|
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand comes with a reputation as a unique
land packed with magnificent, raw scenery: craggy
coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests,
snow-capped alpine mountains, bubbling volcanic
pools, fast-flowing rivers and glacier-fed 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"
(God's own country). All of this provides a canvas
for boundless diversions, from strolls along windswept
beaches and multi-day tramps over alpine passes
to the adrenalin-charged adventure activities
of bungy jumping and whitewater rafting; in fact,
some visitors take on New Zealand as a kind of
large-scale assault course, aiming to tackle as
many adventures as possible in the time available.
The one-time albatross of isolation – even Australia
is fifteen hundred kilometres away – has become
a boon, bolstering New Zealand's 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
you'd find elsewhere. What's 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 Island's Christchurch.
Elsewhere, you can travel miles through steep-hilled
farmland and rarely see a soul, and there are
even remote spots which, it's reliably contended,
no human has ever visited.
Geologically, New Zealand split off from the super-continent
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 ostrich-sized 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 square-rigged 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 didn't invade as such, and were to
some degree reluctant to enter into the 1840 Treaty
of Waitangi, New Zealand's 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, "she'll 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 extraordinary enthusiasm
for sports and culture, which generate a swelling
pride in New Zealanders when they witness plucky
Kiwis taking on the world. Only in the last couple
of decades has New Zealand come of age and developed
a true national self-confidence, something partly
forced on it by Britain severing the colonial
apron strings in the early 1970s, and partly by
the resurgence of Maori identity. Maori demands
have been nurtured by a willingness on the part
of most Pakeha to redress the wrongs perpetrated
over the last century and a half, as long as it
doesn't impinge on their high standard of living
or overall feeling of control. More recently,
integration has been replaced with a policy of
promoting two cultures alongside each other, but
with maximum interaction.
Return to Vacation
Guides
|
