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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 Stacie
September 13th 2005

South Island of New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

Fox Glacier

Well week two has come and gone and I’m still loving New Zealand. I have just about finished with the South Island and it was even more beautiful than the North (although a bit tamer with the activities!) There has been a lot of time spent on the bus but the scenery has certainly been worth it. One third of New Zealand is National Park and the vast majority of those are in the South Island so the vistas have been beautiful. We crossed over to the South Island via a four-hour ferry ride through the Marlborough Sound, which was beautiful. [View Full Entry]

By pamdu
September 13th 2005

abel tas and around Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Abel Tasman National Park

Here we are again, back at the pc to tell you tales of our wonderful relaxing time etc etc. We think the last you got was us in Queenstown. Now that was some time ago and so much has happened since ... From Queenstown we went up to arrowtown and looked at restored chinese settlement (v interesting) and bought some v nice homemade fudge. and had a gourmet pie - we are now pie fanatics (as is all NZ)! from there went to glenorchy where a lot of LOTR was filmed. as you can imagine v nice scenery. we tried to [View Full Entry]

By Rhoads in New Zealand
September 12th 2005

Getting settled in Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Belmont Regional Park

So after visiting Auckland and buying our car, we travelled to Wellington. We drove straight through, car overpacked, on small winding roads, at night, driving on the "wrong side of the road" in a strange land, for 9 hours, give or take. Wouldn't recommend doing it that way, but we needed to find a place to live, get the kids in school and start setting up a place to call home. Fortunately Scott's company paid for a two week stay in a hotel that had a small kitchen, dining and living room as well as two bedrooms. By the end of [View Full Entry]

By Rachelbeth
September 12th 2005

On Yer Bike Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Hawkes Bay » Hastings

Priceless

After the South Island trip and the overload of blogs I took a break to catch up with school (yah I actually have work to do!!), and to reintroduce myself into my fav city, Wellington!!! Although; I've been taking it easy (at least by my standards) I've had some interesting moments so here is the rundown to catch ya up with my life down under... Out and About in Welly Well I managed to push the South Island out of my head and get all my essays and projects in...and with time to spare...well maybe it was only a few [View Full Entry]

By Napoleon
September 11th 2005

Oriental Bay/Beach Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Today I woke up late because I have not been feeling well this weekend. Just a cold I think. Last night Andy and I had epic competition against Bluff and Dan, loosing the first 7 game series. Today I went outside for lunch, Indian Food. On the way back I bumped into a few people from McKenzies that were headed to the beach. It was a very nice afternoon, so I decided that I wanted to take the van to the beach aswell. I called some friends and loaded the van up with Kiwis. We played touch rugby and just hanged [View Full Entry]

By Hakuna_matata86
September 11th 2005

Kaikoura Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Kaikoura

Very easy day today, short trip up to Kaikoura from Christchurch, stopped briefly to see a very close to seal colony. Following that out arrival in Kaikoura was disappointing as very very foggy, resulting in no dolphin or whale trips :( Off to Wellington tomorrow! [View Full Entry]

By Hakuna_matata86
September 10th 2005

Christchurch - Day 2 Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch

As I anticipated, lazy sigthseeing day. But has been one of the best days I've had so far. Turned out it wasn't just Me, Paul and another couple arriving in Christchurch yesterday, Ross arrived separately. Anyway Ross left mid morning to go and catch his flight to Auckland and link to LA. So me and Paul went on the Tram around central Christchurch, following that I walked down to the Arts Centre and saw where Ernest Rutherford did all his initial experiments on the atom during his university studying. Some of the equipments they had to use!! Then did lots of [View Full Entry]

By ShellyAbroad
September 10th 2005

Life and Times of Hometown New Zealand: A visit to Ngaire's home in Hastings Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Hawkes Bay » Hastings

Hastings

Ever since I became friends with ngaire I wanted to visit vist her hometown. It is something about going home with someone, when you really understand them as a person. Plus, getting out the hussle of welly is a good thing- NZ hometowns are where the cultural immersion really happens-in my opinion. Welly is such an international city- with ppl from all over the world. hastings, rather, is a genuine NZ town. purely kiwi. just what i was looking for! Hastings is a small town of around 40,000. It is in the middle of Hawke's Bay- a region on the eastern [View Full Entry]

By PHYSIO DAVE
September 10th 2005

GUEST BLOG: The Wild West Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wanganui » Wanganui

Whakapapa ski fields

Hey everyone! Elinor here doing a guest blog with a gun to my head... Apologies that most of you probably only know me as the nutter who jumped from a plane but Gemma and Dave have turned into rednecks since leaving Wellington so you don't want to mess with them. It all started in Wanganui, on our way up the Wild West Coast of North Island. The towns have got quieter and there has been a bit more contact with the yocals. Wanganui was... well what can I say? Ummm very pretty. We didn't do a massive amount there as the [View Full Entry]

By annaspannerbanana
September 9th 2005

Captain Stokes and her adventures on the South Island..... Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

Looking down over the Wellington

I was slightly nervous as I approached Wellington as I was being picked up at the bus station by Amy and Randal. They are two of the 5 New Zealanders who looked after me on Boxing Day after being hit by the wave, they all looked after me for nearly 24 hours until I was helicoptered off to hospital and I didn't think I'd ever see them again. As it turned out I came across a local newspaper article on the internet, I started reading it and recognised a few of the details and realised it was one of the girls [View Full Entry]

Me and Amy on top of Victoria Head, Wellington

Leaving Wellington and the North Island behind...

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