View from Hilltop Tavern

Camp Life

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January 23rd 2006
For the next leg of my journey I caught the Atomic Shuttle down to Christchurch and co-incidentally travelled with Ronan (home town Armagh), chuckling at the drivers random commentary, and he directed me towards a hostel he had stayed in before, the New Excelsior, close to Cathedral Square. The backpackers felt very run-down, grubby and unsafe in a way like university halls and the tension in the ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Banks Peninsula

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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... ... read more