How long could it be before I finished this page – on New Zealand – the country of my birth! As there are many, many photos that can be added to a site on New Zealand, – the scenery is “sooooo” spectacular – it is a shame that I have not done a full tour of the country for so long and taken  hundreds of photos to present! Whenever you meet someone from New Zealand, they are either from the “Mainland” or from the other island – depending on where they were born. (Whisper it – the South Island!) While I have traveled in many parts of both islands, I am firmly of the opinion that each has its own charm, ruggedness, beauty and identity, and I hope to let you decide which one you like best by browsing these pages. I was born on the mainland, at Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, but lived most of my younger days in Hamilton. It is therefore Hamilton that I say I am from – located just over the Bombay Hills actually! New Zealand lies on one of the major faults that span our globe, resulting in a lot of geothermal activity, from White Island, which is uninhabitable, to Rotorua and its famous thermal playgrounds. We used to be waken in Waiouru when I was there, by the rumble of the ground and wondered if it the tanks rumbling past or just another mild earthquake? Some areas, as in Napier, have been devastated in the past by earthquakes, but luckily, most are just mild tremors! New Zealand is also a land of mountains and hills, a lot of them covered with rugged bush. Every week there are many thousands that go tramping and bush walking, and many also that end up lost and get the search and rescue teams out! Our bush though is very safe with no snakes, no poisonous animals or insects and as far as I know, one type of poisonous spider that is found only on rocky beaches! A lot of our birds are only found in New Zealand but most of the mammals have been introduced, not all to the betterment of the country, as in the opossum! The Kiwi bird is our national emblem and most New Zealanders associate with this by calling themselves Kiwi’s and having come from Kiwiland! New Zealand is in the southwest Pacific Ocean, being nearly 2,000 kms from Australia and 18,331 kms from London with a population today of 4.1 million. Overall, the islands are over 1,600 kilometers long, with the widest part being only 450 kilometers. The capital is Wellington, near the base of the North Island with its central position being the deciding factor in transferring the seat of government from Auckland, in 1865.

Auckland is the largest city with a population having just reached one million and over 200,000 inhabitants are from the Pacific islands, which makes Auckland the largest Polynesian city in the world. From the outset, New Zealand has been in the forefront of many areas, as in instituting social welfare legislation and being the world’s first country to give women the right to vote (1893). It adopted old-age pensions (1898); a national child welfare program (1907); social security for the elderly, widows, and orphans, along with family benefit payments; minimum wages; a 40-hour workweek and unemployment and health insurance (1938); and socialized medicine (1941). Another first is the flight on 31^st March 1903, when Richard Pearse flew his home constructed monoplane 150 yards, arguably the first flight in the world. There is uncertainty about whether it met the definitions of sustained flight, but it came eight months before the Wright Brothers entered the record books at Kitty Hawk North Carolina on 17th December 1903. Unlike the Wright brothers’ machine, Pearses machine was of prophetic design, in that it closely resembles a modern micro-light aircraft of today in appearance. On 29^th May (a good day!) 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. William Harrington Atack of Canterbury was the first sports referee in the world to use a whistle to stop a game. Ernest Rutherford made three great breakthroughs, being the first to split the atom, also proved that elements are not immutable, but can change their structure naturally and he built the nuclear model of the atom, which has became the basis for how we see the atom today – a tiny nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons. The writer Katherine Mansfield revolutionized the 20th Century English short story.  Acknowledged widely as the most outstanding soldier of the Second World War, Captain Charles Upham is the only combatant soldier to receive two Victoria Cross’s. Jean Batton was the manifestation of triumph and hope when in 1934 she smashed Amy Johnson’s flight time between England and Australia by six days. The following year she was the first woman to make the return flight. In 1936 she made the first ever-direct flight between England and New Zealand and then the fastest ever trans-Tasman flight.

New Zealand was first discovered about 1000 years ago by the great Polynesian navigator Kupe who sailed here from his homeland Hawaiki – probably from Tahiti. He named the islands Aotearoa, 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 all Maori claim decent from one canoe or another. Previously, the only Maori culture known to most people was the haka, the challenge issued on the rugby field, and in my school days not much was learnt of the history and culture of the Maori. I am glad to say, that there seems to be a revival though, and schoolchildren today are taught both language and culture as part of our shared heritage. 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 Island and gave many sights their English names that are presently in use today. Captain Cook is credited with the main mapping of New Zealand and the “claiming” of the land for the crown of England. It was Able Tasman though, who was the discoverer and who named New Zealand after Zealand in Holland and also gives his name to the Tasman Sea, between Australia and us.

The first white settlers in New Zealand were the farmers, the timber cutters, the whalers and other peoples of tough composition, along with the missionaries. They were a mix of nationalities, being British, the Americans and the French. Deep-sea whaling commenced during the years 1791-2, the first arrival being the whaler, “William and Ann”. Shortly later, in 1792, the whaler “Britannia” began operating in Dusky Sound (South Island). From 1797, American whalers arrived, and during the 1830s, the French whaling ships turned up in significant numbers. The early history of New Zealand is one of the British colonists and the Maori working together and living with each other, and it was not until the retributions of the Maori War did some injustices take place that is still being rectified today. Some of my ancestors actually fought in the Wars and we can claim membership in the Founders Society of New Zealand due to our early arrival in the country. I have always felt sorry there is not more of my heritage that could be associated with one of the first indigenous settlers of New Zealand! Wait – maybe there is – as there are various theories and bits and pieces of “evidence” around that New Zealand may have been visited and even “settled” for a time by various groups that ranged the globe before recorded history. Is it really New Zealand shown on maps of the Phoenicians, and were the tales of lore from the Celts referring to the two islands with rugged mountains referring to New Zealand, and what about the Arab, Tamil and Indonesian travelers visiting New Zealand before Maori and leaving behind some small pieces of their lives here and there? Presently nobody knows for sure, but one day we may begin to know more than what we do now! In 1840, a treaty was signed between the Maori and the Crown concerning sovereignty, but needless to say, it was not always adhered to and the Maori wars developed around 1860. The Maori never signed a surrender in the Wars and were known as ferocious fighters, including their women folk! Through the use of ingenious tactics and innovative fortifications the Maori side was able to withstand the British attacks for many years and it is these fortifications that became the main defense method in the First World War, leading to the trench warfare that this war is most renowned for. Part of the original Treaty of Waitangi is seen here, signed between the British Crown and the Maori people.

THE MORIORI
The Moriori were the early settlers of the Chatham Islands. and arrived in the off the coast of New Zealand either just before or at the same time as the first Māori were busy settling on the mainland. It is sometimes claimed that the Moriori were a race that settled in New Zealand previous to the arrival of ancestors of the Māori; however it appears that there is no evidence to support this belief. The Moriori named these islands Rekohu, after the mist which hangs over the area. Here, the Moriori remained isolated until the European discoverers arrived in 1791. Although the Moriori are close relatives of the Māori, they have distinct features which indicate an independent colonisation from tropical Polynesia. These first settlers were said to be descended from Te Aomarama and Rongomaiwhenua (which is Moriori for Sky Father and Earth Mother). The names of the three canoes bearing the first Moriori settlers were : Rangi Houa, Rangi Mata and Oropuke. Similarly to the Māori, inter tribal warring led to a dangerous decline in the number of the Moriori population, and this was said to have been stopped by the chief Nunuku Whenua, who ordered no more warring to take place so that the population would not become decimated. If a dispute took place, the custom was to cease immediately at the first drawing of blood. In this way, the Moriori became a totally peaceful people. The main activity in the harsh conditions of these islands at that time then became hunting birds, seal and shellfish for survival. The Moriori population increased to an estimated 2000, but later fell to around 1660 after the arrival of the first Europeans. The Europeans arrived in the Chatham Islands (Rekohu) in 1791, as part of George Vancouver’s expedition. The British Lieutenant Broughton sailed in on the brig “Chatham”, took possession of the islands in the name of King George III, and gave them their present day name. As with Abel Tasman and Captain James Cook, the first confused encounters led to violence, with some Moriori being killed. From 1793, whaling and sealing ships from Europe and North America began invading New Zealand and the Chathams, making the Chathams the centre of this industry. They largely ignored the Moriori “tapus” which were directed against killing on breeding grounds, and this European activity killed off one of the main sources of the Moriori diet. In 1835 Maori tribes from the Wellington area arrived in the Chathams, driven south in search of new land, and claiming ownership of the Chathams. A number of Morioris were killed and others captured. The Moriori numbers fell to 101. Most of the Maori eventually left the Chathams by 1870. It was Solomon’s grandfather, the chief of the Rauru tribe, who convinced the Moriori to remain pacifist during the invasion of their land. Tame Horomona Rehe Solomon, known as Tommy Solomon, the last full blooded Moriori, died in 1933. New Zealand has a maritime climate, affected by latitude and the proximity of the ocean.

I have had a couple of trips to New Zealand over the years, but usually during the years it has been a trip every three years or so, once work contracts have finished and before the next one starts. But one trip was for a great purpose and timing. In 2004 Marg and I made it back to New Zealand arriving the night before my mother’s birthday on the 25^th April. This was the first time in many years that either of us had been there for her birthday, not since 1972 or there abouts I think! Marg went to the Anzac Day parade the next day at dawn which I decided to skip and then later in the year my Mum took ill and died within six weeks. So, plenty of guilt to take across to Gallipoli as a penance for missing that last dawn parade which my mother always turned up to and was a real patriotic New Zealander! We spent a few weeks around Hamilton on this trip with mainly day tripping to other places, cooking a dinner party for Mum so she could show me off to her friends and just relaxing down a bit. Six weeks later I was back for a couple of weeks when she had her terminal illness and then two years later back again after Marg died. So, not always good events for the trips to New Zealand and the next one is probably only going to happen in 2025 all going well. The photos on the various pages are a compilation of the trips from this time plus from previous trips to visit family. A beautiful country and with plenty of spectacular scenery and some spectacular and exciting adventure sports to do – so why do I not live there? Because I always can and for me the world is out there and presently, I am just hours away from Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai, all major gateways to the rest of the world! That for me is a good enough reason to stay across the oceans!