The Rough Guide to New Zealand

INTRODUCTIONNew Zealand comes with a reputation as a unique land packed with magnificent, raw scenery: craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests, snowcapped alpine mountains, bubbling volcanic pools, fastflowing rivers and glacierfed lakes, all beneath a brilliant blue sky. Even Kiwis themselves named after the endearing, if decidedly odd, flightless bird that has become the national emblem seem to be filled with astonishment at the stupendous vistas of what they like to think of as Godzone (Gods own country).All of this provides a canvas for boundless diversions, from strolls along windswept beaches and multiday tramps over alpine passes to the adrenalincharged adventure activities of bungy jumping and whitewater rafting; in fact, some visitors take on New Zealand as a kind of largescale assault course, aiming to tackle as many adventures as possible in the time available. The onetime albatross of isolation even Australia is fifteen hundred kilometres away has become a boon, bolstering New Zealands clean, green image, which is, in truth, more an accident of geography than the result of past government policy.To a large extent New Zealand lives up to these expectations, and remains unfettered by the crowds youd find elsewhere. Whats more, everything is easily accessible, packed into a land area little larger than Britain but with a population of just 3.8 million, over half of it tucked away in the three largest cities: Auckland, the capital Wellington, and the South Islands Christchurch. Elsewhere, you can travel miles through steephilled farmland and rarely see a soul, and there are even remote spots which, its reliably contended, no human has ever visited.Geologically, New Zealand split off from the supercontinent of Gondwanaland early, developing a unique ecosystem in which birds adapted to fill the role normally held by mammals, many becoming flightless through lack of predators. That all changed around 1200 years ago when the arrival of Polynesian navigators made this the last major land mass to be settled by humans. On sighting the new land from their canoes, Maori named it Aotearoa the land of the long white cloud and proceeded to radically alter the fragile ecosystem, dispatching forever the giant ostrichsized moa, which formed a major part of their diet. A delicate ecological balance was achieved before the arrival of Pakeha white Europeans, predominantly of British origin who swarmed off their squarerigged ships full of colonial zeal.The subsequent uneasy coexistence between Maori and European societies informs both recorded history and the current wrangles over cultural identity, land and resource rights. The British didnt invade as such, and were to some degree reluctant to enter into the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealands founding document, which effectively ceded New Zealand to the British Crown while guaranteeing Maori hegemony over their land and traditional gathering and fishing rights. As time wore on and increasing numbers of settlers demanded to buy ever larger parcels of land from Maori, antipathy soon surfaced, eventually escalating to hostility. Once Maori were subdued, a policy of partial integration ensured the rapid dilution of their cultural heritage and all but destroyed Maoritanga the Maori way of doing things. Maori, however, were left well outside the new European order, where difference was perceived as tantamount to a betrayal of the emergent sense of nationhood. Although elements of this still exist and Presbyterian and Anglican values have proved hard to shake off, the Kiwi psyche has become infused with Maori generosity and hospitality, coupled with a colonial mateyness and the unerring belief that whatever happens, shell be right. However, an underlying inferiority complex seems to linger: you may well find yourself interrogated as to your opinions of the country almost before you leave the airport. Balancing this out is an ext