, we thought we’d push on to Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of New Zealand! It was a beautiful, sunny day so we thought it best to take advantage of the good weather & take the Skyline Gondola affording us fantastic views of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains. We had an hour or so to explore & get some pictures before watching a Maori culture show, giving us a small insight into Maori life & a chance to see the famous Haka up close. [View Full Entry]

By roesweld
October 20th 2009

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

Kenneth & Dianne with the Pavlova and Trifle

Hello again, Somehow it is Tuesday, the 20th, and we are just amazed at how quickly the time of our holiday has gone. Our dear friend, John Rose, passed away on Sunday afternoon and we will go to his funeral tomorrow. We are blessed to have seen him and have been with the family during this time. Sunday was a family day with the Rangers and we did enjoy being with them. The Pre-Christmas dinner was so much work for Dianne, but was wonderful to have with them. Roast leg of lamb and roast chiken - roast potatoes,kumeras (sweet potato), carrots [View Full Entry]

Going across the first bridge to the Gorge

By CN Travels
October 20th 2009

Mercury Bay Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Coromandel

Coromandel Peninsula

Coromandel Peninsula -- Mercury Bay Driving Out We headed out Tuesday morning in our brand spanking new (okay old and used up) car. We drove from Auckland to the Coramandel Region, and went along the Coastal Route (crazy windy) from Thames to Coromandel Town. We stopped at a few spots to take in the view and take a breath. The road did seem like it was on top of the ocean a lot of the time. The scenery along the drive was just amazing and we stopped at a few beaches to walk in the sand. The east coast beaches have [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 Laurene
October 20th 2009

I need some sun! Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Picton

Cloudy again. I swear I haven’t seen the sun shine in like 6 days!!!! After work we decided to walk into town anyways just for something to do. It was really windy so we just walked back. Pretty uneventful night of playing uno haha. Tomorrow is my day off. Hope it’s sunny!! [View Full Entry]

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