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New Zealand Travel Blogs

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 Ferdi and Talita
October 4th 2009

Day 248-252: Auckland, New Zealand Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » North Shore

From the lack of pictures in this issue of our blog it should be apparent to the casual observer that not much happened in the last few days. We hope you still enjoy hearing from us even though pulling teeth might be more entertaining. Anyway, lets get on with it… Happy birthday to our sister Lindy and our friend Megan! Hope you had a fantastic day and may God bless you with many joyful years to come. Thursday, October 1st Today we said a sad farewell to our van, The Three Sisters. We spent 65 days together, covered 7510 trouble free [View Full Entry]

By ICELilly
October 4th 2009

Akoroa and Canceled Flights Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Akaroa

Brighton Pier

I woke up at 3:30am this morning. In a stumbling sleepy daze, I showered and packed my bags, only to be interrupted by the sound of the B&B owner dressed in his robe - "Your shuttle is delayed two hours. Breakfast is at 6:30. Go back to sleep." I know to most of you that sounds really great, but I was so ready. So incredibly ready. I grabbed my Kindle, set my alarm for 6:15 and eventually fell back to sleep. At 7:00am, the shuttle picked us up and took us to the CDC. At approximately 30 seconds from the doors [View Full Entry]

By Lowery
October 4th 2009

45 Degrees South, 168 Degrees East Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Otago » Queenstown

sunset/moonrise

A warm hello to all our friends and family waaay up north, and welcome to our newest blog from Queenstown, New Zealand. We finished our last entry searching around for somewhere to live that wasnt a garage with a bed and a sofa in it, and after a couple of weeks searching through the local rags we spotted a cottage available to rent. Along we went for a viewing, and to our delight it was perfect for what we needed. It is a two bedroomed bungalow with a nice log fire in the living room. When lit, it makes you [View Full Entry]

41 Goldfield Heights, our home away from home

By the kemps
October 4th 2009

Franz Josef Glacier and Hokitika Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef

Franz Josef - Wicked

The road to Franz Josef was pretty cool and we arrived just as the mist and the rain set in. The one difference between here and home is they actually know what the weather is doing so we were advised to wait it out for a day until the skies cleared. This basically involved a lot of brandy and backgammon! We did manage to nip out in the rain for a hot chocolate and a muffin and then we were very kindly given a free hot tub for an hour courtesy of spaceships - just what you need when every part [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 3rd 2009

Mount Doom Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Tongariro National Park

picture spot

Well my lovely brother decided to finally text me back but did it at 5 am and woke up everyone in my room haha. Packed up this morning and had breakfast. We weren't sure what time the stray bus was coming to get us so we stuck around the hostel and waited. Not so fun haha. It finally came at 10:30am. We stopped for some lunch and a picture stop on the other side of lake Taupo and then drove into Tongariro Park. There are 3 volcanoes in the area, one of them is Mount Doom from the Lord of the [View Full Entry]

By ICELilly
October 3rd 2009

Falling in love with Kiwi Land Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch

Christchurch, NZ

I love it here. Of all of my travels, this place is somewhere I could see myself never leaving. It must be something in the air. The flight that was supposed to leave NZ for McMurdo Station never left the ground yesterday. There are all of these rumors, none of which I know for sure because I haven't checked my work email in days! Nonetheless, I'm stuck in this lovely country until Monday for sure. No problem at all. I headed straight for the bus station in Christchurch after breakfast yesterday (with two seal biologists from Montana State!), and hopped on [View Full Entry]

By Jompa
October 2nd 2009

Aukland / Nya Zeland Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland

Aukland/Nya Zeeland Kära vänner, ärade prennumernater (alla sju) nu ska ni få ett tips: när ni ska ut och resa, välj då inte INTE resmål där huvuddelen av målguppen tog studenten i våras. Och om ni ändå måste, välj då för i böveln inte billigaste möjliga ställe! Undvik därmed allt som börjar med Backpackers... Det gjorde inte jag. Och nu sitter jag här. Känner mig som farfar och rent museal. Tittar ut över ett böljande hav av baggy jeans, fjuniga mustascher och nygjorda rastaflätor. Näe, melodin för att känna sig ung & fräsch är att med omsorg välja resmål där man [View Full Entry]

By the kemps
October 2nd 2009

Milford Sound and Lake Wanaka Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Wanaka

The journey begins

We left very early to start the journey to Milford Sound, unfortunately in the rush, a tragedy occurred, Ted, the turtle that I bought as a replacement for Barclay must have dropped out of the van and his final resting place was Te Anau - bye Ted. Luckily Tel decided to drive and I was very grateful, its basically a twisty turny road round hairpin bends and tunnels through the southern Alps, amazing but also nauseating in a car! We made it just in time to get the afternoon boat and were talked into buying the special winter package of barbeque [View Full Entry]

By Laurene
October 2nd 2009

Coastal Walk Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Taupo

Lake Taupo

We stopped in town to mail some postcards and then started off on the coastal walk. It was pretty cold and cloudy but not raining. Lots of black swans, ducks and seagulls wandering around. Saw some baby ducks. There was a couple of really nice houses right on the lake overlooking it. I had to take a couple of pics. They probably cost a lot with the view they have. I got really tired of walking so I turned around and headed back to the hostel and Meike kept on walking. I listened to some of the Flames game on the [View Full Entry]

By Sunriseoversea
October 1st 2009

Surfing NZ... Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Raglan

My first surf was awesome!! The lesson (29th Sept) began in a large hangar and we were told some safety stuff and basic techniques for how to stand up on the board. The one-pop and four step techniques, the four step technique involved leaning heavily on my right knee which was not possible for me so I pretty much only had the option of doing the one-pop technique (which is generally the recommended one anyway). The one pop technique basically involves pushing yourself off the board in a sort of press-up motion (but with your hands further back) and then landing [View Full Entry]

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