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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 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 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 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 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 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 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]

By cleanpairofeyes
October 13th 2009

The Campervan Chronicles.. Part One Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Marlborough » Queen Charlotte Sounds

Lucy, Raphael and the Sounds

Monday morning came and Raphael and I were dragging our bags through the streets of Christchurch, looking for the Wicked Campervan offices. After I very hard 15 minute walk (I am out of practice at dragging around a backpack), we found the Wicked offices. After some paperwork and an introduction to our new home for the next 17 days we were picking up some food supplies. I have no camping experience and don't have two clues on what we really need and what we don't. We fueled up and hit the road, driving the streets of Christchurch without any idea which [View Full Entry]

By jujubee
October 13th 2009

Day 31 Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Te Anau

Me at Bluff

Day 31 4th October - Catlins to Te Anau via Bluff (Scenic Coastal Highway) After a very wet, windy & rather sleepless night we set off for Te Anau which is the gateway to both Milford & Doubtful Sound. We made a detour on route to Bluff, which is a pretty unimpressive little port town, but we wanted to get our pictures with the Stirling Point Signpost, to prove that we’d managed to travel the entire length of NZ - From Cape Regina to Bluff! We then continued our journey West passing through a quiet little town called Riverton & discovered [View Full Entry]

By Sunriseoversea
October 13th 2009

The South Island... Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Nelson Region » Nelson

I woke up at 6 am (10th Oct) and made the 40 minute walk to the ferry in the freezing cold! After a bit of waiting around we boarded and the ferry left about 30 minutes late at 8:50. The ferry ride was interesting. About an hour into it an announcement was made that the sea was extremely rough and that everyone should sit down or hold onto hand rails. People were desperately grabbing sick bags and everywhere you turned someone was puking into one, this didn't help in terms of trying to contain your own sickness! Everywhere I moved someone [View Full Entry]

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