South Pacific Ho!

Much of the rest of this comes from Wikipedia to whom I give attribution and thanks. The highlights are mine; The Treaty of Waitangi  ( Māori :  Te Tiriti o Waitangi ) is a  treaty  first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the  British Crown  and  Māori  chiefs from the  North Island  of  New Zealand . It is a document of central importance to the history and political constitution of the state of New Zealand, and has been highly significant in framing the political relations between New Zealand's government and the Māori population. The Treaty was written at a time when British colonists were pressuring the Crown to establish a colony in New Zealand, and when some Māori leaders had petitioned the British for protection against French forces. It was drafted with the intention of establishing a British  Governor of New Zealand , recognising Māori ownership of their lands, forests and other possession...

I have always had an interest in Polynesian culture which i do not think has had enough exposure. We look at the Chinese, Indians and other cultures but the richness and diversity of the settlement of the South Pacific get short shrift. Yet, it is a fascinating and rich. The peoples emanating from Asia settled right across the Pacific to South America and back to the islands in the Pacific and eventually New Zealand. Many people, I think, imagine that the Maoris were in New Zealand from the beginning of time, that is not the case. Maori settlement in New Zealand dates to around 1300 AD. The anthropological theories are quite mixed and one suggests that  New Zealand was first populated by a primitive, nomadic, moa-hunting people (the Palaeolithic Moriori), before being replaced by a superior, agricultural people (the Neolithic Māori). Some maps which try to explain the various human migrations which ended up populating Polynesia. This show...

We woke up to find a message on our email telling us that or flight from Nadi in Fiji to LA had been cancelled. This was due to the fact that TD13F had morphed into Cyclone Keni  and was battering Fiji, closing the Nadi airport.   Fortunately , our incredible tour operator, Aspire Down Under had spotted this and managed to re-book our flights home via Honolulu. The new flight would lave at 2055 this evening, giving us an extra day in Auckland. We called the hotel but they could not give us a late check ou t so we had breakfast and checked out storing our baggage at the hotel to pick up later. It was a rather changeable day with heavy thundery showers interspersed with sunny intervals.   So we decided that the best way to spend the day would be on the hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. We signed up with the tour whi ch is divided into two parts , red and blue. We started on the red tour which took us to the south to Bastion point where there is a monument to the f...