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Underlined words and phrases on the pages are links to other pages and
resources. Click on the word/phrase to go to that page.
New Zealand was first discovered about 1000 years ago by the great Polynesian
navigator Kupe who sailed here from his homeland Hawaiki. He named the islands
AOTEAROA, which
means "Land Of The Long White Cloud".
Kupe returned to Hawaiki and left
instruction on how to get here.
About 400 years later Maori arrived back in Aotearoa with seven great canoes and
began to populate the North Island.
The Dutchman Abel Tasman landed in 1642, charted part of the coastline and named
it Staten Land, believing it was part of the Australian continent. When his mistake was
discovered the country was renamed Nieuw Zeeland.
In 1769 James Cook came to New Zealand, extensively charted both North and South
Islands and gave many points in New Zealand their present names.
Today, New Zealand is a progressive modern nation bordered on the East by the Pacific Ocean and on the West by the Tasman Sea. New Zealand has a population of (depending on your source of information) approximately 4 million people and (again, depending on your source) some 80 million sheep. After you've toured around the countryside a bit, you'll swear you've seen EVERY ONE of those darned sheep, and you'll wish you'd met EVERY ONE of those friendly, delightful people. New Zealanders, who refer to themselves as "Kiwis", after the unique, flightless national bird, are among the world's friendliest, most hospitable people. It is with deep regret that on these pages we can explore only a very small part of New Zealand's rich heritage of discovery and settlement and the Maori culture. Further study into these areas, you will find, will be most rewarding and is greatly encouraged. It's said that we Okies are a friendly, courteous and outgoing lot, but the Kiwis would make us seem a bunch of stuffy, uptight old crabs by comparison. (Hope I don't catch a LOT of flack about that remark).
We arrived in New Zealand on January 4th after a LONG flight from Los Angeles
of a bit over 13 hours. Belinda stayed in NZ for 3 weeks and I stayed 5 weeks
in order to do some tramping on the
Milford Track
and the
Queen Charlotte Track.
On the 2nd morning in Auckland, we left on a 3-day tour of the Northlands.
Click here to go to the Northlands
page.
See my Milford Track pages
NewZealand,com
Click above for one of the most
comprehensive sources
of New Zealand information on the WWW. Register (it's free) and enjoy all the benefits
of this great resource.
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While in the Auckland area, we stayed at the Parnell Inn. The large Norfolk Pine tree near the center of this photo is in the front court of Parnell Inn. |
Another was the travel guides posted on the WWW by the
New Zealand Automobile Association (AA).
These are but a few of the many resources available. A web search on
key words "New Zealand" plus whatever topic you're particularly interested
in will yield a gold mine of information. New Zealand is very well represented on the WWW.
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After returning from Paihia and points north, we left Auckland heading south to
visit our friends, Jill & Charlie Curtis, in Christchurch. We went by train
from Auckland to the Capitol City, Wellington. We didn't stay long in
Wellington, having spent a few days there on a previous trip in '89. This
photo is of the Wellington skyline from the magnificent Botanical Gardens, which
may be reached via a STEEP tram ride from the city centre. After an overnight stay at a Wellington hotel, we boarded the Cook Strait Ferry for a most relaxing and enjoyable crossing of the Strait to Picton, made a connection on InterCity bus and on to Christchurch. (Click here to go to the Christchurch page). |
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Click on the Kiwi to go to my Milford Track page |
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