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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 8th 2009

Hitching my way to Wellington... Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

In the evening (5th October) Alex, Dan and Me just did the usual chill out and jam type session and had great fun. It was becoming very clear to me that I was going to miss these guys! Kindly Alex had offered for me to stay at his house in Wanako on the South Island when I'm down there, so at least I will see him again! I'm going to try and meet up with Dan again when I have to head north for my return flight! Alex continued to crack me up with his puns that he managed to make [View Full Entry]

By Eluned
October 8th 2009

Milford Sound + Gunn's Camp Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Fiordland National Park » Milford Sound

The Mirror Lakes

Day one of the Stray Adventure! Getting on the bus with a load of people who had already been on the bus together for ages was the tiniest bit strange. There's all these bus games about Spaceships and tractors or something? I have no idea if every Stray bus does them or if ours was just weird. On the way to Milford Sound to begin with, though stopped in Te Anau for an extremely delicious veggie pie. Mmmm. Then on a phote stop we ran into a Korean filming crew, making a documentary about the mammoths in the ice age (I [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 8th 2009

Te Papa Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Te papa museum

Walked into town and looked around at a couple of shops before heading for some lunch. Mom, I had eggs benedict which was good but no where near as good as yours!!! We headed to Te Papa museum which is free. It's a huge museum with 6 floors of stuff to look at and a few interactive things. There is a section on Maori culture and polynesian culture. They also have a giant squid that is preserved in some liquid. I couldn't get a good picture of it but it's HUGE. We walked around there until our feet hurt and we [View Full Entry]

By jujubee
October 8th 2009

From Dunedin to the Catlins... Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown

Day 28 1st October - Dunedin This morning we jumped on the bus into the City Centre and made our way to the Cadbury’s Factory - Yes the Chocolate one!!  Unfortunately there were no Umpalumpas much to Steve’s and my disappointment, made even worse when the children were given big chocolate Easter eggs and not us!!! We did get free chocolate though and the smell inside the factory is delicious!!! We also saw one of the world’s largest chocolate waterfalls which to our disappointed is only there for the entertainment of the people doing the tours. From Chocolate to c [View Full Entry]

By Feral Mike
October 8th 2009

Solo Cycle Tour of New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Ponsonby

A Solo Cycle Ride - An Opportunity to Raise Funds for Oxfam
From one end of NZ to the other over the summer of 2009/10. http://www.oxfam.org.nz/events/teams.asp?a=show_team_pages&eventid=20&teamid=3838

Feral Mike and the Beast of Burden Coming Soon - Departure Day is Tuesday 13 October, 2009 http://www.oxfam.org.nz/events/teams.asp?a=show_team_pages&eventid=20&teamid=3838 My grandfather told me: Always wear underpants beneath your kanzu before you mount your bicycle. Foolishly I mocked him, and now my heart is a dry ear pod. I was cycling home from the market when a terrible whirlwind blew up my kanzu, ballooning it over my face and lifting me far above the ground. I kept control but when the bike landed I sat down hard upon my testicles, squashing them agai [View Full Entry]

By Leanne and Simon
October 7th 2009

Hitting the road in our Spaceship Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Coromandel

Cathedral Cove

Sept, 13 - Sept, 27 Hiring a campervan and hitting the open road is kind of obligatory when in New Zealand so we found the cheapest possible deal ($30 a day) and picked up a bright orange converted people carrier that is now known as a Spaceship called Ray. We took Ray to a town called Hahei from there we would explore the Coromandel Peninsula (the top right part of the north island). We parked up at a site on a farm and ended up getting loads of bites on our legs. We hoped this was from insects in the long [View Full Entry]

By Richard Cranium
October 7th 2009

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Kia Ora Bro (hello) from Aotearoa; the land of the long white cloud. "Everything here is more magnificent. The landscape is familiar in the sense it has been formed by rain, but the vegetation is unusual and the mountains seem so much sharper. If you're looking for what the poets used to call 'the awful' - a sense of awe - that is what you find in New Zealand. And its wild in a way that England isn't wild." - Sir Ian Mckellen Gandalf is right, it beats the shit out of England and despite having only 4 million people there [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 7th 2009

Windy Welly Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington

Climbing wall
You know you're in NZ when they have climbing walls in the middle of the sidewalks.

If anyone has ever told you that Wellington is a also known as Windy Welly, they were right! It's SOOO windy here. All the time too, not just some days, everyday. It's ridiculous. Meike and I did a town walk to check out the town and ended up at the Beehive (their parliament building). It's called the beehive because that's exactly what it looks like. Wellington is the capital of NZ so all the government buildings are there. We stopped for lunch before walking up the famous Cuba Street. It's a street with a bunch of cafes and shops and is [View Full Entry]

By Deirdre and Diarmuid
October 7th 2009

Roturua - Gateway to Geyserland Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Rotorua

Pohutu Geyser, Te Puia

Hi, Well we arrived in Rotorua in the evening of Friday 22nd May. As soon as we drove into the town a strong smell of sulphur hit us and it took a few minutes for us to figure out what it was until we saw all the steam rising from various cracks in the footpaths and other sulphur pools around the town. Tired we drove around for a long time looking for somewhere to camp for the night, but arriving by dark to a new place always proves difficult, we eventually found a spot by Lake Rotorua to camp for the [View Full Entry]

By roesweld
October 7th 2009

Rotorua and New Plymouth Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Te Aroha

On the way to Rotorua

Sorry to be so long in writing. We haven't frozen, but it was the worst snowstorm that the North Island had seen in 25 years. They closed quite a few highways just a little south of us and there was snow on the mountain in front of Kenneth and Dianne's which they hadn't seen in the 20 years that they have lived here. We just stayed inside for two days close to the fire and trying to make ourselves go into the rest of the house where we could see our breath. Going to bed was quite an experience until the [View Full Entry]

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