All About Countries - New Zealand by allaboutcountries

New Zealand

Contents General Information

History 6 Nature 18

Personalities 45

People 28

Russell Ira Crowe

Economy & Transportation

Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai

Peter Robert Jackson

Ernest Rutherford

apirana Ngata

Katherine Mansfield

Edmund Hillary

Richie McCaw

Jean Gardner Batten

Bruce McLaren

Culture 42

New Zealand Cuisine

1. Marinated lamb

2. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

3. Maori hangi

4. Possum Stew

5. Sausage sizzles

New Zealand Travel

6. Whitebait Fritter

Wellington 90

7. Green-Lipped Mussels

Auckland 94

8. ANZAC biscuits

Christchurch 98

9. Lamingtons

Hamilton 100

10. Pavlova

Other places

102

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General Information New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is a country located in the south-western Pacific Ocean. The country is made up of 2 main islands: South Island and North Island, and is completely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand also has some 600 or more islands in its componence.

also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory); the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealand’s territorial claim in Antarctica. The country is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

A 5 NZD banknote

Symbol and Coat of Arms

New Zealand covers an area of 268.021 km2, has a density of about 17,5 persons/km2 and its capital is located in the city of Wellington, which hosts about 410.000 people. New Zealand’s national anthem is called ““God Defend New Zealand”” and was written by Thomas Bracken in the 1870’s. The music of the anthem was composed by John Joseph Woods in 1876. New Zealand is organized as a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy and is divided into 16 regions and 53 districts. The country’s total population reaches up to about 4.800.000 people. Other important New Zealand citizens living abroad can be found in countries like: Australia (570.000), United Kingdom (60.000), United States of America (23.000), Canada (10.000) or Netherlands (4.000). The national day of New Zealand is celebrated on 6 February every year. New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. New Zealand is organized into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes. The Realm of New Zealand 4

The flag of New Zealand exists in its present form since 1869 and became the official flag of this Pacific country since 24 March 1902. It is based on the British State Pavilion, the Blue Ensign. On a dark blue background, the flag is divided into two parts. The flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Jack is located in the upper left corner. The use of the Union Jack symbolizes the link with the United Kingdom and the affiliation of New Zealand to the Commonwealth. The right half of the flag is dominated by four red stars with 5 white bordered points. These stars represent the constellation of the Southern Cross of which only four stars out of five are visible on the flag of New Zealand. The representation of the Southern Cross symbolizes New Zealand’s membership to the Southern Hemisphere. The first New Zealand flag was adopted on 20 March 1834 at a meeting convened by the British representative James Busby, through the vote of the United Tribes of New Zealand represented at the meeting by 25 Māori chiefs, who later made the independence statement of New Zealand in Waitangi in 1835. Three flags were proposed, all of which were supposedly designed by missionary Henry Williams, who would play an important role in the translation of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The heads rejected two other proposals that included the British flag only to support a flag that was a modification of the Saint George Cross. The flag would be known as White Pavilion and would be known as the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand. The need for a flag was pressing, not only because New Zealand ships were being seized in Sydney

for not waving a national flag, but also because it would represent a symbol of independence declared by the Māori chiefs. The history of the flag of this nation dates back to 1834, when the Aboriginal peoples of New Zealand chose the first banner. The headquarters of the New Zealand Company in Wellington, for example, continued to wear the United Tribes flag until Governor William Hobson ordered them to replace it in 1841. The flag that continues being used today was introduced in 1869, although it was not officially adopted until 1902. The design of the United Tribes flag is also present on the back of the medals given to the soldiers who served in the Boer Wars, thus indicating that the United Tribes flag was still used in New Zealand around that era. For several years, debates over the national flag have taken place in New Zealand. A number of people have devised alternative proposals. In November 1979, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Allan Highet, suggested that the flag of New Zealand should be changed and thus sought out an artist who would create a new flag with a silver fern on the right side. The proposal nevertheless attracted little support. In the years that followed, other proposals for flag change were raised, each with a different level of popularity in their support. On 29 October 2014, the government announced that the flag change would be the subject of several referendums to be held in 2015 and 2016. In March 2016, during the second phase of the referendum, New Zealanders vote in a proportion of 56,6% for the retain of their existing flag. The coat of arms depicts a shield with four quadrants divided by a central “pale”. The first quadrant depicts the four stars on the flag of New Zealand. The second quadrant depicts a golden fleece, representing

Flag of New Zealand

the nation’s farming industry, while the third one depicts a sheaf of wheat for agriculture and finally the fourth quadrant depicts a pair of crossed hammers, which represent a symbol for mining. The central pale depicts three galleys, representing New Zealand’s maritime nature and also the Cook Strait. On the left side there is a European woman carrying the flag of New Zealand, while on the right side there is a Māori Warrior holding a Taiaha (Fighting weapon) and wearing a Kaitaka (flax cloak). The Shield is topped by the Crown of Saint Edward, the Monarch of New Zealand’s Crown. Below there is a scroll with “New Zealand” written on it, behind which (constituting the “heraldic compartment” on which the two persons stand) there are two fern branches.

New Zealand’s Coat of Arms

History The history of New Zealand covers more than 700 years, from the time it was discovered and colonized by Polynesian populations, who developed a specific culture, namely the Māori culture. The first European explorer to discover this territory was Abel Tasman, who discovered it on 13 December 1642. Throughout the 17th century, explorers, sailors, missionaries and adventurers have regularly accosted on the shores of New Zealand. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by the British Crown and various Māori chiefs. It incorporated New Zealand into the British Empire and offered equivalent rights to the Māoris and the British. The rest of the 19th century was marked by the local settlement of many Britons and, to a lesser extent, Asian populations. The effects of the war, the establishment of a legal and economic system of European origin, can explain the loss of influence and the impoverishment of the Māori populations.

was highly regulated and the welfare state was particularly powerful. Māori culture experienced a dramatic renaissance and from the 1950’s onwards, many Māori settled in cities. Māori activism led the New Zealand state to promote a greater recognition of the Māori on the basis of the Waitangi Treaty. During the 1980’s, the New Zealand economy experienced a strong liberal deregulation. Foreign policy, traditionally linked to that of the United Kingdom or the United States, has sought to become more autonomous. Successive governments have generally maintained these orientations.

The First Settlers

The first settlers of New Zealand were Eastern Polynesians from Society Islands, Cook Islands, and the Austral Islands of French Polynesia, who probably arrived somewhere between 1050 and 1350 AD. These people sailed in watercrafts known as waka with the help of subtropical meteorological systems, migratory birds or whales and established the indigenous Māori culture. Around the year 1500, some Māori set out to settle on the Chatham Islands, thus developing their own Moriori culture.

Photo depicting the last Moriori people (1900)

The arrival date of the first Māori people varies according to different sources, but many historians The Māori people are most likely descended from people who emigrated agree that they arrived somewhere between 1250 and from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to 1350. New Zealand historian Michael King suggests that the discovery and settlement of New Zealand the 13th century would be the most accurate time of the Māori arrival, while another New Zealand historian, In the beginning of the 1890’s, the New Zealand James Belich, suggests that the middle of the 11th Parliament voted many progressive measures, including century would be the right answer. The Māori people the right to vote for women or the introduction of a reached on the northern part of the North Island, and pensions system. In the 1930’s, the country’s economy encountered the temperate forests and species that they 6

had not seen before in the milder climates from which they originated (Moa, Haast’s Eagle, Weta), discovered new fruits, fish and seafood. They brought with them and introduced on the island various dogs and the Polynesian rat (kiore), the taro, the sweet potato variant called kumara, the mulberry tree and the “Hawaiian spinach”. James Belich gives the following summary of

Māori people rowing

the history of New Zealand before the arrival of the Europeans: “In the 11th century, the Māori occupied a small colony in the north. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the New Zealand population was still only at a few hundred people, but they began to subdivide and spread out, occupying an increasingly important territory. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the population grew, eventually reaching tens of thousands, and the game, which was overexploited, was threatened with extinction. The moa disappeared around the year 1500. Since hunting couldn’t be maintained as an essential mode of subsistence, the Māori populations had to adapt. Demography started to stabilize. Communities became more sedentary, and were structured into socio-economic units, known as iwi. This was the beginning of the “tribal era”, which lasted from the 16th to the 18th century.” The iwi (tribes) divided into hapu (clans) who could’ve argued or fight each other, but still cooperate in case of hostility on the part of another iwi against theirs. The hapu comprised up to several hundred people and was itself divided into whanau (kinship), nowadays a cultural concept still highly respected by the Māori, which lies at the basis of their society’s structure. The iwi and hapu could’ve been shaped differently by conflicts (especially for exploitable resources), the enlargement or reduction of the number of their members, fusions or others. Their names could’ve originated from an

Giant Moa (now extinct)

illustrious ancestor (either woman or man), a milestone point in their history or even the names of the leaders of the groups who decided to strengthen their ties and merge. The past wasn’t misunderstood among the Māori. Their story was preserved in an oral way, through stories and songs. Genealogical experts (whakapapa) could and can recite the list of ancestors of a whanau, hapu or iwi, and go back hundreds of years to the founding ancestors, who were said to have had come from Hawaiki. This knowledge of the ancestral lines had practical aims. On the one hand, it defined membership in the community. The Ngāi Tahu, for example, is represented, by definition, by the people whose ancestor is Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana. On the other hand, it allowed an individual or a group to inherit the mana of renowned ancestors. Finally, it served as proof of land claims since the land of an iwi is that of its ancestors. The Chatham Islands, located more to the east and for a long time uninhabited, were reached and occupied by the Moriori around the year 1500. The Moriori originated from the mythical place known as Hawaiki. According to another version, 7

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana

around the year 1000, a first discovery of the islands was made by Māori migrants of Polynesian origin.

The First European Explorers

The first European explorers who are known to have landed in New Zealand were Abel Tasman and his crew (including Franz Jacobszoon Visscher, pilot-major, and Isaac Gilsemans, who will make the first drawings of the New Zealand), who arrived from Batavia (Netherlands) in 1642 on the Heemskerck and Zeehaen ships. Several of them were killed by the local Māori population on 19 December of the same year, in what is now known as Golden Bay, which Tasman

Abel Tasman together with his wife and daughter

will call “Moordenaers Bay” (Murderers' Bay). A few days after their deaths, Tasman wrote in his journal that the places he and his crew have seen were “very beautiful lands”. They would have seen, among other regions, the Southern Alps. They stopped at D’Urville Island, where Tasman mistook the existence of the Cook Strait for a bight, but had to give up exploring the surrounding area because of the bad weather. No other Europeans visited New Zealand until Captain James Cook’s voyage of 1768-1771 aboard the Endeavor. Sent by the British government, he arrived in 1769 and mapped almost the entire coast, also taking care to describe in details the lands he was exploring, whether in Australia or New Zealand, for a possible colonization. These detailed maps will be used by explorers for a long time. Joseph Banks accompanied him and drew the flora and fauna of the country, alongside Daniel Solander, a Swedish botanist, and several other designers. James Cook will return twice, using New Zealand as the basis for his future explorations of the Australian coast once he had understood that New Zealand wasn’t part of the Terra Australis Incognita continent. He was more open-minded than most of his fellow citizens towards the natives of the countries he had visited as he tried to communicate with them. He would present them to his superiors as “the natural and legal owners of the lands they inhabit”. Following the footsteps of James Cook, George Vancouver and William Broughton went together on the Discovery and Chatham ships. Vancouver will discover the Snares Islands, while Broughton will discover the Chatham Islands in November 1791. In February 1793, Italian Alessandro Malaspina, commander of a Spanish expedition consisting of two ships, explored the region a little and drew a few maps. The year 1820 saw the arrival of Fabian von Bellingshausen, who was then commanding two Russian ships, Mirny and Vostok. He stopped at Queen Charlotte Sound before continuing on to Antarctica. The French were also present in the region the same year as Cook was. De Surville encountered many difficulties and accidents and killed lots of Māori), while Du Fresne was at first on good terms with the Māori but the expedition came to an end after a massacre occurred between Europeans and Māori. Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, Louis Isidore Duperrey and Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont D’Urville were other French people that explored New Zealand. New Zealand was then explored by many whaling and seal ships, as well as various merchants. They exchanged European products and supplies, especially

Captain James Cook

Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont D’Urville

metal tools and weapons, for wood, food, artifacts Māori started to move throughout the whole territory and water from the Māori. Sometimes, Europeans of New Zealand, some in order to benefit from trade exchanged their products for sexual intercourse. For with the Europeans, while others in order to avoid them. the Māori people, agriculture and war have undergone serious transformation through the arrival of the potato and the musket, and the resulting Musket Wars ceased when the arms were more evenly distributed among the Māori. Christian missionaries arrived in New Zealand at the beginning of the 19th century and have started to gradually convert the Māori population, who was ill-supported by their faith in the invasion of Western civilization and European diseases for which they had no immunity. The iwi started to gradually become more important than the hapu, because they were less numerous and therefore easier to manage for Europeans. The Chiefs Hongi Hika (centre) and Waikato meet with Reverend Thomas Kendall

The Treaty of Waitangi

From 1788 to 1840, the islands of New Zealand were formally part of New South Wales (Australia). Acknowledging the disorderly nature of European colonization in New Zealand and France’s increasing interest in the territory, the British government sent William Hobson to proclaim British sovereignty and negotiate a treaty with the Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840. This treaty was however written rapidly and had very confusing terms. Historians are still arguing over the translation of the document into Māori. The treaty was seen as the founding act of New Zealand as a nation and as the charter that guaranteed the rights of the Māori. In 1839, the total non-Māori population consisted of 2.000 people. In 1852, this population rapidly grew to 28.000 persons. At the beginning of 1840, a growing number of European settlers emigrated to New Zealand, encouraged by the efforts of the New Zealand Company, which founded the city of Wellington shortly before the Treaty was signed. In the next two years, the cities of Wanganui, Nelson, and New Plymouth were also founded. Otago was founded in 1848 and Christchurch in 1850. In the 1850’s, most of the interior of the North Island was already known to the Europeans. In the 1860’s, the arrival of various goldsmiths was

expected to increase the knowledge of the geography of the South Island. Two-thirds of the immigrants came from southern England. Very few people of other nationalities emigrated there during that period, the most notable ones being 281 Germans who went to Nelson in 1843 or 1844, 100 French who went to Akaroa in 1840 and a couple of Scots, particularly from Glasgow and Edinburgh, who went to Otago. Less than 2% of the total number of migrants came from Ireland. The treaty was first proposed by Captain William Hobson upon his return from his first expedition to the region. He was therefore given the mandate of the British Government to carry out his plan and received the title of LieutenantGovernor. Returning to New Zealand, he One of the few extant copies of the Treawrote a treaty with ty of Waitangi

The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi

James Busby, the person who drafted the document known as the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand

the help of James Busby, a British representative on the island, which was translated by missionary Henry Williams, who also provided oral translation of the text at the time of signing. Busby also participated in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand,

signed by several Māori leaders in 1835. Hobson was at the head of the British plenipotentiaries. Of the 40 Māori chiefs that were present, the Rangatira (high-ranking chief) Hōne Wiremu Heke Pōkai of the Ngāpuhi iwi was the first to sign. To strengthen the legitimacy of the treaty, eight copies were drafted and sent throughout the country to collect additional signatures. These copies were the following: • The so-called Manukau-Kawhia copy • The Waikato-Manukau copy • The Tauranga copy • The copy of the Bay of Plenty • The copy of Herald-Bunbury • The copy of Henry Williams • The East Coast copy • The Original copy Between February and September 1840, more than 50 discussion meetings were held, and nearly 500 additional signatures were collected. An equal number of tribal chiefs refused to sign. New Zealand was officially declared a separate colony of New South Wales on 16 November 1840. The treaty was a bit destroyed when the government offices of Auckland were destroyed by fire in 1841. The various copies were subsequently connected and placed in a safe in the premises of the Colonial Secretariat in Auckland and then in Wellington. The treaty was short and it contained only three articles: • Article 1 - recognized the sovereignty of the United Kingdom Crown over New Zealand • Article 2 - guaranteed to the signatory chiefs and their tribes the maintenance of their prerogatives and real estate possessions, in particular their lands. It granted the Crown a right of preemption

Hōne Wiremu Heke Pōkai of the Ngāpuhi iwi cutting down the British flag

over any lands that the Māori would like to sell • Article 3 - guaranteed the equality of rights between Māori and British subjects. Significant differences existed between the English and the Māori versions of the text, which were the source of recurring difficulties in its interpretation and greatly limited its scope. The main criticism was based on the nuance between the Māori words “kawanatanga” (literally, governorate), which describes the powers ceded to the Crown in article 1, and “rangatiratanga” (commandment), which refers to the power retained by the tribal chiefs. The nuance between the two concepts might seem obscure to many Māori of the time, and some wonder if they were really aware of what they were committing to. As the concept of land ownership in the Māori world was significantly different from that in the AngloSaxon world, it became a problem: the Māori chiefs saw themselves as “kaitiaki” or guardians of the land and confided in practice the use of land for a given time and purpose. It is possible that some of the signatories thought they were selling the use of land rather than the land itself. At first, the Māori enthusiastically began to trade with those they called “Pākehā” (white folks), and many iwi 11

in the Waikato region, has somehow survived the extension of colonial rule. The movement was weakened by its defeat in 1864, during the Waikato War, but never totally disappeared. The details and interpretations of European settlement and the acquisition of Māori lands remain controversial even nowadays. Overall, the Māori population decreased from 80.000 people to 42.000 persons between 1840 and 1891. In the short term, the treaty had the advantage of preventing the acquisition The Death of Von Tempsky at Te Ngutu o Te Manu during the New Zealand Wars of Māori lands by anyone (tribes) became rich. However, conflicts multiplied other than the Crown. The purpose of this provision with the increase in the number of settlers, culminating was to prevent markets for dupes that had already in the New Zealand Wars of the 1860’s and 1870’s, occurred between unscrupulous and indigenous which led to the loss of lots of lands by the Māori. The settlers in other parts of the Empire, where indigenous Kīngitanga movement, which established a pan-tribal peoples were expelled from their ancestral lands for the and self-governing Māori monarchy in 1857, mainly price of a few scraps. The substance of the treaty was therefore to establish a system of land registry, with the Crown playing the role of the guardian and interlocutor in order to prevent possible abuses. In anticipation of the signing of this treaty, the New Zealand Company made several precipitated land purchases and set up several settlements, assuming that the occupation would therefore have the value of possession. The results of this policy were particularly positive in the early days: the Māori wanted to sell and the settlers wanted to buy and the Crown ensured that the transactions corresponded to a fair price for the

Wiremu Tāmihana Tarapīpipi Te Waharoa of Ngāti Hauā, one of the Māori leaders during the Kīngitanga Movement

New Zealand Company Coat of Arms

time. However, in the course of time, the Māori became less and less inclined to yield new plots of land, while the Crown was under increasing pressure from settlers. Many officials were then involved in questionable transactions, which caused a number of revolts, which were themselves repressed in blood and confiscation of new territories. Conflicts led to the Māori wars, after which most of the Waikato and Taranaki were confiscated.

From autonomy to independence

In 1854, the first Parliament of New Zealand, established by the British Parliament through the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852, led the country to a partial autonomy and by the end of the century the country would become entirely autonomous. This period saw a population explosion as in 1870 the non-Māori population reached to about 250.000 persons whereas in 1853, it had only 30.000 members.

James Carroll, former Māori MP and Minister of Indigenous Affairs

“social laboratory of the world”. In 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to offer women the right to vote. In 1894, the Industrial Reconciliation and Arbitration Act introduced by Labor Minister William Pember Reeves, architect of the Liberal Party’s platform, was designed in order to allow the arbitration of labor disputes. In 1898, the government introduced retirement savings. In 1901, it established a Department of Health. It is also within this government that the Māori political elite reached for the first time since colonization positions of high responsibility. For instance, Māori MP James Carroll, Minister of Indigenous Affairs from 1899 to 1912, briefly served as Prime Minister in 1909 and 1911 by replacing Prime Minister Joseph Ward when he was absent. William Pember Reeves, former Labor Minister of New Zealand and New Zealand became an independent Dominion architect of the Liberal Party’s platform in 1907 and the country became fully sovereign in From 1891 to 1912, the Liberal (Progressive) 1947 following the ratification of the 1931 Statute of Party was in power. The Party introduced unprecedented Westminster. In practice, the United Kingdom had for a social measures and the country received the name of long time ceased to play any role in the country’s policies. 13

The more it became politically independent, the more it became economically so. In the 1890’s, refrigeration in the transport of commercial products enabled New Zealand to base its entire economy on the export of meat and dairy products to the United Kingdom.

time. The Māori began to migrate to the cities and gradually abandoned their traditional way of life. In 1936, 83% of the Māori people lived in rural areas, whereas 17% lived in cities. In 1986, the percentages were almost reversed with 80% of the Māori living in the cities. The 2001 census revealed that 20% of the Māori don’t know their original iwi and many who do not know their hapu. Māori youth, having only known the city, felt detached from their culture and their families, isolated in urban poverty, and rebelled by creating and joining gangs, but also cultural, support and educational groups of the Māori culture in order to accompany all those who wanted to reconnect with their origins. They started building urban marae open to all, either Māori or Pākehā. The Māori protest movement was thus formed. They criticized Eurocentrism and sought a better recognition of Māori culture and the Treaty

Dominion Day celebrated in New Zealand in 1907

New Zealand was an enthusiastic member of the British Colonial Empire. The country sent men to fight in the Second Boer War, as well as in World War I and II. It also supported the British during the crisis of the Suez Canal. The country from Oceania was part of the world economy and suffered like the rest during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. This depression led to the election of the first Labor government, which established a welfare state and a protectionist economy. New Zealand entered a period of growing prosperity after the end of the Second World War. However, some social problems developed at the same

Māori troops performing the haka in North Africa during WWII

of Waitangi, which they considered betrayed. In 1975, the Waitangi Court, which investigated violations of the treaty as early as 1985, was established. As in other developed countries, mores and political behaviour changed during the 1970’s. Trade with the United Kingdom was undermined by its accession to the European Community. The supervisory role was subsequently entrusted to the indigenous land courts, subsequently renamed the 14

New Zealander soldiers preparing to go to Europe during WWI

However, these policies didn’t solve the problem of unemployment, especially after the crash of 1987.

Roger Douglas adopted a series of financial policies known as Rogernomics

The Fourth Labor Government undertook a revolution in foreign policy. It decreed that the country would not harbor nuclear weapons and left the ANZUS. Immigration policy has been relaxed, Māori Land March taking place in Wellington in October 1975 which has allowed the reception of many immigrants from Asia, especially students. In addition, the Labor Māori Land Court. However, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Government has adopted measures such as the 1986 the Māori communities began to complain of continuing constitutional reform or the promotion of homosexual abuses and violations of the treaty and of subsequent rights. Yet, in 1990, voters turned to a conservative legislation by the Government, as well as decisions government led by Jim Bolger. This government has rendered by the Tribunal that were unfair or at least largely continued the economic reforms initiated unfavorable and sought to expropriate the Māori from by the Labor Government. 1996 was the year of the their lands. The Waitangi Tribunal was established by introduction of a proportional vote in New Zealand. royal approval on 10 October 1975. The Treaty of Waitangi Act, which gave rise to it, was intended to reaffirm the principles laid down in the Treaty and to create a court capable of adjudicating proven violations of the Treaty. The mandate of the Tribunal, originally limited to recent conflicts, was extended from 1985 to cover all land disputes since 1840, including during the Marian Wars.

The reforms of the 1980’s and 1990’s

Major economic and social changes took place in the 1980’s under the Fourth Labor Government of New Zealand, particularly through the policies adopted by Roger Douglas, Minister of Finance, also known as Rogernomics. The New Zealand Dollar adopted a floating exchange rate. Other reforms included cutting government spending, lowering taxes and quasi-cutting subsidies to industry.

Anzac Day is celebrated on 25 April each year in Australia and New Zealand and commemorates the soldiers who have fallen during the first landing of the Anzacs at Gallipoli

New Zealand Today

The Fifth Labor Government, headed by Helen Clark, came to power in 1999. It maintained the main principles of action of the previous governments (little public intervention in the economy) but inflected its policy towards more social action. Thus, workers’ protection has been strengthened and loans have been offered to students. The Clark government remained in office for nine years, until 2008. Conservative John Key succeeded him. New Zealand continues to have informal but powerful ties with the United Kingdom. Many young New Zealanders migrate to the United Kingdom for some time at the end of their studies due to favorable conditions for obtaining visas. Despite the easing of immigration rules in the 1980’s, people of British descent remain the primary source of migrants to New Zealand. In 2003, a Supreme Court of New Zealand replaced the courts inherited from the British. New Zealand’s foreign policy seeks to remain independent. Thus, the country sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 but didn’t send any militaries to Iraq in 2003. Today, New Zealand’s economy is weaker than that of Australia and other developed nations. The country suffers from a brain drain of young New Zealanders, who choose to immigrate to Australia, in particularly. 35.300 young graduates left New Zealand for Australia between September 2006 and September 2007. In the same period, there were just 13.579 Australians who migrated to New Zealand. These youngsters also tend to leave their country for United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries. This phenomenon also happens among the Māori people. 16

New Zealand is part of the ANZUS Treaty together with Australia and the United States of America since 1951

New Zealand soldier in Afghanistan

There is no written constitution of the country. The Constitution Act of 1986 is the main formal document dealing with the constitutional structure of the country. The first Constitution Act dates from 1852. The Governor General has the power to

appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve the Parliament. He is also the head of the Executive Council, a formal committee made up of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Council must be members of the Parliament, and most of them are in the cabinet. The cabinet is the highest executive organ. It is headed by the Prime Minister, who is also the parliamentary leader of the ruling coalition or party. The Parliament of New Zealand has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which normally includes 120 deputies. The old upper chamber, the Referendums for a new flag for New Zealand were held between 2015Legislative Council, was abolished in 1951. The 2016 (the above shown flag was one of the most preferred proposals even though the old flag maintained its official status) legislative elections are held every three years in a form of proportional multi-member voting, called of London. The President of the Supreme Court is Dame mixed proportional representation, introduced in Sian Elias. The judicial system also includes the High 1993 following a referendum. The parliamentary Court and the Court of Appeal as well as lower courts. elections of 2005 led to the creation of an additional One of the peculiarities of the country is that all the senior posts have been occupied by women: Queen Victoria (1840-1901) and Elizabeth II (since 1952); Two former Governors General, Ladies Catherine Tizard (19901996) and Silvia Cartwright (2001-2006); Former Prime Ministers Jenny Shipley (1997-1999) and Helen Clark (1999-2008); Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Wilson (2005-2008); Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Dame Sian Elias (since 1999). As of 30 November 2009, the country from Oceania ranks as the 16th country with the highest proportion of female parliamentarians (41 out of 122 House of Representatives, thus slightly more than New Zealand’s Parliament House in Wellington a third). The so-called “Kingdom of New Zealand” seat in the Parliament, occupied by the Māori Party. (Realm of New Zealand) also includes the Cook New Zealand is an independent parliamentary and Niue Islands, Tokelau, and Ross’s dependency democracy and formally a constitutional monarchy. (the New Zealand land claimed in the Antarctic). The monarch of the United Kingdom, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state as the monarch of New Zealand. In her absence, she is represented by a Governor General, a position currently held by Patsy Reddy. The queen “reigns but does not rule”. She has no political influence, her only function being mainly symbolic. The Supreme Court of New Zealand, since the Supreme Court Act 2003, has abolished the possibility of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council New Zealand is one of the most developed countries in the world 17and ranks quite highly in international comparisons of various factors and variables

Nature Landforms

New Zealand is made up of two main islands, the North Island and the South Island, as well as many other smaller islands, some of which are quite distant, near the center of the maritime hemisphere. The total area of the country is of about 268.680 km2 and it includes, among others, the Antipodes, Auckland Islands, Bounty Islands, Campbell Islands, Chatham Islands, Tokelau and Kermadec islands. New Zealand is just a little smaller than Italy or Poland and a little bigger than the United Kingdom. The country stretches over 1.600 km on its north-north-east axis and has 15.134 km of coastline. Other major inhabited islands are Stewart Island, located south of the South Island, Waiheke Island in the Gulf of Hauraki, the Great Barrier Island in the east of the Gulf mentioned before, the Chatham Islands, located east of the South Island, as well as the Tokelau Islands in the north of Samoa. The South Island is the largest island of all and is divided throughout its length by the Southern Alps, whose highest point is Mount Cook (Aoraki) with its 3.724 meters altitude. Mount Cook was 3.754 meters

Lake Te Anau

Milford Sound

long, but a landslide occurred on 14 December 1991 made its peak decrease by at least 10 meters. New measurements made in January 2014 revealed that Mount Cook’s peak has now 3.724 meters. The South Island has 18 peaks above 3.000 meters. The lowest point of the country is localized at -2 meters altitude in the Taieri Plains of the South Island. The South Island and the North Island are delimitated by the Cook Strait. The North Island is somewhat mountainous but marked by volcanism and geothermal activity. Its maximum altitude of 2.797 meters is located on Mount Ruapehu, which is in fact an active volcano. The beautiful and strange landscapes of New Zealand have attracted the interests of film and television studios. The tourism industry saw an increased interest in the country after the release of the “Lord of the Rings” movies, directed by Peter Jackson, himself a New Zealander. New Zealand has enormous marine resources: its exclusive economic zone is the 7th largest in the world and covers 4 million km2, more than 15 times the size of its land area. The country has many lakes, particularly on the South Island. Lake Te Anau (344 km2) is the second largest lake of the country, while

Mount Aoraki (Cook)

Māori stone carving on the shores of Lake Taupo

the largest one is Lake Taupo on the North Island, having 616 km2. Rivers, lakes and glaciers cover 659 km2. Among the most important rivers, the following are worth mentioning: Waikato on the North Island, the longest river in the country, and Clarence and Waimakariri Rivers on the South Island. New Zealand is geographically isolated. Its closest neighbor, Australia, is located 2.000 km away to the northwest. The other nearest lands are the Antarctic continent to the south and New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga to the north. The country is part of a continent known as Zealandia, 93% of it being submerged. Zealandia is almost half the size of Australia and is remarkably long and narrow. About 25 million years ago, a change in the tectonic plate movements began to stretch Zealandia forcefully. Among the submerged regions of Zealandia are the Lord Howe Plateau, the Challenger Plateau, the Campbell Plateau, the Norfolk Ridge and the Chatham Plateau. New Zealand is part of Polynesia and constitutes the southwest corner of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Polynesian triangleâ&#x20AC;?. The east side of the South Island is dominated by the Canterbury Plains, while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines, very high proportion of native

Mount Ruapehu

Zealandia Continent Map

Takaka Hill

to region. The climate is generally very humid in the West Coast region on the South Island, semi-arid in the Mackenzie basin of Inner Canterbury, and subtropical humid on the North Island. Of the country’s main cities, Christchurch is the most arid, receiving only 640 mm of rainfall a year, while Auckland is the wettest, receiving almost twice as much. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all have an annual average of 2.000 hours of sunshine. In the wettest areas of the country, there fall up to 7.000 mm of rain per year. The hottest month is January, with averages as high as 26ºC in the far north to 19ºC in the far south, while July is the coldest month, with temperatures ranging from 15ºC during the day to 10ºC during the night. Snowfalls are not uncommon on the mountains and sometimes snow falls on lower Climate The average daily temperature in Wellington, the capital altitudes in the South Island. Auckland, the main city of the country, has a temperate of the country, is 5,9°C in winter and 20,2°C in summer. climate, with hot, humid summers and mild winters. The climate of New Zealand is generally temperate oceanic over most of the country. The temperatures Temperatures are moderated by the fact that it is located oscillate between 0°C and 31°C. Historical registered close to the coast. The summer average is usually maximum and minimum temperatures were 42,4°C in between 24ºC and 27ºC and rarely exceeds 30ºC. As in Rangiora, Canterbury, respectively -21,6°C in Ophir, many places in New Zealand, in Auckland there rains a Otago. Climate conditions may vary widely from region lot. In fact, the average is 1.250 mm per year. The major bush, and Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The North Island is less mountainous than the South Island, but it is marked by volcanism. The North Island Volcanic Plateau covers quite a lot of the central part of North Island with its volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes. There are 3.820 lakes with a surface area larger than 1 hectare within the country. There are many karst sedimentary rock formations throughout the country, the largest area of them being Takaka Hill and its surrounding area. Other important areas include the Waitomo Caves and the Pancake Rocks which are a hot spot for tourists. New Zealand experiences more or less than 14.000 earthquakes a year, some of them being bigger than magnitude 7.

Rain in Howick Beach, Auckland

on summer days. In the southwest of the South Island, the west coastal area is characterized by a uniform and very humid climate in all months of the year due to the humid and rainy West Australian Current. Finally, in the southeast, the eastern section is lacking rainfall and sometimes is under the influence of the northwestern winds known as “Nor ‘Wester”, which intersect in Canterbury. Usually, these winds are hot and dry and can cause sometimes real periods of fairly lengthy drought.

New Zealand Climate

precipitation with snowy characteristics ever recorded dates back to 27 July 1939. Here, snow is very rare. The best time to visit New Zealand is without doubt among the summer and fall, so somewhere between December and April for the northern hemisphere. This is the time when it is most stable, sunnier and milder period, with pleasant temperatures even during the day and without excessive heat. So, in the north, the Auckland Peninsula has an atmosphere substantially similar to the Mediterranean. Little humidity and warm periods are often during the course of the year and the region doesn’t have a strict climatological season in the true sense of the word. In the center, more precisely in the remaining northern tip of the southern sector and the north coast, although it is also very often raining during summer, the region also experiences very high temperatures and burning sun

Whakaari - White Island Volcano

Time is often variable so that it may happen to be sun and rain within a few hours as it happens in other oceanic climates. Rainfall is quite frequent throughout the year, but it is more frequent in winter than in summer, except for the extreme south, where there are more frequent even in summer. The sunshine is discreet in summer, at least in the north. Being in the southern hemisphere, in New Zealand the seasons are reversed compared to Europe. The South Island is cooler than that of the North Island and is exposed to 21

westerly winds that blow most of the year. In winter, however, there can be snow and frost, especially in the southern part, when some mass of colder air of polar origin arrive. New Zealand isn’t located in the path of any hurricanes, but sometimes a tropical cyclone, usually weak, can rise to these latitudes and affect the North Island and the northern part of the South Island, bringing rain and wind. This natural phenomena can occur from November to May. Raoul Island, located nearly 1.000 kilometers north-east of the North Island, has a mild and rainy climate. The average ranges from 16ºC in July and August to 22ºC in February. Rainfall is of about 1.500 mm per year and is well distributed. A relative maximum rainfall can occur during winter and a relative minimum during the spring. Campbell Island, located 600 kilometers south of the south coast, is an uninhabited island, very cold and windy throughout the year. It has an average temperature of 9ºC in summer and 4 to 5ºC in winter. The rains are frequent throughout the year, and snowfall manifests in winter. The sky is mostly cloudy. The Chatham Islands, New Zealand Marine Weather Regions Map located nearly 900 kilometers east of the South Island, have a mild oceanic climate, similar to certain areas of year but not abundant. The average temperature ranges the South Island, with frequent rainfall throughout the from 14ºC in January and February to 7ºC in July.

Snow in Wellington

Flora

New Zealand is characterized by a high biodiversity despite the natural resources that have been subjected to intense exploitation since the arrival in the 9th century of the early settlers. Nowadays, the forest cover 30,7% of the total surface. The most serious ecological threats in New Zealand come from imported species of animals that tend to dominate the indigenous ones. The flora of New Zealand is extremely varied and mostly endemic. Native species of animals (a total of about 1.500) as the weta giant, the tuatara and kakapo grow alongside vast rainforests dominated by the kauri (gum tree), rimu, beeches, tawa, matai and rata, ferns and linen, in fields covered with alpine and subalpine grasses and a variety of flowers. Among the most

Southern Alps seen from Mount Iron

interesting plants there is the pohutukawa, known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, which explodes in a bright red bloom around December. In the North Island, the dominant vegetation is evergreen forest, except for the volcanic plateau where prairie predominates. The main shape of the trees here is falcatifolium falciforme. The acacias and especially the mimosas are very popular in this place. The west coast of the South Island has some of the largest extensions of native mixed forests which provide most of the exported timber. The eastern grasslands of the South Island, which extend up to an altitude of 1.525 m, are mainly designated for pasture. On the lower slopes of the New Zealand Alps, there grows the southern beech,

Kowhai, the national flower of New Zealand

Silver Fern, one of the floral symbols of New Zealand

while at higher altitudes there is an alpine vegetation. New Zealand has a very high number of national parks, established since 1887, which offer tourists the opportunity to contemplate the wonders that surround the country through the many well-developed and organized hiking trails, which offer them the best and

the most spectacular views. In addition to these resources, New Zealand has many forest parks, marine reserves, as well as historic and conservation parks that are able to give a 360Â° vision of the cultural and natural attractions of the country, unique in the world. The country has developed a huge ecological awareness over the years after the disasters occurred in the past centuries and some peculiar fauna extinctions caused by human imprudence. The rarity and uniqueness of some species of animals, especially birds, which are found in New Zealand, are something exceptional that must absolutely be preserved. In 1987, the Administration of Conservation Programs brought together a number of protected areas in a more efficient system and has greatly expanded their extension. Currently, 19,6% of the land is protected by being placed under the protection of several national parks and numerous other reservations. In addition, the Government of New Zealand seeks to ensure a sustainable use of natural resources by involving the MÄ ori and the Iwi in negotiations for the final decisions.

Fiordland National Park

Karamu Flowers (native to New Zealand)

New Zealand has been very active from the environmental point of view in the South Pacific, as a signatory of several important agreements on the preservation of marine habitats. Among the ratified international environmental agreements, there are also others related to the Antarctic Environmental Protocol, biodiversity, climate change (Kyoto Protocol), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), changes in the environment, toxic waste (Basel), discharge of waste at sea, elimination of nuclear testing, the Treaty for tropical timber, the protection of wetlands (Ramsar) and whaling, of which New Zealand is an active member.

Kiwi (National Animal of New Zealand)

Fauna

Strangely enough, in contrast with the rich indigenous flora, endemic animal species are very rare in New Zealand. However, there are plenty birds residing within the country. The forests were once inhabited by various species of megafauna, including several birds unable to fly, such as the moa. Among the most common species are the mopoke, tui and the kéa, a boisterous and mischievous bird, as well as various Apterygiformes (birds that can’t fly) such as the kakapo, the takahē, weka and kiwi, the symbolic animal of New Zealand. The kiwi is a kind of nighttime prehistoric bird without wings and with a distinctive beak that it uses

Weka

Kākā (genus Nestor)

to find food, deep in the earth. Evolution has brought this animal to shrink in size, thus becoming about the size of a cat. However, nature has not diminished the size of their eggs. New born kiwis can look quite disproportionate compared to their bodies. The seas surrounding New Zealand are home for a variety of fish species: tuna, marlin, snapper, trevally, kahawai and sharks, as well as for other interesting marine mammals like dolphins, seals and whales. The rivers and lakes of the country are home to other types of fish, including trout and salmon. In New Zealand there aren’t any snakes, unlike Australia.

In New Zealand there are no endemic mammal species. The only mammals found by early Māori people were some species of bats, probably coming from Australia. Settlers from Australia introduced in New Zealand a species of opossum in order to exploit the commercial terms for the valuable fur. However, the voracious opossum has destroyed the fauna balance of the country by causing the extinction of many kind of species of birds. The kiwi is also at risk because opossums attack adults and devour their eggs. New Zealanders are very active in their attempt to exterminate more than 70 million specimens of possums before further damages to the local ecosystem happen. Huberia brounii is an endemic species of ant, typical for New Zealand, difficult to observe and therefore little known about. Besides the above mentioned birds, other notable ones are: the Haast’s eagle (now extinct), the genus Nestor (kākā in Māori language) and the kererū. Reptiles are represented by skinks, geckos and tuataras. There are also four species of Leiopelmatidae (New Zealand primitive frogs) and one species of poisonous spider, Katipo, that can rarely be seen. These animals generally inhabit the coastal regions. There are many endemic species of insects, one of which, weta, can become as large as a mouse and is considered to be the heaviest

Opossums are a treat to New Zealand’s fauna

New Zealand Sheeps

insect in the world. As for the 29 species of fish, 90% are endemic and are for the most part small and discrete. Only three fish species weigh more than 2 kilograms: two species of eel and the giant kokopu, which became an endangered species since the beginning of the 20th century and is now close to extinction. It has long been thought that apart from three species of bats, one of which is extinct, there have never been land mammals in the country. However, in 2006, scientists found bones belonging to a mouse-sized, long-extinct, terrestrial animal in the Otago region of the South Island. Since almost all species of penguins can be found in the country, scientists have come to assume

that the New Zealand Archipelago is these animalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; land of origin. The species introduced from other countries, such as: pigs, goats, otters, ferrets, possums, dogs, cats, deer and the ubiquitous sheep, are common throughout New Zealand but, given the absence of natural predators, these animals have reproduced in large numbers and can currently create serious environmental damage. Over 150 indigenous plants or almost 10% of all New Zealand flora species are currently at risk of extinction, while more than 1.300 species of birds have already disappeared. For this reason, any initiative that could physical eliminate all these animals, especially possums, is considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;ecologicalâ&#x20AC;? in New Zealand. 27

People Language

The New Zealand English is the English version spoken in New Zealand. This language is not similar in pronunciation to Australian English as several key differences do exist. Some of these differences reveal New Zealand English’s affinity to that spoken in northern England. Others on the other hand, reveal the influence of the Māori language. The most important difference from Australian English and all other varieties of English is represented by the damped or flattened “i” used by speakers of New Zealand English. The accent was also affected by the Scottish and Irish influences due to the large number of settlers that lived in the country during the 19th century and were originally from those places. Expressions typical for New Zealand English are “sweet” or “choice”, which are used as a synonym for “cool”, as well as “bro”, which stands for “dude”. “Jandals” is the word used for flip-flops or thongs, while “arvo” stands for “afternoon”. “Gumboot” is the word used for English tea.

New Zealand Slang Words

“Zed”. The acronym is used in many organizations names such as the band “Split Enz”, “WINZ” (Work and Income NZ, which is now a division of the Ministry of Social Development), TRADENZ (now NZ Trade and Enterprise), and ENZA (which was the label of the New Zealand Apple & Pear Marketing Board for fruit export). Perhaps the most important difference between New Zealand and British spelling is the suffix “-ise” or “-ize”. Although “-ise” is more widespread in both countries, some dictionaries and British style manuals prefer the suffixation in “-ize”. New Zealand

New Zealand Typical Expressions

While there is a clear difference between British English and American English spelling (for instance: colour / color or travelled / traveled), British spelling dominates in New Zealand. New Zealand English orthography respects pretty much most of the British English spelling, much more than Australian English does. Some Americanisms such as “thru” for “through” in informal contexts, started to penetrate through the mass media. Despite the fact that influences of American pronunciation are exercised through mass media (television programs for young children such as “Sesame Street”) and are manifested for example in “zee” (Z), the last letter of the alphabet, the British “zed” still remains standard. This is for instance reflected in the acronym of the country’s name, “NZ” (“en-zed”), as well as in a famous New Zealand pop/rock four-piece band entitled 28

Māori Dialects

Speakers of Māori according to the 2013 census (Red > 50%; White <5%)

dictionaries and style manuals use almost exclusively “-ise”. As in British English, the term “program” is used for computer software, while “programme” is used for sequences, lists and events presented on television or radio. New Zealand is perhaps the only language among English-speaking countries to use instead the word “fiord” instead of “fjord”. This is evident in the name of “Fiordland”, a wild region located in the southwest of the country. In linguistic terms, many everyday words were borrowed from the Māori language, including terms indicating flora, fauna and the environment. The influence of the Māori language is mainly exercised at the lexical level. In 1999, an estimate based on corpora of written and spoken Wellington has established a proportion of about 0,6% Māori terms, mostly proper names and names of places. Other fields where Māori language is always present and has a significant conceptual influence are in legislature, in government

and community agencies (health and education). The Māori language belongs to the Austronesian or Oceanic or Polynesian languages family, which also includes Tuvaluan, Nauruan and even Malagasy, which is the official language spoken in Madagascar, an island off the African continent. Comparative linguists classify Māori as a Polynesian language, especially as the eastern Polynesian language belonging to the subgroup of Tahitic languages, including the Rarotongan, spoken in the southern Cook Islands, and Tahitian, spoken in Tahiti, in the Society Islands. Other major languages of the Eastern Polynesian languages subgroup are Hawaiian, Marchesano, spoken in the Marquesas Islands, and Easter Island language. Although all of these languages have similarities and points of contact, these are real languages and not dialects of the same language. However, Tupaia, a Tahitian who sailed along with Captain James Cook in 1769-1770, managed to communicate with the Māori. The policy discussion and analysis of elements of sovereignty, environmental management, health and social well-being are connected, at least in part, with the Māori language. The Māori as a spoken language is particularly important where it is necessary to consult the community. The world’s longest name of a place is a hill in New Zealand known in the Māori language as “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu” or, in a more extended version, “Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu”. The name translates to “The brow of the hill, where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains to walk these lands, which is known as land-eater, played with his nasal flute for his beloved one.”

Religion

The New Zealand population is mainly Protestant but there is also a considerable community of Catholic population. According to the 2013 census data and recently published for the first time, less than half of New Zealanders declared themselves Christians. According to these data, Christians represent only 47% or roughly 1,93 million people of the 4 million citizens from New Zealand who have declared their religion. In 2006, Christians constituted 56% or 2,03 million people. According to these data, the most worrying situation is that of the Anglicans, who have lost almost 100.000 members in nearly six years. Anglican leaders motivate this partly because of the old age but claim that they do not know other causes. “In the last census from 2006, more than 41.000 Anglicans were over 80 years, meaning slightly less than those under 10 years”, said Peter Lineham, history professor at Massey University. “This means that many Anglicans have changed their religious affiliation since 2006 or just gave up on religion.

Saint Mary Catholic Church in Nelson

have also increased in numbers. They increased from 0,18 million in 2006 to 0,22 millions in 2013. Atheists or those with no religion rose considerably from 1.290.000 to 1.630.000 in 2013, thus representing almost 41% of the entire population, which makes New Zealand one of the most secular countries in the world. The results of the census have put on the table the opportunity of celebrating or not the national holidays such as Christmas and the place that the Church occupies in the national education system. Professor Paul Morris of Victoria University, a specialist in religious studies, reported to the Sunday Star Times that New Zealand is in a “new territory” where Christianity has lost its central position. “For the first time since 1901, a clear majority of the country’s citizens are not Christians anymore.”

Religion in New Zealand

Catholics are now the majority group between Christian denominations even though their number decreased from 0,51 million in 2006 to 0,49 million in 2013. Collected data indicates a better situation for other smaller denominations, which have risen significantly. Evangelicals increased from 13.800 members in 2006 to 15.400 in 2013, while Adventists increased their numbers from 16.200 to 17.100 members. Orthodox Christians also had a slightly increase, up to 13.800 from 13.200 in 2006. Protestant cults that have a larger number of adherents are: Presbyterian, Congregational, Reformed, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints or Adventists. Those who describe themselves as Christians but are not affiliated with any specific denomination 30

Religious Affiliation in New Zealand

However, not everyone agrees with the census data as a significant way to measure the religiosity of the population. Thus, a survey made by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage in 1985 proved that one quarter of those who declared themselves having no religion, could actually believe in a god. Other religions in New Zealand have steadily increased. Thus, Hindu adherents increased from 64.300 persons in 2006 to 90.000 in 2013. Muslims were found in a number of 36.000

Saint John Presbyterian Church in Wellington

All Saints Anglican Church in Dunedin

people in 2006, whereas now they stand at 40.000, a number which is generally assigned to the increased phenomenon of migration. The size of these numbers makes the Christian community in New Zealand review its situation on the long term. Data collected by Christian theologian and academician Mike Crudge suggests that the country has been declining in terms of population assistance to church since 1890. Carl Walrond, while writing for the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, said that if the current trend continues, the number of irreligious people will exceed that of all religious ones, regardless of their affiliation, until 2026. In general, the religion of the Māori is a monotheistic belief grafted onto primitive polytheistic beliefs. In fact, Māori people believe in the Supreme Being or I or Kio, head of all the gods and master of the universe. According to their religion, the sky and the earth came out of nowhere and are inhabited by twelve nature spirits called “Atua”. Among the various gods of the Māori religion, there can be mentioned Tangaroa, god of the seas, Tane, god of the forests, respectively Tūmatauenga and Rongo, gods of war and peace. Other divinities such as Hina, goddess of the moon, and Atea, goddess of space, are called “Aitu”. A characteristic of the Māori religion is the animist conception according to

which almost all the natural elements are in contact with the divine. Hence the respect for what it is considered taboo or endowed with mysterious force. “The person who owns the taboo can exercise his power or mana on human affairs and the priests are the guardians of the mana of the tribal groups.” Many Māori people became Christians in recent decades even though most of them continue to practice their original beliefs.

Rongomātāne, a Māori god

World Heritage

On UNESCO’s list there can be found 2 natural objectives and 1 mixed objective in New Zealand: Natural Objectives: • New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands • Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand Mixed Objective: • Tongariro National Park

Demographics

On 21 October 2016, the total population of New Zealand was estimated at 4.725.875 citizens. According to the 2006 census, held on 7 March, Statistics New Zealand found out that 4.186.900 people were living in New Zealand, out of which 2.049.500 were men and 2.137.400 women. In December 2007, the population of the country increased by one person every 10 minutes and 23 seconds: one birth every 8 minutes and 49 seconds, one death every 19 minutes and 35 seconds, and one immigrant every 29 minutes and 26 Seconds. Impressive! Approximately 78% of the population identified themselves as ethnically European and are collectively called “Pakeha”. The term refers to New Zealanders of European origin, although Māori use it

Māori Census Data (White < 5%; Dark Red > 80%)

the largest non-European ethnic group, accounting for 14,6% of the population according to the 2006 census. Individuals may identify with more than one ethnic group on national censuses. 53% of the Māori people identified themselves only as Māori. People claiming Asian origins made up 9,2% of the population in 2006, a considerable increase since 2001 when they were only 6,6%. Besides, 6,9% of the population reportedly have Polynesian, Melanesian or Micronesian non-Māori origins, an increase of 0,4% since 2001. New Zealand’s immigration policies are relatively flexible and friendly. The government is committed to increasing the population by 1% per year. 23% of the population or 880.000 people were foreign-born. Between 2004 and 2005, the country’s immigration service was expected to accommodate 45.000 people or 1,5% of the total population. Ireland and the United Kingdom are the regions from where 28,6% of the immigrants come from. Speaking of Asians, the Chinese are the most numerous as many of them come to study in New Zealand and Australia. The

Pākehā Census Data (White < 5%; Dark Blue > 90%)

for all non-Māori. Most New Zealanders of European origin have English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish ancestors, but over the years there has been a significant immigration from countries like the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy and Germany, as well as indirect European immigration from Australia, South Africa and North America. According to the 2001 census, in 2021, children of European origin will account for 63% of the small age population, compared to 74% in 2001. The Māori are 32

Asian Census Data (White < 5%; Dark Green > 70%)

by the number of sheep. Since the beginning of the colonization, the gap between the human and ovine population has nevertheless decreased from 20 to 6 sheep per person. In European culture, the Māori are known for their famous “Haka”, an ancient war dance that the All Blacks, the dreaded New Zealand rugby team, have adopted as a lively propitiatory ritual to terrorize their opponents before the start of every game. In addition to being great rugby players, Māori people are especially proud descendants of Polynesians: warlike and vain, vindictive and generous, strong and hospitable, physically large and strong and still tattooed with elaborate tribal motifs. They are also fine sculptors who Pacific Islander Census Data (White < 5%; Dark Purple >70%) have turned into real precious masterpieces elements like: tropical timber, jade, stone, nephritis, bone and Christian movement “Rātana” founded by Tahupōtiki shells. They have built, as the great navigators they were Wiremu Rātana finds faithful among the Māori. Among in the past, finely sculpted war canoes with mythical the most widespread non-Christian religions there are images of their ancestors and marine deities. Despite the Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. genocide and dispossession of their lands by the hands Religion, however, does not play an important of the “Pakeha”, meaning greedy white settlers, they role in politics. Openly Christian parties including have managed to maintain their cultural and religious Christian Heritage and Destiny are quite unpopular. identity. After lengthy legal battles, their language is The religious opinions of political leaders, although now taught in schools and universities in New Zealand. generally known, are considered to be of a private In ancient Māori culture, war was a real military nature. One observation often made by the media science that young people were taught from an early age is that the number of New Zealanders was surpassed because weakness was considered a crime while courage,

33 Haka Māori people performing

strength and skills were values that were attributed to charisma and personal prestige. During wars, each shipment was prepared by exciting the minds of the fighters with warlike and religious ceremonies speeches, stimulating the passion and revenge through prayers and songs of battle with which the warriors devoted themselves to the God of War, but above all by staging “the haka”, whose function was to instill in soldiers the courage to face the enemy. The moko is the traditional Maori tattoo with which they paint their faces. The warriors use the moko to tell their story: every sign indicates a different event in every person’s history. Women bear the traditional sign on the chin in order to indicate that they are related to a Māori warrior. Among tattoos, “kirituhi” is the most decorative representation. Unlike the moko tattoo, everyone can use this type of design without offending the culture. The tattoo is intended to strike fear into the enemy. New Zealand is divided into 16 regions and 53 districts as following:

New Zealand Flag Referendum Situation

New Zealand’s Regions

Region

Capital

Auckland Bay of Plenty Canterbury Gisborne Hawke’s Bay Manawatu-Wanganui Marlborough Nelson Northland Otago Southland Taranaki Tasman Waikato Wellington

Auckland Whakatāne Christchurch Gisborne Napier Palmerston North Blenheim Nelson Whangarei Dunedin Invercargill Stratford Richmond Hamilton Wellington

West Coast

Grey Mouth

Rank 1 2 3

City Auckland Wellington Christchurch Hamilton Tauranga Napier-Hastings Dunedin

Region Auckland Wellington Canterbury

Population 1.500.000 410.000 400.000

Waikato Bay of Plenty Hawke’s Bay

235.000 135.000 132.000

Otago

120.000

Palmerston North Nelson

Manawatu-Wan- 85.000 ganui Nelson 67.000

Rotorua

Bay of Plenty

4 5 6 7 8

New Zealand Population Density (Green - Fewer than 1 person per square km; Red - 4000 people per square km and above)

60.000 35

Economy & Transportation Economy

The economy of New Zealand, a prosperous developed country, is predominantly based on the tertiary sector, especially on tourism. It is important to note that more than 2 million tourists have been registered in 2012, although the primary sector, through agriculture and mining, plays a more important role than in other developed countries. The country is heavily dependent on international trade, most notably with Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, the European Union and the United States. Liberalization reforms in recent decades have removed many barriers for foreign investment. In 2005, the World Bank stated that New Zealand is the most welcoming country when it comes to doing business, just before Singapore. New Zealand was the 64th largest economy in the world in 2012, according to the Central Intelligence Agency. The economic reforms launched in New Zealand since the early 1980’s, notably by former finance minister Roger Douglas, have allowed the liberalization of the country, which was once oriented towards economic protectionism. According to the International Monetary Fund, New Zealand has a gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity of 29.730 $, which ranks it as the 32nd country in the world. The economy has been rising sharply since the

New Zealand Export Tree Map (2014)

2000’s, with the emergence of several very important industries. The unemployment rate is relatively low. In 2013, the unemployment amounted to 6% of the entire population, compared to 11,5% in 1991. New Zealand is part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The economy of New Zealand has been historically built on a narrow range of raw materials such as wool, meat and dairy products. For example, exports of dairy products accounted for 22% of New Zealand’s total exports in 1920 and increased to 42% of the total exports in 1930. New Zealand is a country with a protectionist tradition when it comes to interventionism. Substantial economic liberalization reforms made in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, reversed this situation and made New Zealand one of the most

Auckland Business District

liberal countries in the world, now considered to be a model of free trade. The quality of life in New Zealand has risen sharply during the post-war period, when demand for raw materials exploded. One of the most striking examples of this international demand for raw materials from New Zealand is the wool boom. Other economic treaties are under negotiation, the most notable ones being with the United States of America, Peru and Vietnam as a continuation of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership. Other on-going economic partnership negotiations are taking place with Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2006, successive governments have negotiated with the Gulf Cooperation Council. More recently, thanks to Peter Jackson, New Zealand director of “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, tourism and the New Zealand film industry saw a slight increase in activity. The agriculture of the country constitutes a true ecological and economic model. Prevalent productions are those of livestock: sheep wool and bovine milk. The soils are poor in phosphorus so the farmers from New Zealand have to distribute phosphates, which urge the growth of clovers, whose power in fixing the

Thanks to Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, New Zealand’s tourism sector experienced a slight growth lately

atmospheric nitrogen help the growth of leguminous plants. Besides breeding, the fruit sector of the country is famous worldwide for exports of apples and kiwi. Unlike Australia, the mineral resources are scarce and there are only some important deposits of iron, gold and copper. The most important industries of the country are the food industry, related to breeding, and those that produce consumer goods, like textile and mechanical industries. The energy supply is mainly ensured by hydroelectric, thermal and geothermal power plants. The unfavorable terrain blocks the proper development

New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreements (Green – Current; Orange – Proposed Bilateral; Purple – Proposed Regional Bloc)

New Zealand has a prevalent production of livestock, especially sheep wool

of communications. Road networks are well-developed, but railways are rather deficient. Aviation, which is very functional, is an important mean of communication for the country. The education and social services are excellent so there is nothing more to comment on this subject. The country mainly exports the products of its agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, and forests. In 2012, New Zealand exported goods of nearly 38 billion $, representing 23% of its gross domestic product in the same year. Dairy products are the primary source of income in New Zealand’s exports and account for 26% of the total exports. 95% of the national milk production is exported in the form of powdered milk, cheese, butter and casein. New Zealand’s largest company, Fonterra, is a multinational cooperative that accounts for 30% of the global dairy exports and generates 20 billion New Zealand $ profits. The country also sees its wine exports increase at a rapid rate of 38

an average of 24% each year. Wine production brings profit to the country of nearly 1,5 billion New Zealand $ per year and employs more than 16.500 people. In the absence of government subsidies, New Zealand remains a leader in the global meat market. Industries in this sector, including sheep and cattle, generated 8 billion New Zealand $ in 2012. The country also exports 3,2 billion New Zealand $ worth of wood, this also being the country’s third largest export sector.

Kinleith Mill and Cogen Plant. Forestry exports are an important component of New Zealand’s economy

Transportation

400.000 commercial vehicles, 120.000 trucks, 85.000 The country’s highways were massively built after the buses and 110.000 two-wheeled vehicles. Overall, large Second World War. The first of these roads was built cities are less dangerous. Driving under the influence of around Wellington and opened to traffic in 1950. Heavy alcohol is an important cause of accidents among young national investments in road development programs people and paradoxically, the law is quite tolerant in this contributed to a decline in public transit across the aspect. country. In the case of Auckland, this transition has been described as “one of the most spectacular declines in public transport in all the developed cities of the world”. New Zealand has a national road network of 10.895 km. The North Island is served by 5.974 km of road, while the larger but less populated South Island has 4.921 km of road. This network comprises about 170 km of highway. The national network is second to a network of 82.000 km managed by local authorities, including paved and unpaved roads. The number of toll roads decreased between from 421 in 2007 to 284 in 2011. Preserved Bayline Coach in New Zealand

New Zealand’s Upper Harbour Motorway

In New Zealand, people drive on the left part of the road, just like in the UK. The speed limit is 100 km/h outside built-up areas and 50 km/h in urban areas. Intermediate limits of 60, 70 or 80 are sometimes allowed. During road works, the speed limitation often goes down to 30 km/h. New Zealand’s auto fleet is stabilized at around 3,5 million vehicles. According to statistical data, there are more than 2,6 million individual cars,

Red Tram in Wellington

Bus travel is the main type of vehicle used in public road transport. It is available in urban networks, long-distance bus lines or other solutions. Buses between cities operate on rigid schedules and serve the main cities of the North and South Island. Students have a 20% discount on the normal rate, while backpackers have a 15% discount. Flexible passes allow any traveler to get down in any city along the way, while the next day he can continue the journey. This modality has to be reserved in advance though. Buses run just like planes, with limited and reserved seats. InterCity Coachlines is the main intercity bus operator in New Zealand. The railway network in New Zealand has about 3.900 km of narrow gauge railways (1,067 mm). 506 km of this network are electrified. These facilities are owned by Kiwi Rail, a division of the New Zealand Railways Corporation public company. The Transport Licensing Act of 1931, which blocked the market to a state monopoly for a period of 50 years, was deregulated in 1983. During this decade, the railway sector was

Kiwi Rail Train

Air New Zealand is the national carrier of the country

New Zealand Metro in Wellington

progressively privatized. In terms of profitability, private companies have retained only the most lucrative lines. Until 2003, the national network was owned by Tranz Rail, formerly known as New Zealand Rail Limited. The government regained control of the national grid during the takeover of Tranz Rail by Australian Toll Holdings. The company was then eventually renamed Kiwi Rail. Goods transportation is the dominant activity for railway companies in New Zealand. The cargo

Tranz Metro Map

handled consists of coal, logs and wood, milk and dairy, fertilizer, container, steel and cars. Passenger transport over long distances is restricted to three lines: TranzAlpine, which links Christchurch to Greymouth, TransCostal, which connects Christchurch to Picton and Northern Explorer, which links Wellington to Auckland. Passenger services also exist on an urban scale for these two cities. Finally, two short intercity lines link the capital with Palmerston North and Masterton. Wellington benefits from its own suburban metro. Tranz Metro is the operator of the suburban railway system in the city of Wellington, capital of New Zealand and its metropolitan area. It is part of Kiwi Rail, the company that operates the network of railways and ferries between the islands of the country. The system comprises 5 lines, with a total length of 194,7 km and 50 stations, several of which serve more than one line. All the lines are electrified, except for the Wairarapa line that operates with diesel locomotives. New Zealand has about 100 airports. Airports are the only entry point for passengers to New Zealand as the island doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any international liner lines. Auckland airport receives 11 million passengers per year, while the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is around 4 million. Christchurch International Airport welcomes more than 5 and a half million travelers, slightly less than Wellington. These airports are served by Air New Zealand and many other foreign companies. Some minor islands far away from the main islands can only be reached via air.

Port Chalmers in Otago

The territory of New Zealand comprises 1.609 km of waterways. The expansion of certain ports, as well as their upgrading, was the subject of difficult political choices. Only a few ports have been selected to benefit from modernization programs to accommodate large container ships. The port of Auckland is one of the major beneficiaries of these investments. New cranes and riders have been invested in the docks and more powerful tugs have been made available. New container terminals have been built, notably by gaining land on the sea. Roll-on and ferry services provide the daily link between the North Island and the South Island from Wellington and Picton. Interisland Line, a division of Kiwi Rail, owns the majority of ferry services. The MV Kaitaki is the biggest ferry in service, available since September 2005. An alternative service is proposed by Strait Shipping Ltd which uses a former French ferry, Santa Regina, and Danish MV Straitsman. Crossing the Cook Strait can take up to 3 hours. An alternative is the fast ferry-catamaran provided by Tranz Rail, whose departure and arrival points are different. This service has been suspended since 2003 however because Toll Holdings resumed operations. Smaller ferries also operate in the Bay of Islands, Rawene, Auckland,

Auckland International Airport

MV Kaitaki ferry on duty

Tauranga, Wellington, Lyttelton and between Bluff and Galfmoon Bay on Stewart Island. Taxis are expensive, but efficient, especially in smaller cities. The cost of a taxi is 2.50 NZ $ a flag, and then 2.40 NZ $ per kilometer. A taxi from Auckland Airport to the city center costs on average 50 NZ $. In Auckland, you rarely see a Kiwi driving a taxi as the vast majority of drivers are immigrants. Taxis always have the name of the driver hung for identification. Another alternative to the use of taxis for transfers from the airport to the city and even group tours are the so-called Shuttle Services, which are nothing more than vans that carry different passengers for the same destination and they are therefore cheaper.

Green Taxi in New 41Zealand

Culture New Zealand Proverbs

1. Me mātau ki te whetū, i mua i te kōkiri o te haere. (Before you set forth on a journey, be sure you know the stars.) 2. Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. 3. Whāia e koe te iti kahurangi. Ki te tuohu koe, me maunga teitei. (Seek that treasure that you value most dearly. If you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.) 4. Ask me what is the greatest thing in the world, I will reply: It is people, it is people, it is people! 5. Te amorangi ki mua, te hapai o ki muri. (The leader at the front and the workers behind the scenes.) 6. The block of wood should not dictate to the carver. 7. Kaua e mate wheke mate ururoa. (Don’t die like an octopus, die like a hammerhead shark.) 8. Boast during the day, be humble at night. 9. Tama tu tama ora, tama noho tama mate. (An active person will remain healthy while a lazy one will become sick.) 10. A warrior dies in battle; a mountain climber on the rocks, but a farmer dies of old age.

Māori Hāngī

Māori and Pākehā (European New Zealanders) children at a swimming pool in Auckland

New Zealand Rugby Team “All Blacks” dancing Haka

MÄ ori rowing

The front end of a traditional MÄ ori long canoe

Hobbit house

Maori person

New Zealand Personalities

Russell Ira Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (b. 7 April 1964 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an actor, film producer and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia. He came to international attention for his role as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film “Gladiator”, directed by Ridley Scott, for which Crowe won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, an Empire Award for Best Actor and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and 10 further nominations for best actor. Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He is the son of Jocelyn Yvonne (née Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe. He has a brother, Terry. The New Zealander actor has Maori, English, Irish, Welsh, German, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, and Italian ancestors. He was only 4 years old when his family moved to Sydney, Australia. He began his career on Australian television with the “Spyforce” series (19711973). At the age of ten, when he started smoking, he

Russell Ira Crowe

Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe at Man Of Steel red carpet movie premiere

broke a tooth during a football match and his resistance to going to the dentist cost him a role in a miniseries. After his 14 years old birthday, his family returned to live in New Zealand. At 16, he abandoned his studies in order to pursue his ambition to become an actor. He preferred to work as a waiter or sing numbers in a bingo when he was not involved in fighting with other adolescents due to the problems caused by his aboriginal ancestry, in virtue of the anti-Maori racism. Crowe was very proud of his native grandfather, Stan Wemyss, a photographer on the battlefield during World War II who was decorated by the Queen of England with the Cross of the British Empire. In fact, he inherited the badge at his death and wore it on the lapel and made reference to it during the Oscars. After participating in numerous television series and soap operas such as “Neighbours”, Russell obtained protagonist roles in some Australian movies, including “Romper Stomper”, in 1992, for which he won the award for Best Actor offered by the Australian Film Institute. This was considered his true movie debut, as well as his first major film. “Romper Stomper” had considerable critical acclaims. Sharon Stone, as producer and main star of “The Quick and the Dead” (1995) offered Crowe an important role in this movie. Despite the cast of movie stars such as Gene Hackman and Leonardo DiCaprio, besides Russell Crowe and Sharon Stone, the movie directed by Sam Raimi proved to be a failure from both the box-office point of view and from that of the critics. The New Zealander played in several more movie failures until 1997, when his interpretation of agent Bud White in “L.A. Confidential” made him one of the most appreciated actors among the stars of Hollywood.

Russell Crowe and his wife, Danielle Spencer, in 2011

Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman

After starring in the role of Sheriff John Biebe alongside Burt Reynolds in “Mystery, Alaska”, from then forward Crowe got only positive reviews. The first one was for “The Insider” (1999), directed by Michael Mann, in which he played Dr. Jeffrey Wigand. For this role, Russell Crowe was nominated both for a Golden Globe and an Oscar award for Best Actor, but eventually he was defeated by Denzel Washington, for his role in “The Hurricane” and by Kevin Spacey, for his role in “American Beauty”. The following year, Russell Crowe’s fame reached a peak due to his interpretation of Maximus Decimus Meridius in “The Gladiator”, directed by Ridley Scott in 2000. The association with director Ridley Scott started from there on and still lasts to this day. For “The Gladiator”, Russell Crowe won an Oscar for Best Actor. In his spare time, Russell Crowe is also a popular singer, and with his band he has performed, among others, at the San Remo Festival in 2001. In 2010, he performed at the Spanish Steps in Rome, along with co-actors protagonists of “Robin Hood”: Alan Doyle, frontman of Canadian band “Great Big Sea” and one of his best friends, Scott Grimes and Kevin Durand.

The following year, in Ron Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind”, Russell Crowe played a different role than those in which the public was used to seeing him, as he starred as a mathematics professor named John Nash, who suffered from a severe form of schizophrenia. For his performance, Crowe won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, thus becoming the main favourite in the night of the Oscars. However, the Academy jurors preferred Denzel Washington for his role in “Training Day”. At this point, the New Zealander took a little break and only returned to the screen two years later in the Peter Weir’s new movie: “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”, an adventure, history, drama and war movie where Crowe played the role of Captain Jack Aubrey and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Two years later, in 2005, he starred in “Cinderella Man”, directed by Ron Howard, for which he received his 5th Golden Globe nomination. Then in 2006, he starred in the movie “A Good Year”, directed by Ridley Scott. In 2007, he starred with Christian Bale in the remake of “3:10 to Yuma” and alongside Denzel Washington in “American Gangster”, directed by Ridley Scott. Then, the New Zealander played in “Body of Lies”, directed by Ridley Scott again, where Crowe played the role of a CIA boss. This time he played alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2009, he was among the main protagonists, together with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren in the political thriller “State of Play”, while in 2010 he started working again with Ridley Scott in “Robin Hood”. Russell Crowe has narrated the documentary film “Bra Boys” (2007), written and directed by Sunny Abberton. In 2012, he played the role of Inspector Javert in the musical “Les Misérables”, in which he starred with his friend Hugh Jackman.

Crowe portraying Robin Hood

In the same year, the New Zealander played in the film adaptation of the biblical account of Noah’s flood, directed by Darren Aronofsky, where Crowe played the main protagonist: Noah. The output of the biblical blockbuster entitled “Noah” and produced by Paramount Pictures and New Regency Productions took place in the spring of 2014. In 2013, Russell played the role of Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father, previously interpreted by Henry Cavill in the movie “Man of Steel”. The film was directed by Zack Snyder and the cast also included: Amy Adams, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. The following year, he took part in film “Winter’s Tale”, alongside Colin Farrell. In 2014, Crowe made his directorial debut with the film “The Water Diviner”, in which he also played the role of the main protagonist, a man who, after World War II, traveled to Turkey from his native Australia in order to find his missing children. In 2015, Russel starred in “Fathers & Daughters”, alongside Amanda Seyfried. The film tells the story of the relationship between a father and his daughter in 25 years. In 2016, Russell Crowe was the main protagonist, along with Ryan Gosling, in the action comedy “The Nice Guys”, directed by Shane Black. It has also been

confirmed by the actor himself that he will take part in the reboot of the film “The Mummy”, where he will interpret the role of Dr. Henry Jekyll. The film’s release was scheduled for 9 June 2017 and distributed by Universal Pictures. Russell Crowe is also a singer and songwriter. He took part in the musical “Grease” in 1983. From 1986 to 1988, he appeared on the production tour The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in which he made about 458 performances, as Dr. Frank N. Furter for about 50 times, and 400 times as Eddie and Dr. Scott. He was vocalista and guitarist of the rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, formed in 1992. The group was not critically or publicly successful, having released only three albums: Gaslight (1998), Bastard Life or Clarity (2001) and Other Ways of Speaking (2003). Crowe continued his musical career, collaborating with Alan Doyle of the Canadian band Great Big Sea, in early 2005. On 19 April 2005 he released a new single, “Raewyn”. Members of their previous group collaborate in this new project. He has released an album on iTunes entitled “My Hand, My Heart”, which includes a tribute song to the late actor Richard Harris, of whom he became close friend during

The New Zealand actor playing the main role in the movie “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” (2003)

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling starring in the movie “The Nice Guys” (2016)

the filming of “The Gladiator”. Crowe is reputed to be an honest person in an environment where hypocrisy is the law of subsistence. Sincere to final consequences, he does not bow before the imperatives of the popularity as he supports badly the harassment of the press, bores the interviews, hates the rhythm of the life of Los Angeles and does not attend the celebrations from Hollywood. Russell Crowe is a rugby enthusiast. He had a relationship with actress Meg Ryan then married to Dennis Quaid. They separated in 2001, after a year of liaison. In October 2012, after 9 years of marriage, he had separated from singer Danielle Spencer. The two dated since 1989 and had played together on the set of “The Crossing” (1990). They were married since 7 April 2003 and they had two sons: Charles Spencer Crowe,

born on 21 December 2003 and Tennyson Spencer Crowe, born on 7 July 2006. Russell Crowe is faithful in his friendships and occasionally offers directors with whom he collaborates the name of a friend that would interpret one of the protagonists. This was the case in 2003, in the film “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”, directed by Peter Weir, where Dr. Stephen Maturin was thus incarnated by Paul Bettany. In 2010, Ridley Scott offered Alan Doyle the chance to perform the minstrel Allan-a-Dale, in “Robin Hood”. The New Zealander is also part of a band initially entitled 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, now called The Ordinary Fear of God. He owns a 226 hectare farm northwest of Sydney, Australia, but also the famous rugby club at South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Russell Crowe starring in the movie that made him famous - “Gladiator” (2000)

Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai Hōne Wiremu Heke Pōkai (b. 1807 in Pakaraka, New Zealand – d. 7 August 1850 in Kaikohe, New Zealand) was a highly influential Māori rangatira (chief) of the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe) and a war leader in northern New Zealand. He was affiliated with the Ngati Rahiri, Ngai Tawake, Ngati Tautahi, Te Matarahurahu and Te Uri-o-Hua hapu (subtribes) of Ngāpuhi. Hōne Heke was a nephew of Hongi Hika, an earlier war leader of the Ngāpuhi, and fought with Hongi Hika in the Musket Wars. Hōne Heke is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War between 1845 and 1846. Hōne Heke was born in Pakaraka, south of Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands. He was a member of the Iwi of the Ngāpuhi, and had a lot of mana to influence his tribe. He grew up in the area surrounding nowadays Kaikohe and only barely survived the wars between the tribes. As a youth, he attended the missionary

Hōne Wiremu Heke Pōkai

school in Kerikeri and came under the influence of missionary Henry Williams. Heke eventually converted to Christianity together with his wife and became a laity preacher. However, Hōne Heke eventually became distinguished as a warrior. He participated in the first Battle of Kororāreka, also known as Girls’ War, in 1830, then he participated in Titore’s expedition to Tauranga and fought alongside him against Pōmare II (Whiria) in 1837. Hōne Heke was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. The British government had previously appointed James Busby as the official spokesperson regarding Māori affairs. He was also responsible for British trade and the protection of settlers. In 1839, Captain William Hobson was appointed with the task of obtaining the sovereignty over New Zealand. The 2 British leaders invited Māori chiefs in order to obtain their consent on this matter. Hōne Heke asked the governor to remain in New Zealand and protect them from the French and rum sellers that posed as a potential danger for them. The Treaty of Waitangi guaranteed the Māori people all the rights that any British subject would benefit from in exchange for their recognition of the British sovereignty. Heke’s doubts about the Treaty of Waitangi turned out to be justified. The capital of New Zealand was moved from Kororāreka to Auckland. As a result, the Bay of Islands region no longer received any government revenue, customs duties were imposed, and the felling of kauri trees was temporarily banned. Furthermore, from then on, land could only be sold to the state. This measure had actually been intended to protect the Māori. All these changes led to a much poorer economic situation of the Māori. In addition, it was clear that, in the opinion of the British, all authority, including tribal leaders, was to be with the British Crown, although the Treaty of Waitangi had described both contract partners as equal. As a sign of his refusal, Hōne Heke has cut the British flagpole that was flying in Kororāreka and fought against the British. He was angered by the fact that the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand didn’t fly near it. The British interpreted his action as an act of rebellion. In the course of six months, Hōne Heke repeated this action twice more. Thereupon a whole battalion of British soldiers was mandated to guard the flag-mast. With a distracting maneuver, Hōne Heke succeeded in cutting down the flagpole a fourth time. This act was considered the beginning of the Flagstaff

War, one of the bloodiest periods in New Zealand’s history. After the attack on Kororāreka, Hōne Heke and his ally, Kawiti, and the warriors travelled inland to Lake Omapere near to Kaikohe, from the Bay of Islands. Tāmati Wāka Nene, who was loyal to the British, built a pā (village) close to Lake Omapere. Heke’s pā named Puketutu, Hōne Heke and his wife Hariata (1845) was only about 3 km away, while it is sometimes named as “Te Mawhe”. In April 1845, during the time that the colonial forces were gathering in the Bay of Islands, Heke and Nene’s warriors fought many skirmishes on the small hill named Taumata-Karamu that was between the two pās. Heke’s force numbered about three hundred men. Kawiti joined Heke towards the end of April with another 150 warriors. Opposing Heke and Kawiti were about 400 warriors that supported Tāmati Wāka Nene, including the chiefs, Makoare Te Taonui and his son Aperahama Taonui, Mohi Tawhai, Arama Karaka Pi and Nōpera Panakareao. Heke played a major role in the first phase of the conflict, but he was severely injured in the Battle of Te Ahuahu, and only appeared on the battlefield again a few months later during the siege of Ruapekapeka Pā. At the Battle of Te Ahuahu, fought on 12 June 1845, Heke lost the battle against Nene and his village was conquered by the opposing forces. Heke allied with Chief Kawiti in the war against the British. While Hōne was recovering in Kaikohe, he was visited by two British officials who tried to convince him to sign an armistice and put an end to the fighting. The Battle of Te Ahuahu was considered to be Heke’s most crushing defeat during the Flagstaff War. The siege of Ruapekapeka Pā was fought between 27 December 1845 and 11 January 1846. Hōne Heke abandoned the village and set traps around it, thus managing to obtain a partial victory against the British as he managed to injure many of them. Kawiti’s men withdrew from the battle as they feared that their chief might have fallen and eventually the British and Nene’s men occupied the village, ergo obtaining victory. A

short time later, Heke met his main opponent of Māori origins, Tāmati Wāka Nene, who fought on the side of the British. Both agreed on an armistice, which they then presented to the British. George Gray, who was then Governor of New Zealand, declared the truce to be a British tactical victory. Gray was really struggling to make peace between the Europeans and the natives and was offered a victory at Ruapekapeka Pā. In 1848, Hōne Hoke and George Gray then concluded peace in a meeting. The two parties decided that the flagpole would remain on the ground in order not to provoke any future tensions. Hōne Heke then retired to Kaikohe and continued to promote Māori self-determination via correspondence with the British government. He died two years later of tuberculosis. To this day he is revered as the greatest leader of the Ngāpuhi tribe and worshipped by many other Māori. He was buried in a secret place, thus his grave became the subject of many stories and rumours. In May 2011, his bones revealed to lie in a cave near Pakaraka, named Umakitera, were moved to a public cemetery.

Heke cuts off the flagstaff at Kororareka

Peter Robert Jackson Peter Robert Jackson (b. 31 October 1961 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014), both of which are adapted from the novels of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. Other notable films include the critically lauded drama “Heavenly Creatures” (1994), the mockumentary “Forgotten Silver” (1995), the horror comedy “The Frighteners” (1996), the epic monster remake film “King Kong” (2005), and the supernatural drama film “The Lovely Bones” (2009). He also produced “District 9” (2009), “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” (2011), and the documentary “West of Memphis” (2012). Peter Jackson was born in Wellington, New Zealand. At the age of 9 years old, he saw the movie

“King Kong” and since then wanted to become a film director. He made short films with the video camera that his parents gave him. Jackson began his career by making movies in his spare time, including “Bad Taste” (1987), shot in the same year of his wedding with Fran Walsh. It is a gore film with the help of which he achieved notoriety at the Cannes Film Festival, thus beginning his professional career in the movie industry and allowing him access to the Hollywood world. However, unlike other compatriots, he has remained in his country while realizing his new projects. During this time, he was acquiring or creating businesses in order to produce films in New Zealand. Jackson has several films as influences. It is well known that Peter Jackson has a passion for King Kong, often referring to it as his favourite character and to the 1933 film as the one that inspired him at the beginning of his life. The New Zealander often recalls his attempts in remaking “King Kong” when he was only 12 years old. At the 2009 San Diego International Comics Convention, while interviewed together with James Cameron, director of Titanic (1997) and Avatar

Peter Jackson

(2009), Jackson said that certain movies “kicked him”. Among them, he mentioned Martin Scorsese’s movies “Goodfellas” (1990) and “Casino” (1995). Jackson also said that the movie “Waterloo” (1970) inspired him in his youth. “Bad taste” is Peter Jackson’s first movie, which he filmed with the help of his friends during his free time. The movie was entirely directed, written and produced by Peter Jackson, and has become since a cult movie. The plot revolves around a group of extraterrestrials who come to New Zealand in order to kidnap people and turn them into food. In his second film, “Meet the Feebles” (1989), Jackson used puppets in a fun production in which he demonstrated his talent as creator of original stories. The film is about a musical theater group. However, his boom as a cult author occurred with “Braindead” (1992), a gore film, something between comedy and horror, with lots of ambiguity due in large part to his horribly bloody plot, with which he won numerous awards. This film is considered one of the most gore movies in history. He then realized the movie “Heavenly Creatures” (1994), starring Kate Winslet, a film that is based on real events happened in New Zealand. This film allowed him to experiment a way to make cinema “more normal”, but without abandoning his black humor. With this movie, he achieved his first Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay and was also awarded at the Venice Film Festival as Best Director. After the previous movie, Jackson directed “Forgotten Silver” (1995), a false documentary on the adventures of a film director, while the following year he realized the movie “The Frighteners” (1996), a mix of comedy, science fiction and thriller, whose main protagonist was Michael J. Fox. Peter Jackson has actually become famous for directing “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, one after another in the course of four years, with “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” having won 4 Oscar nominations with 13 nominations, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” receiving 2 out of 6 Oscar nominations. In the last film of the trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings: The return of the King”, Peter Jackson won the award for Best Film, the award for Best Director and one more award for Best Screenwriter. In total, the film would win 11 awards it was nominated for, thus equaling William Wyler’s “Ben-Hur” and James Cameron’s “Titanic”. As a curiosity, Peter made short cameo appearances in each of the “Lord of the Rings” movie. In “The Fellowship of the Ring”, he acted as Bree’s villager, while in “The Two Towers”, he appeared as a

Peter Jackson at the 2009 San Diego ComicCon

Rohirrim and in “The Return of the King” he appeared in one of the men’s ships along with other members of the team. His film “King Kong” (2005), was a remake of the classic 1933 “King Kong” movie. Thus, Peter Jackson managed to fulfil his childhood dream. In 2009, it premiered “The Lovely Bones”, based on a novel written by Alice Sebold, where she tells the story of Susie Salmon, a young woman who has been murdered and watches her family and her executioner from the sky, struggling to quench her thirst for revenge and wishes for her family to get well. At the end of 2007, an agreement was reached with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and New Line Cinema companies to run the executive production of two films based on the novel “The Hobbit”, which later expanded to three films. The filming was performed between March 2011 and July 2012, with the first movie being released on 14 December 2012, and the other two on 13 53

Directors Peter Jackson and Andres Useche

December 2013, respectively 17 December 2014. The movies were to be directed by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro since Jackson was busy preparing the adaptation of the “The Adventures of Tintin” together with Steven Spielberg, but Del Toro took off of the project due to the delays from the beginning of the recording and to the economic problems with MGM producer. In October 2010, it was confirmed that Peter Jackson would not only be the producer but also the director of the films. According to rumours, the production had a total budget of 500 million US $, making it the most expensive project in history. On 19 December 2014, the New Zealander film director stated that he was interested in making the film adaptation of The Silmarillion, but for this he needed the approval of the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien, who have not shown much conformity with respect to his other adaptations of the Middle Earth. Also pending is the premiere of “The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun”, after “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn”, directed by Steven Spielberg, which will be directed by Jackson. On 25 November 2016, Universal reported that 54

Jackson and Fran Walsh, the couple behind the trilogies “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”, returned to the big screen with the adaptation of “Mortal Engines”, the award-winning science fiction series of Philip Reeve. The movie release is scheduled for 14 December 2018. Jackson will be a producer and scriptwriter, with the movie being directed by Christian Rivers. Since 1987, Peter Jackson is married to Fran Walsh, with whom he has two children: Billy and Katie. Jackson’s mother, Joan, died three days before the world premiere of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and there was a special presentation of the film after her funeral. Jackson is an aviation enthusiast and owns a collection of Aircraft. After the last movie of the trilogy, Jackson shortly lost many pounds in order to become unrecognizable. He himself later revealed in an interview that he started eating a diet, instead of hamburgers, yoghurts and muesli. Peter Jackson offered 500.000 NZ $ in charity for stem cell research. He also bought a church in Seatoun, a suburb of Wellington for about 10 million $, thus saving it from demolition. He is a great friend of directors James Cameron and Steven Spielberg.

Sir Peter Jackson at the world premiere of “The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey”, held in Wellington, New Zealand (2012)

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford (b. 30 August 1871 in Brightwater, Tasman District, New Zealand – d. 19 October 1937 in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom) was a New Zealand-born British physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. Encyclopædia Britannica considers him to be the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday (1791–1867). In his early work, Rutherford discovered the concept of radioactive half-life, proved that radioactivity involved the nuclear transmutation of one chemical element to another, and also differentiated and named alpha and beta radiation. This work was done at the McGill University in Canada. It is the basis for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry he was awarded in 1908. Ernest Rutherford was born in Brightwater, South Island, New Zealand. His father, James

Ernest Rutherford

Rutherford, was a Scottish farmer emigrant, while his mother, Martha Thompson, was a teacher in England. With seven sons and five daughters they had to raise, the couple was experiencing pretty harsh conditions. Thus, the family in which Ernest was born was a pretty poor one. At the age of 16 years old, he was admitted at Nelson College, a boys-only school. Later, in 1889, he received a scholarship at the Canterbury College, University of New Zealand. There, he stood out through his remarkable intelligence and became the president of the debate society. He graduated in 1893 and continued his research there for a short period of time, then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, in order to pursue postgraduate studies at the Cavendish Laboratory. Ernest spent there three years and obtained the world record for the distance from which the electromagnetic waves could be detected. In 1898, Rutherford didn’t miss the opportunity to become a professor of physics at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada, after this post remained vacant. In 1900, he married Mary Georgina Newton. The couple had a daughter together, Eileen Mary. Seven years later, he returned to England and occupied the post of physics professor at Manchester University. In 1908, Ernest Rutherford received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded this prize following the studies he made at the McGill University, his research being done into radiation and radioactive substances fields. Later, in 1919, he accepted the post of professor of physics offered by the Cambridge University. During his teaching career he had as many as nine Nobel laureates as students. Among these students, the most notable ones were James Chadwick, who has been awarded for the discovery of the neutron, Edward Appleton, who demonstrated the existence of the ionosphere, and Cockcroft and Walton, who managed to realize an experiment in which the atom was split by a particle accelerator. His scientific career was a thriving one. The New Zealander scientist published many papers based on his research, including: “Radioactivity” (1904), “Radioactive Transformations” (1906), “Radioactive Substances and their Radiations” (1913), “The Electrical Structure of Matter” (1926), “The Artificial Transmutation of the Elements” and “The Newer Alchemy” (1937). Fascinated by the phenomenon of radioactivity, Rutherford has made numerous researches in this regard, and in 1899 he discovered two types of radiation emitted by the thorium and uranium atoms. He named

Ernest Rutherford in 1905

them alpha and beta radiation and discovered that the difference between them lied in the penetration power. If the alpha radiation can be stopped by a single sheet of paper, something stronger is needed to stop the beta radiation, such as an aluminum foil or a glass wall. Between 1900 and 1903, he collaborated with other scientists and studied the phenomenon of nuclear transmutation. Ernest Rutherford thus discovered that radioactivity is the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. He also found out about the half-life of a radioactive particle and used this notion to calculate the age of the Earth. The New Zealander scientist was surprised when he found out that the Earth was much â&#x20AC;&#x153;olderâ&#x20AC;? than people thought it was back then. Also, in 1903, Rutherford studied a certain type of radiation emanating from radium atoms and discovered

that it is different from alpha and beta radiation because it had a much higher penetration power. Unlike the other two types of radiation that could be blocked fairly easily, in order to block the third one there were needed plumb blocks or cement. He named it gamma radiation and continued his research on it, eventually discovering that the reason why its penetration power is so great is that it is a powerful emission of electromagnetic radiation. Following his studies on these radiations, Rutherford received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Perhaps Rutherfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest achievement was the discovery of the Atomic Planetary Model, now known as the Rutherford Model. He led an experiment in which he wanted to know precisely how the atom is organized. This experiment took place at Cambridge University in 1909. The experiment consisted in the 57

Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada

“bombarding” of a thin gold sheet with alpha particles. The scientist has noticed that most of the radiation passed without any deviation, while the rest seemed to hit something stiff. This model suggested that electrons are evenly distributed through the mass of the atom. In fact, the atom had positive particles concentrated in a very small nucleus. He measured the radius of this nucleus and found out that it was a hundred thousand times smaller than the radius of the atom. In 1911, Ernest created a new atomic planetary model and named it the “planetary model” due to its similarity to our solar system. Just as most of the mass of the solar system is concentrated in the Sun, much of the mass of the atom is concentrated in its nucleus. The way electrons orbit the center of the atom is the same as the planets orbit around the Sun. Likewise, just as in the solar system there is a lot of empty space, so it is within the atom. Another important achievement of Ernest Rutherford was his first transmutation of one element 58

into another. This happened in 1919. He converted nitrogen into oxygen through a chemical reaction. Another important thing happened in 1921, while working with Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist. Rutherford then formulated a theory about the existence of the neutrons. This was confirmed in 1932 by his associate, James Chadwick, an English physicist. Ernest Rutherford died on 19 October 1937 following his decision to postpone his hernia operation. He was then buried in London at the Westminster Cathedral. Even today, more than 80 years after his death, Ernest Rutherford’s memory is still alive in our consciousness, proof being the numerous institutions, streets and buildings that bear his name. Among them are “Rutherford Street” in Nelson, New Zealand and “Rutherford College” from the same country. His legacy also traveled beyond our planet, a crater on the moon being named “Crater Rutherford”. His merits in science are of priceless value, Rutherford remaining forever in our memory as the father of nuclear physics.

Portrait of Ernest Rutherford by 59 Oswald Birley (1936)

apirana Ngata

Āpirana Ngata (b. 3 July 1874 in Te Araroa, Gisborne, New Zealand – d. 14 July 1950 in Waiomatatini, New Zealand) was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori culture and language. Āpirana Ngata was born in Te Araroa, then Kawakawa, a small coastal town located about 175 km north of Gisborne, as a member of the Ngāti Porou Iwi. His father was regarded as an expert on the traditional customs of the Māori. Ngata was influenced both by his father and his great-uncle Ropata Wahawaha, who had led the Ngāti Porou forces into the East Cape War and Te Kooti’s War. Ngata grew up in a Māori environment and spoke fluently the Māori language. His father, however,

Āpirana Ngata

also took care of his son’s education and wanted him to learn something about the white people’s world, known as Pākehā, believing that the Ngāti Porou could benefit from their knowledge. Ngata attended the primary school in Waiomatatini, then the Te Aute College, where he received an European education. Ngata was a good student, so he received a scholarship to Canterbury University College in New Zealand. There he studied political sciences and law. In 1893, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, ergo becoming the first Māori to receive an academic degree from a New Zealand University. In 1896, he received the Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland. In 1895, Ngata married 16 years old Arihia Kane Tamati, who belonged to the same Iwi. Ngata was previously engaged to Tamati’s older sister, Te Rina. She, however, passed away. Āpirana and Arihia had fifteen children, out of which three boys and one girl died at a young age. Six girls and five boys reached adulthood. Shortly after Ngata had obtained his legal degree, the family moved back to Waiomatatini, where they built a house. Āpirana soon became very well known in the community as he made some efforts in order to improve the social and economic conditions for the Māori people throughout the country. He also wrote much about the place of the Māori culture in modern society. At the same time, he gradually gained a leadership position within the Ngāti Porou Iwi, especially in the field of land administration and finance. Āpirana Ngata first came into contact with national politics through his friendship with politician James Carroll. He was then Minister of Native Affairs in the government of the Liberal Party. Ngata helped Carroll prepare two legal proposals, both of which would improve the legal rights of Māori. During the parliamentary elections of 1905, Āpirana was elected as a liberal candidate for the seat of the electoral district of Eastern Māori, thus defeating Wi Pere. Ngata quickly distinguished himself as a talented orator in the New Zealand parliament. He worked closely with his friend James Carroll and Robert Stout. Ngata and Stout, both members of the Native Land Commission, often criticized the government’s strategy on the Māori, especially the one against the policies that favored the sale of Māori lands. In 1909, Ngata assisted John Salmond in the drafting of the Native Land Act. At the end of the year 1909, Āpirana was appointed to the Cabinet. He was given a subordinate administrative post, which was responsible for the Māori land councilors. He

Āpirana Ngata in the Native Lands Committee group photo in 1906

kept this post until 1912, when the liberal government lost the elections. Ngata followed the Liberals into the parliamentary opposition. During the First World War, Āpirana Ngata was a very active politician regarding the recruitment of soldiers among the Māori for military service, working closely with the prime minister of the reform party, Māui Pōmare. Ngata’s own Iwi, Ngāti Porou, was particularly strongly represented among the volunteers. The great participation of the Māori people in the war, to which all credits were attributed to Ngata and Pōmare, to a certain extent created a more positive attitude of the Pākehā towards the Māori, and helped Āpirana’s later efforts to settle land disputes within the country. Although part of the opposition, Āpirana Ngata had enjoyed relatively

good relations with his counterparts in the government division. He had a good relationship especially with Gordon Coates, who became Prime Minister in 1925. The establishment of several government agencies, such as the Māori Purposes Fund Control Board and the Board of Māori Ethnological Research, is strongly attributed to Ngata’s efforts. During this time, Ngata also dealt with numerous other things. Among others, he worked in academic and literary circles. He published several works on major themes of Māori culture. “Ngā moteatea”, a collection of Māori songs, is one of the most famous of these works. Āpirana also dealt with the protection and promotion of Māori culture within the Māori cultures. He especially promoted the Haka, Poi dancing and 61

Āpirana Ngata and Peter Buck alongside a tukutuku panel at Waiomatatini in 1923

traditional carvings. One aspect of his promotion of the Māori culture was the construction of numerous new traditional congregations on marae (sacred place) all over the country. Ngata was also active in sports. He promoted competitions and tournaments between the tribes. In addition, Āpirana Ngata also tried to solve some affairs of the Māori with the Anglican Church and encouraged the latter to establish a Māori diocese. In spite of all these activities, Ngata continued to deal intensively with the affairs of his own Iwi, especially 62

in the field of land development. Āpirana Ngata was knighted in 1927, thus becoming the third Māori after Carroll and Pōmare to receive this award. The United Party, which had been founded by members of the old Liberal Party, unexpectedly won the parliamentary elections of 1928. Āpirana Ngata returned to the Cabinet on 10 December 1928 as the 22nd Minister of Māori Affairs, thus succeeding Gordon Coates. He was third in the rankings of the Cabinet, and was, occasionally, acting as deputy prime

Ngata in the New Zealand Coalition Cabinet of 1931

minister. Ngata remained very busy and was known for his indefatigability. Much of his work as minister was connected with land reforms and the promotion and development of the Māori lands. Ngata believed in the need for a rejuvenation of the Māori society and worked hard to achieve this goal. In 1929, his wife and his eldest son died of an unknown illness. In 1932, Āpirana Ngata and his Department of Native Affairs came increasingly under the criticism of other politicians. Many believed that Ngata was pushing things too fast, and the numerous activities that Ngata triggered caused organizational difficulties in the department. An investigation by Ngata’s department revealed that one of his billing had been counterfeit. Āpirana himself was criticized as he ignored official regulations, which he often regarded as obstacles to progress. He was also accused of having favoured the Ngāti Porou, although no evidence was ever provided. Although he had made no mistakes from his own point of view, he took the political responsibility for the actions of his ministry and resigned on 1 November 1934. His successor was George Forbes. Many Māori were angry because of the departure of Ngata from the government,

believing that he was the victim of an attempt by the Pākehā to undermine his land reforms. Despite his retreat from the Cabinet, he remained active as a deputy. In the elections of 1935, the Labor Party and Āpirana Ngata went again into the opposition. However, the new government retained many of his reform programs. Ngata stayed in the parliament from 1905 until the elections of 1943, where he was defeated by the Laborist Tiaki Omana. In the next elections, in 1946, he was unsuccessful. After his departure from the parliament, Āpirana Ngata remained politically active. He advised Labor’s Party Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, and Ernest Corbett on Māori affairs and in 1940 he organized the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. During the Second World War, he helped once more in the recruitment of Māori soldiers. In 1950, he was appointed to the Parliament’s Legislative Council, but was already too weak to start working on his projects. Āpirana Ngata died in Waiomatatini on 14 July 1950. Because of his great contributions to the Māori culture and language, he is depicted on the New Zealand 50 $ bill. 63

Katherine Mansfield Katherine Mansfield (b. 14 October 1888 in Wellington, New Zealand – d. 9 January 1923 in Fontainebleau, France) was a prominent New Zealand modernist short story writer who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. At 19 years old, Mansfield left New Zealand and settled in the United Kingdom, where she became a friend of modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. In 1917, she was diagnosed with extrapulmonary tuberculosis, which led to her death at the age of 34. Kathleen Mansfield Murry (nee Beauchamp) was born in 1888 in a socially prominent family of colonial origins in Wellington, New Zealand. She lived with her parents, two sisters, her grandmother and two teenage aunts. Her father was a banker, while she was cousin of the writer Elizabeth von Arnim. Kathleen’s father, Harold Beauchamp, became chairman of the Bank of New Zealand and was knighted. Her mother

Katherine Mansfield

was very controlling, so Kathleen was raised by her grandmother. Her mother’s attitude can be explained by the fact that she wanted to have a boy, which caused her to constantly point out that Kathleen’s birth was an “accident”. As a consequence, she showed no interest in the young girl. In 1893, the family moved to a rural area, where Katherine will spend the best years of her childhood and where her brother, Leslie Heron “Chummie” Beauchamp, will be born. In 1898, the family returned to Wellington and Kathleen published her first story in the school magazine. In 1902, she fell in love with her cello teacher, but the feeling was not shared by him. She felt rejected by the inhabitants of the city, especially by the Māori people, so she decides to ask her parents to send her to study in London. Her parents opposed at first, but after her constant insistences, they decided to let her go, along with her two sisters, to Queen’s College of Oxford. Apart from going to classes at the institute, she also wrote for the College magazine and went to cello classes. There, she met Ida Constance Baker, her best friend and then lover, who was also a writer. When Katherine finished her studies, her parents ordered her to return to Wellington. When Katherine Mansfield eventually returned, she started to regret her decision since she didn’t like life in Wellington, a place she considered provincial and far away from the standards of the English world. The New Zealand writer then returned to London in 1908. From then on and for the rest of her life, her father will send her an annual pension of 100 £. By 1908, she had become a good cellist and dreamed of dedicating herself to music, but her father didn’t allow it and thus she never made her dream come true. She quickly became a bohemian, like many artists of her time, and met a boy named Garnet Trowell, brother of her former cello teacher, Arnold Trowell. The boy’s parents opposed the relationship and it ended even though she became pregnant. She then met a singing teacher who was 11 years older than her. His name was George Bowden and the couple quickly set up the marriage plans. However, Katherine Mansfield left him during the wedding night, without consuming the marriage. When she informed her parents that she was pregnant, her mother, Annie, quickly arrived in London in early 1909 and took her to Bad Wörishofen in Bavaria, Germany, with the intention of keeping her pregnancy secret and curing her from lesbianism since she already knew about her daughter’s relationship with Ida Baker, her lover. At some point during her stay in the German

Katherine Mansfield during her period spent in France

spa city, she suffered a miscarriage and lost the baby she was expecting. Katherine returned to London in January 1910 and will never see her mother ever again. There, she published 12 stories in “The New Age”. The New Zealand writer also maintained a close relationship with her boss’s wife, Beatrice Hastings. Subsequently, these stories were published in a book entitled “In a German Pension”, which had little success. Despite the failure, she sent a story to “Rhythm” magazine, but it was rejected by the editor, John Middleton Murry, who asked for something more “dark”. In 1911, both began a relationship which will end up in a marriage in 1918. However, she also remained involved in her relationship with Ida Baker. Sometimes she was with Murry, sometimes she was with Baker and sometimes even with both of them, as all three lived together for a period of time. Katherine Mansfield got infected with gonorrhea, which caused her arthritis for the rest of her life. In 1912, the magazine was in financial difficulty since Murry’s partner, Charles Granville, had left him with all the accumulated debt. She then left England with Murry and Baker and went on to live in France. Katherine was for a short period of time with another

man, but the relationship didn’t work and decided to return to London with Murry. In February 1915, her brother Leslie arrived in London, where he would graduate as an officer. It was a happy moment for her, but the joy didn’t last long as Leslie died on the front in October of that year. The death of her brother left her very affected, so she began taking refuge in her childhood memories, when she lived in New Zealand, a place that before seemed horrible. In spite of that, in the beginning of 1916, Katherine experienced a very productive period of time and her relation with Murry started to improve. In December 1917, he became ill with tuberculosis, so he had to travel throughout Europe seeking for a cure for his disease. In spite of that, John Murry’s health deteriorated and he suffered a strong hemorrhage from which he managed to recover in the month of March of 1918. By April, the divorce from George Bowden had finalized and she decided to marry with Murray. However, they separated only two weeks later. Katherine Mansfield then published her second book of stories, “Prelude”. During the winter of 1918, she and Ida Baker lived in a village in San Remo, Italy, where Murry arrived to spend Christmas with them. The relationship with Murry was distant from that moment, since they lived separated, he in London and she in Italy. While in Italy, she received a visit from her father, who had recently become a widow. Thereafter, she began to desperately seek cure for tuberculosis, even via some unorthodox methods. In 1920, Katherine published her third book of stories, “Bliss”, which enjoyed a great success. Later, in 1921, she moves to Switzerland, where she wrote “The Trip”. A year later, Katherine published her fourth book of stories, entitled “The Garden Party” (1923). She traveled to Paris and stayed in a spa near Fontainebleau, where she was visited by Murry on 9 January 1923. In the afternoon of that day, she suffered a second pulmonary hemorrhage that caused her death at the age of 34 years old. Murry took everything that Katherine has written and started publishing her works in London. He prepared a series of stories and published them in a book entitled “The Dove’s Nest” (1923). That same year and the following year, he did the same with other stories in a book titled “Something Childish” (1924). Later, he will also publish “The Journal of Katherine Mansfield” (1927) and “The Letters of Katherine Mansfield” (1928), as well as a volume of “Poems”, “The Aloe” and “Novels and Novelists”. 65

Katherine Mansfield in 1917

Edmund Hillary Edmund Hillary (b. 20 July 1919 in Auckland, New Zealand – d. 11 January 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the 9th British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt. TIME magazine named Hillary one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Edmund Hillary has been one of the world’s best known mountaineers and explorers. His fame spread worldwide after he became the first man to ascend on the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953, alongside Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. His family moved in Tuakau, south of Auckland, New Zealand, where Edmund Hillary has developed a passion for reading since childhood. He was very shy and seemed even

Sir Edmund Hillary

smaller than his schoolmates. He then found refuge in the books he started reading during the four hours he needed to go and return from school by train. At the age of 16 years old, during a school trip to Mount Ruapehu in the New Zealand Alps, he discovered that his physique was more resistant than his other companions. That was the moment he began to take interest in mountaineering. In addition to the New Zealand Alps, Hillary also ascended on the summit of the European Alps then he tried to climb on the top of the Himalayas, where he climbed eleven peaks over the 6.000 meter high altitude. During World War II, Edmund Hillary was a navigator of the Royal New Zealand Air Force aviation. In 1948, along with Ruth Adams, Harry Ayres and Mick Sullivan, he made the first ascension on Mount Cook’s (Aoraki) South Point. He later participated in two reconnaissance expeditions in the Himalayas: one in the Everest area in 1951 and the other one at Cho Oyu in 1952. Edmund was noted by John Hunt, who invited him to take part in the lucky British expedition of 1953. The conquest of the top of the Himalayas, realized on 29 May 1953, was announced at the same time as Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. Edmund Hillary, then world famous, took part in numerous expeditions in the Himalayas between 1956 and 1965, when he also worked extensively at the construction of the small Lukla airport, which since 2008 was named after him and Tenzing. Edmund also took part in an expedition to Antarctica, where he reached the South Pole on 4 January 1958 with the Commonwealth TransAntarctic Expedition, a motorized expedition made up of three Massey Ferguson TE20 tractors and conducted by Vivian Fuchs. The New Zealander was the 3rd man in history to reach this point off the ground after Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott in 1911 and 1912. Edmund Hillary was awarded many honors for his accomplishments. On 16 July 1953, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), while in 1987 he became a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ). On 23 April 1995, Edmund was appointed Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG). Finally, in 2003, during the 50th anniversary of the conquest of Everest, the Nepal government granted him honorary citizenship during a special commemorative jubilee held in the capital of Kathmandu. Sir Edmund was the first foreigner to receive such an honor from the state of Nepal. He was the only New Zealander to have appeared on a foreign banknote. Edmund Hillary married Louise Mary Rose 67

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

on 3 September 1953. They had three children: Peter, born in 1954, Sarah, born in 1955 and Belinda (19591975). During the 1980’s, he was New Zealand’s high commissioner for India, Bangladesh and Nepal, equivalent to the position of ambassador. In 1994, an asteroid was named after him: (3130) Hillary. Other honors he received were, among others, the Hubbard Medal of the American Geographical Society in 1954 and the Honorary Doctorate of the Victoria University of Wellington in 1989. In 1999, he was featured alongside with Tenzing Norgay in the TIME 100 list of the most influential figures of the 20th century. In 1961, the Hillary Coast in Antarctica was named after him. The New Zealander devoted much of his life to helping the Nepalese Sherpa people through the Himalayan Trust he founded. He managed to build many schools and hospitals. A tragic event occurred in Edmund’s life when his wife, Louise Mary Rose, and one of his daughters, Belinda, both died in 1975 in an airplane crash shortly after their take off from Kathmandu. Hillary then married June Mulgrew, the widow of his best friend, Peter Mulgrew, who died in 1979 in the crash of Air New Zealand flight 68

901, when the plane took a tour over the Antarctic at Mount Erebus, on 21 December 1989. Hillary was also honorary president of the American Himalayan Foundation, a non-profit association that sought to improve the ecological balance and living conditions of the Himalayan people. Edmund, who in everyday life exercised the profession of beekeeper, said that he was considering his achievements in the humanitarian field as his greatest achievement. Mountaineering events, especially at Mount Everest, were commented on by Edmund Hillary in the media. In the early 1990’s, a series of deaths, mainly in the death zone, in 1996 and again in 2006, happened because unsuitable people with too much ambition became customers of Everest expeditions, which Hillary strongly criticized. Finally, in May 2006, he expressed his negative opinion about a disabled New Zealander who climbed the Everest and had previously left behind an almost frozen Englishman, who died shortly afterwards, high up in the death zone. Hillary lamented over the loss of the mountaineering virtue of comradeship, lack of assistance and extreme ambition in favour of rampant commerce, egoism and exuberance.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Lady Louise Hillary together with their son, Peter

He is considered a national legend in New Zealand and has a high reputation in sporting matters. However, he was also internationally criticized for his criticisms, which were partly considered unconscionable. Edmund Hillary died at 9:35 AM on 11 January 2008 in the Auckland City Hospital due to heart failure at the age of 88 years old. After the announcement of his death, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark described him as a “legendary mountaineer, adventurer and philanthropist” and “the most famous New Zealander ever to have lived”. The funeral took place on 22 January in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland. The coffin was wrapped in the New Zealand state flag and adorned with the ice ax that Hillary had used in the ascent of Mount Everest. On 29 February 2008, in a private ceremony, most of his ashes were dispersed in Auckland Bay, while the remaining ones were buried in a Nepalese monastery. In 2010, the scattering of his remaining ashes was canceled.

Sir Edmund Hillary, Selwyn Toogood, and Joseph Holmes Miller

Richie McCaw Richie McCaw (b. 31 December 1980 in Kurow, New Zealand) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He is the most capped test rugby player of all time, and has won the World Rugby player of the year award a joint record three times. Richie McCaw was born on the last day of 1980 and is the son of Don, a simple farmer, and Margaret McCaw, a teacher. His family is of Scottish origin and the McCaw’s family presence in New Zealand dates back to the end of the 19th century when an ancestor named Alexander, emigrated from the Borders in order to engage in cultivation in the Otago region. The entire McCaw family had been devoted to agriculture since, except for Richie’s grandfather, Jim, who was a military pilot during World War II in the 486th RNZAF squadron in Sussex, distinguishing himself in battle in 1944 against the German V1 and V2’s and decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. It was Jim McCaw,

Richie McCaw

who became a flight instructor after the war, who inspired Richie his passion for aeronautics and taught him to pilot the glider from the age of 9 years old. At the same time, when he was 6 years old, Richie McCaw was playing in the youth teams of Kurow, a rugby club from the province and was already a future prospect in the third line. In 1994, he joined the Otago High School in Dunedin, where he became the captain of the first rugby team. After graduating in 1998, he enrolled at the Lincoln University in Christchurch in order to study agrarian sciences. There, he was included in the rugby team of the university, which was participating in the Canterbury provincial championship. In 1999, McCaw was selected for the Under-19 New Zealand national team with which he won the World Championship. He debuted for Canterbury in the National Province Championship in 2000 against North Harbor. In 2001, he also started in the Super Rugby Championship with the Crusaders and in November of that year he received his first call-up for the All Blacks during their tour in Europe and South America, having less than 20 official club games in the previous two years. Richie’s national debut took place in Dublin on 17 November 2001 against Ireland. McCaw also came on the field the following week at Murrayfield against Scotland. Although just at his beginnings in the National Championship, and with a National Provincial Championship title won with relatively few appearances in the field, in December 2001, McCaw was named the best player of the tournament in that year. Two years later, he made his first World Cup debut at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. In that World Cup, Richie played all his matches (7 matches) and reached the semi-finals, after defeating South Africa. In the semi-finals, New Zealand lost the match against Australia, ergo finishing the tournament on the 3rd position. At the end of that year, McCaw was awarded the Kelvin R. Tremain Trophy, which honored him as the best player of the year in New Zealand. In the 2006 Super 12 tournament, the Crusaders defeated the Hurricanes in the final with the score of 19-12, thus winning their 6th title, while McCaw won his 3rd one. In the same year, Richie McCaw was named captain of the All Blacks representative, thus replacing Tana Umaga. The last and most recent title for both McCaw and the Crusaders was that of the 2008 tournament, obtained through a victory against the Waratahs. Richie McCaw played again in the final of the tournament

Richie McCaw and the New Zealand Rugby Team upon their arrival back home after the successful 2011 Rugby World Cup

in 2014, but lost the title after a foul he committed in injury time was sanctioned by referee Craig Joubert. The Crusaders were leading with 30-29 but the foul had cost his team a kick that the Australians took advantage of, thus winning the game with the score of 32-30. The Crusaders, under new coach Todd Blackadder, had a slow start in the 2009 season when they lost four of their first five games. They recovered and finished the tournament on the 4th place, losing the semi-final at Loftus Versfeld against the Bulls. The 2010 season was more or less the same as the previous year and the Crusaders finished on 4th place during the round robin stage and lost to the Bulls in the semi-final once more. At the end of year, Richie McCaw was named the IRB International Player of the Year for the second successive season and the New Zealand sportsperson of the year at the Halberg Awards. At the 2011 Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand, Richie played his 100th All Blacks game, thus becoming the first player to achieve this achievement. This event occurred during the All Blacks’ match against France in Group A of the tournament, in which the hosts were victorious. In his 103rd All Blacks game, Richie led his team to an 8-7 victory against France in the final of the World Cup at the Eden Park Stadium in Auckland City. He lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in the same

place where David Kirk had done it 24 years earlier. A few months after winning the World Cup, he had undergone a successful operation on his right foot in November. The screw from his foot, which was initially inserted because of a previous fracture, was removed and the player had to stay on the bench for 3 months. In February 2012, he announced that he would return to the pitch in April, after losing the first five rounds of the Super XV. In 2015, McCaw was selected to be part of the New Zealand team that participated in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He was part of the starting team that won the final against Australia with the score of 34-17. The All Blacks entered in the history of rugby, being the first team to win the title of champions in two consecutive World Cup editions. In the press conference held after the World Cup final, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen stated that “McCaw is the best All Black we’ve ever had”. Richie McCaw wasn’t married until 14 January 2017, when he secretly married Gemma Flynn in a secret ceremony in Wanaka. Having from time to time different sentimental relationships, at the end of each of them, the national press cyclically refers to him as “the most wanted bachelor of the country”. As a flying passionate thanks to his grandfather’s teachings, from 2009 to 2011 McCaw was named honorary director of 71

the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and convinced the Discovery Channel manager for Australasia to produce a documentary-reportage on glider flight with himself being the main protagonist. Together with his club and national compatriot, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw signed a contract in 2010 that kept him tied to the New Zealand Rugby Federation up to the World Cup, for an amount of 750.000 NZD $, which at that time made them the country’s most paid rugby men. At the end of 2011, after the World Cup victory, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key informally proposed the honor of decorating Richie McCaw as knight, guaranteeing him the title of “Sir”, but McCaw himself declined the offer. While welcoming the proposal, McCaw said he it wasn’t the time for him to be decorated as he was still in business and could only reconsider it after the end of his competitive career. Four years after the denial, John Key announced his intention to acknowledge McCaw’s achievements after the end of the Rugby World Cup 2015 in anticipation of, albeit not officially declared, the player’s retirement from international career. Finally, on 31 December Richie McCaw and the Webb Ellis Cup after the 2011 2015, Richie McCaw was granted the honorary status Rugby World Cup Final of member of the New Zealand Order, of which only a maximum of twenty living persons can at any time 2012, Richie McCaw turned out to be the most popular be allowed to be part of. Following an online survey of male celebrity in the country, ahead of his national team New Zealanders sexual habits, Mega Kiwi Sex Survey compatriots Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams.

Richie McCaw successfully captained the New Zealand team in the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final against France

Jean Gardner Batten Jean Gardner Batten (b. 15 September 1909 in Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand – d. 22 November 1982 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain) was a New Zealand aviator. Born in Rotorua, she became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930’s, internationally, by making a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world. She made the first-ever solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936. Jean Batten was the daughter of a surgeon dentist named Frederick Batten and his wife Ellen Batten, who would become the most fervent supporter of her daughter’s career as a pilot. In 1924, Jean was enrolled at a girls’ boarding school in Remuera, Auckland, where she studied ballet and piano. Although she was a gifted pianist, at the age of 18 years old, she wanted to become a pilot. She was inspired in her decision by Australian Charles Kingsford Smith who took her for a flight in a Southern Cross airplane. In 1929, Jean moved to England with her mother in order to join the London Aeroplane Club. She made her first solo flight

in 1930 and obtained the private pilot and commercial pilot licenses before 1932, after borrowing 500 £ from Fred Truman, a New Zealand pilot who served in the Royal Air Force, in order to finance the 100 hours of flight required. Fred Truman wanted to marry her but she turned instead to Victor Dorée, who borrowed 400 £ from his mother in order to buy Jean Batten a Gipsy Moth biplane. Jean Batten then made two unsuccessful flight attempts to surpass Amy Johnson’s record time to reach Australia. Amy Johnson previously had flown some 17.600 kilometers from England to Australia aboard a De Havilland in 1932. In April 1933, she was struck by two sand storms before her engine broke down and her aircraft was damaged. She experienced a catastrophic landing near Karachi, in Baluchistan, but survived. Back in London, she couldn’t persuade Dorée to buy her another aircraft and turned her attention to Castrol oil company, who bought her an already used Gipsy Moth for 240 £. Batten made another attempt to fly from England to Australia in April 1934, but ran out of fuel during the night on the outskirts of Rome. She landed in a maze of radio masts and the aircraft suffered some damage. The plane was repaired and she flew it back to London, where she borrowed the lower wings of her fiancé’s apparatus, Edward Walter, in order to try a third attempt. In May 1934, Jean Batten successfully flew from England’s Lympne aerodrome to Australia’s Port Darwin aboard her Gipsy Moth. Her journey lasted 14 days and 22 hours and managed to break the previous record held by English aviator Amy Johnson by more than four days. For her achievements, she was awarded the Harmon Trophy three times, from 1935 to 1937. In her subsequent flights, the New Zealander aviator will break other records. Jean Batten also obtained an endorsement contract with Castrol oil company. Batten wrote a book entitled “Solo Flight”, which was published by Jackson and O’Sullivan Ltd in 1934. Jean took a boat for New Zealand with the Gipsy Moth, which was unable to fly across the Tasman Sea, and made a six week aerial journey before returning to England. After her first flight from England to Australia, Jean bought a Percival Gull Six monoplane, G-ADPR, which was named Jean. In 1935, she set a new world record after flying from England to Brazil aboard the Gull and was awarded with the National Order of the Southern Cross, ergo becoming the first person, other than a member of the Royal family, to be honored in this manner. In 1936, Batten set another world record with

Miss Batten at Archerfield Airfield, near Brisbane, after completing her record-breaking flight from England to Australia in May 1934

a solo flight from England to New Zealand. After taking off from England, Jean Batten temporarily stopped in Akyab (now Sittwe), in Burma, at that time under British control. Starting from Akyab (now Sittwe), she encountered some difficulties. While following the Burmese coast to the Malay Peninsula, her plane was carried away by a tropical cyclone. The pilot descended further south towards Alor Setar on the western coast of Malaysia to reach Penang. Batten continued her journey and stopped in Singapore and Kupang before reaching Darwin in Australia on 11 October 1936. Two days later, she arrived in Sydney, Australia. Her journey finally came to an end at New Plymouth, on the west coast of the North Island, in New Zealand. In Rotorua, her birthplace, she was honored by the local Māori population in the same manner as she was after the 1934 journey. She received a chief feather cape and received the title “Hine-o-te-Rangi”, meaning “Daughter from the Skies “. Jean Batten was then appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1936 and was also awarded the Knight’s Cross of the French Légion d’honneur that same year. Also in 1936 and for the second consecutive year, Batten received the Royal Aero Club’s Britannia Trophy for her meritorious performances she accomplished during the previous year. In 1938, Jean Batten became the first woman to receive the medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world’s highest distinction in aviation. Throughout the 1930’s, she was very sociable and made many friends around the world and

among other aviators as she herself described in her autobiography. The Second World War, however, ended her aerial adventures. Her Percival Gull Six monoplane was put into active service but she was not allowed to fly it. During the war she participated in campaigns that aimed to raise funds for the purchase of weapons and aircraft by giving lectures in England. However, her flight days came to an end. After the war, she withdrew from public life except for a few anniversary appearances. Jean Batten became a recluse and lived in several places around the world with her mother until the death of the latter in 1965. In 1977, she was invited to the opening of the Aviation Pioneer Pavilion at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, after which she returned to Spain. In 1982, she was bitten by a dog on the island of Mallorca. She refused to take care of the wound or go to a doctor and as a consequence, the wound became infected. She died alone in a hotel in Mallorca following complications from the dog bite. Her relatives only found out about her death in September 1987 as she was living in Mallorca for less than a week and her identity was unknown. A crater from the planet Venus was named Batten in her honour. In her native city, the regional airport of Rotorua conserved a memorial in Batten’s honour. In the 1980’s, Britannia Airways operated a Boeing 737 nicknamed “Jean Batten”. That plane, later sold to the Panamanian airline Copa Airlines, would end up suffering the Flight 201 accident in 1992. On 15 September 2016, Google Doodle commemorated her 107th anniversary of her birthday.

Aviatrix Jean Batten being interviewed after her flight from England to Australia in May 1934

Jean Gardner Batten

Bruce McLaren Bruce McLaren (b. 30 August 1937 in Auckland, New Zealand – d. 2 June 1970 at Goodwood Circuit, West Sussex, England) was a New Zealand race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, winning a total of 8 constructors’ world championships and 12 drivers’ world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Bruce was born to Les and Ruth McLaren. His parents were the owners of a service station and a workshop in Remuera, Auckland. Bruce used to spend all of his free time exploring around the workshop. At the age of 9 years old, Bruce McLaren contracted

Bruce McLaren (left, near the car) at the 1969 Dutch Grand Prix

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, a childhood hip disorder initiated by a disruption of blood flow to the ball of the femur, called the femoral head. Although doctors have predicted that he wouldn’t walk anymore, Bruce spent two years in traction, after which he was able to resume normal leg functions while still limping slightly. He also had the left leg shorter than the right one. Les McLaren restored an old Austin 7 Ulster that young Bruce used it in 1952, at the age of 15 years old, to participate in his first race, an uphill race. Two years later, he took part in his first race on a circuit, where he demonstrated good driving skills. He changed the Austin for a Ford 10 Special then used an Austin-Healey and finally moved from it to a F2 Cooper-Climax. He immediately began to change and improve the car and he excelled at it to the point he ended up as runner-up in the New Zealand 1957-1958 Championship. His performance in the 1957 New Zealand International Grand Prize was noted by Jack Brabham, who would later invite young McLaren to race for 76

Bruce McLaren

him. Because of his skills, the organization of the New Zealand International Grand Prix selected Bruce for its “Driver to Europe” program, which was designed to offer New Zealanders the most promising opportunity to spend a whole year driver experience with the best in the world. Bruce McLaren then went to Cooper and competed for them for the following seven years. He joined the Nürburgring Grand Prix in Germany, where F1 and F2 cars were competing together. The young New Zealander shocked the world car racing after ending up the first among the F2 cars and 5th in the overall standings after competing with the best drivers in the world. McLaren joined Cooper’s F1 team alongside Jack Brabham in 1958 and won the US Grand Prix in 1959, at the age of only 22 years old, thus becoming the youngest Grand Prix winner of those times. 43 years afterwards, another New Zealander, Scott Dixon, became the world youngest winner when at age of 20 years old, 9 months and 14 days he won the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix of the IndyCar Formula. McLaren also won the 1962 US Grand Prix and the following year he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, but continued to race and win competitions with Cooper, including New Zealand’s 1964 Grand Prix. Bruce is still among the 10 youngest racing car drivers in history to

have won a Formula 1 Grand Prize. Bruce McLaren left Cooper in 1965 alongside fellows Chris Amon and Denny Hulme, also a New Zealander, who became F1 World Driver’s Championship in 1967 as co-pilot, and gave birth to his own racing team. He won the first Grand Prix for the racing team with his own McLaren car at Spa Francorchamps in 1968, while Hulme won the competition twice in a McLaren-Ford. The team occupied the second place in the constructor standings that year. McLaren’s design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated in powerful sports car racing. When the CanAm series began to be very popular among Canadian and American enthusiasts, McLaren’s new cars finished the competition twice on the second place and twice on the third place in just six races. In 1966, Bruce McLaren together with his codriver Chris Amon have managed to win the prestigious 24 Hour Race at Le Mans in a Ford GT40. In 1967, the team won five of the six races it participated in, while in 1968, the McLaren drivers won four out of six races. The following year, McLaren proved to be unbeatable after winning 11 races out of 11. McLaren, Hulme and Dan Gurney even finished on the first three positions twice during the course of the year 1969. Bruce McLaren was aboard a CanAm car when

Modern McLaren Formula 1 Car

McLaren at the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix

he lost his life. The New Zealander was testing the new McLaren M8D on Goodwood Circuit in England when his car had destabilized because of the rear bodywork that came adrift at a very high speed. McLaren died at the age of 32 years old and was buried in the Waikumete cemetery in Auckland. In 1991, Bruce McLaren was included in the International Motorsports Hall Of Fame. After Bruce’s tragic death occurred on 2 June 1970, the team was taken over by Teddy Mayer, and Denny Hulme continued as a pilot alongside Dan Gurney. In 1972, the team made considerable progress as Hulme managed to gain the first victory for the team after two seasons and Peter Revson managed to occupy the podium 10 times. These results ranked the team 3rd place in the final standings of the season. The first world championship was won in 1974 with the M23. Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi had managed to win the F1 World Driver’s Championship. Also worth mentioning is the famous 1976 season that saw James Hunt as World Driver’s Championship with McLaren, although the team ranked second in the final standings, after Ferrari. The 1990’s decade, more precisely the 1992-1997 period, was a less successful one for McLaren as the team managed to win its 8th and 78

final Constructor Championship only in 1998, using Mercedes engines and having pilots like Mika “The Flying Finn” Häkkinen, who won with McLaren the F1 World Driver’s Championship titles in 1998 and 1999, and Scotsman David Coulthard. It is worth mentioning that Adrian Newey joined the team in 1997. From 2000 until 2014, McLaren used Mercedes engines and although it had talented pilots such as Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey until 2006, McLaren didn’t manage to win any title at the Constructor Championship. Only Lewis Hamilton won the F1 World Driver’s Championship title in front of Massa and Ferrari in 2008. In 2014, Ron Dennis came back in charge at McLaren and Eric Boullier occupied the function of race director. The renewal of the collaboration with Honda brought to the team a new wave of hope towards a new World Championship title, both at drivers and constructors categories. The winning spirit inspired by Bruce McLaren at the beginnings of the team remains alive even nowadays and has grown ever since. The McLaren team is hoping to realize a new “golden age” from 2015, especially since the team now has two world champions in its structure: Fernando Alonso and Jensen Button.

New Zealand Cuisine

1. Marinated lamb Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

1 lamb leg + neck (almost 3 kg) 2 red onions 2 celery sticks Lemon juice from 2 lemons 500g natural yoghurt 4 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon powdered ginger 1 teaspoon powdered rosemary 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon garam masala ½ teaspoon turmeric ½ teaspoon chili Pink Salt 100 ml olive oil Parsley

Steps:

1. Clean the lamb, wash and portion it into pieces of about 150g. 2. Clean and wash the vegetables. Chop them. 3. Mix the yogurt with lemon juice, oil, salt, chili, paprika, rosemary, ginger, turmeric, garam masala and garlic. 4. Mix the lamb pieces with the yogurt sauce and chopped vegetables. 5. Allow to cool in the refrigerator until the next day in a covered container. From time to time, mix the meat. 6. The next day, put the marinated lamb meat in a baking tray. Drizzle with a little oil. 7. Put aluminum foil over and around the tray and put it in the preheated oven for about an hour. 8. After an hour, remove the foil and let the meat stay 15 minutes on each side. 9. The steak is ready when the sauce will be absorbed by the meat and it will begin to turn brown. 10. Serve the roasted marinated lamb with lots of herbs.

Marinated lamb

2. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream Ingredients:

• 100g hokey pokey (honeycomb) (broken into small chunks) • 300ml heavy cream • 300ml milk • 100g caster sugar • 3 large egg yolks • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Steps: 1. Pour the milk and heavy cream in a pan and heat it up until almost boiling point. 2. In a large bowl, whisk the caster sugar, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Once the milk and heavy cream mixture is ready, slowly pour it into the large bowl, whisking all the time. 3. Now it’s time to pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over low heat. Stir constantly so that the custard may become thick. 4. Store in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. 5. Churn the custard in an ice cream machine. After the ice cream has been churned, fold in the hokey pokey chunks. 6. Scrape into a 1 litre freezer container, cover well with a couple of layers of foil, and put in the freezer

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

during overnight. 7. Serve in ice cream cones with whatever sauce you like.

3. Maori hangi Ingredients:

• All the food you prefer Note*** Besides food, you will also need: A sturdy shovel; Many heat-resistant stones; A lot of hard wood that burns slowly; A wire mesh; Foliage; Jute bags

Steps:

1. The first step of this recipe is to obviously dig a not very deep hole (50-60 cm will be fine). 2. We place in the hole the foliage and throw in wood logs, thus forming a pile of at least 4 layers of wood. 3. Now we can add the stones up to entirely cover the hole and move on to set fire to our structure of wood and stones that will burn for at least 3 or 4 hours! 4. After the time has elapsed, the wood will be consumed and the stones will gather on the bottom of the hole. Remember that the stones will become completely white. 5. Meanwhile, with the help of wire mesh, prepare the baskets that will contain the food you are going to cook. In the basket you could make a nice bed 81

of mixed vegetables, including potatoes, cabbage, 6. On top of the vegetables, add the mixed meat stew. carrots, zucchini, celery, peppers and eggplant, all It is important that the meat has been previously of them cut very roughly. To give a certain perfume soaked in olive oil, pepper, rosemary, salt and a bit to the food, you could add slices of citrus. of vinegar or lemon juice. Optionally, in fact, you can choose to do one hāngi based only on meat or fish. 7. Now, before placing the basket inside the hole with the help of the shovel, remove the brace surface leaving only few embers here and there to impart a smoky flavor. The basket must be inserted in the hole directly on the hot stones. 8. Spray immediately everything with water to produce steam and cover the basket with a clean, damp cloth. In the end, cover the hole with foliage and with different sheets or jute bags. 9. Over the jute bags, put a tarpaulin and cover with the earth removed earlier to make sure that you keep the steam inside. 10. Now you just have to wait about 3 hours but it depends on the amount the food you will cook. Thanks to the direct heat from the stones, the brace and especially thanks to the vapor that will remain “stuck in” the hole, the food will have an absolutely delicious food. 11. After the time has elapsed and the food is well done, retrieve the basket by removing one by one the layers that cover it. Your hāngi is now ready to be served. Māori hāngi

Possum Stew

4. Possum Stew Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • •

1 possum (skinned and cut into pieces) 2 onions (chopped) 5 potatoes (peeled and chopped) 2 bell peppers (chopped) 1 eggplant (chopped) 1 zucchini (chopped) 1 fennel (chopped) 2 carrots (chopped) 250g mushrooms (chopped) 250 ml water Salt and Pepper

Steps: 1. Boil the possum meat in a large pot filled with water and a bit of salt for a couple of hours or until tender. 2. Pour the water out and add all the vegetables. 3. Bring to a boil then simmer for at least 1 hour or until the meat falls off the bones.

5. Sausage sizzles Ingredients: • • • • • • •

8 beef sausages 8 split bread rolls 2 onions (chopped) 50g sugar 1 tablespoon oil 1 tablespoon vinegar Salt and Pepper

Steps:

1. Preheat the barbecue grill on a medium level. 2. Poke the sausages. Make at least 10 holes on each one. 3. Cook the sausage sizzles on the barbecue grill and don’t forget to turn them from one side to another from time to time. 4. Separately, fry the chopped onions in a little bit of oil in a pan. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Cook until the onions are well browned and reduced to half. Pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar and just a little bit of sugar. 6. Put each sausage on bread roll and add the onion sauce mixture on top of them. You can also add mustard or ketchup. Serve hot!

Sausage sizzles

6. Whitebait Fritter Ingredients: • • • • • •

3 eggs 2 lemons 200g whitebait 50g butter 2 tablespoons oil Salt and Pepper

• Steps:

1. Whisk the eggs in a bowl. 2. Add the white bait in the bowl, put a bit of salt and pepper then mix all the ingredients well. 3. Put the butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and cook a bit over medium heat. Once the butter has dissolved, pour 1 ladle of the eggs and whitebait mixture. 4. Cook for 2 minutes, then turn the fritter on the other side. 5. Remove the fritter on a plate and continue to cook another ladle of mixture until you finish it. 6. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

Whitebait Fritter

7. Green-Lipped Mussels Ingredients: • • • • • •

1 kg mussels (washed and beard removed) 1 onion (chopped) 3 cloves of garlic (crushed) 250g tomatoes (chopped) 50g water 50g white wine

Green-Lipped Mussels

• • • • • • •

3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon paprika ½ tablespoon tomato paste 1 pinch chili flakes Juice from 1 lemon 2 sprigs thyme

Steps:

1. Place the mussels, oil, chopped onion, crushed garlic, thyme, wine, water, chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and spices in a pan and fry them over high heat. 2. Take out the mussels and place them into a bowl as they open. Remove them from their shells. 3. Season the rest of the ingredients with salt, pepper and juice of 1 lemon. Add the mussels back into the pan. 4. Serve with lemon, crushed bread and pasta.

8. ANZAC biscuits Ingredients:

• 125g whole wheat or spelled • 50g coconut flakes • 50g almond powder

• 50g small dry fruits (black currants, raisins, blueberries or other berries) • 100g rolled oats • 125g butter • 85g honey • A pinch of salt • ½ teaspoon sodium bicarbonate • 2 tablespoons boiled water

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Cover a biscuit tray with baking paper. 2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, coconut, dried fruits, almond powder, rolled oats and salt) in a large bowl. 3. Melt the butter and honey in a pot over medium heat. 4. Mix the sodium bicarbonate together with the 2 tablespoons of boiled water and add them over the dry ingredients together with the honey and butter mixture. 5. With your palms, form small snowballs the size of a walnut and put them in the tray, leaving enough space between them. Flatten them a little by using a fork. 6. Bake them for about 15 minutes in the oven until they get a beautiful copper colour. Place on a grill and allow them to cool completely. If not consumed quickly, store them in jars with lids.

ANZAC biscuits

9. Lamingtons Ingredients:

• 6 eggs • 50g butter • 250g flour • 250g sugar • A pinch of salt • Vanilla • Zest of 1 lemon • 5 tablespoons boiled water For the glaze: • 400g sugar • 60g cocoa • 300 ml water • 75g butter • Vanilla For decoration: • 200g grated coconut

Steps:

1. Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt, add half the sugar and beat until you obtain a hard, firm, glossy foam. 2. Beat the egg yolks with the other half of sugar and vanilla until you obtain a foam. Add the cooled, melted butter (not too cool, but also not too hot) and the boiled water. Gradually add flour. 3. You will obtain a pretty sticky dough. Add little by little from the egg whites mixture until you add half the amount and the dough will become creamy. Then add the yolks composition over the whites and gently mix with a paddle. 4. The composition is put in a tray (Ideally would be a 35 × 25 tray), on baking paper and is baked for 15 minutes at 180°C in a preheated oven. After the composition is baked, take it out on a grid upside down and remove the paper. Allow it to cool. 5. Prepare the glaze. Mix cocoa with sugar, add water and boil. When heated, add butter. 6. Let it boil until you obtain a homogeneous, lumpfree cream and the sugar is completely dissolved. 7. Cut the cooled dough in rectangles and soak it in glaze. Then cover it in coconut.

Lamingtons

that you may obtain a firm and glossy meringue. 5. Place on a baking tray some baking sheet and draw a 10. Pavlova circle with a diameter of 22-26 cm. Turn the baking sheet with the shiny side up and, using a spatula, spread the meringue inside the circle. You should be Ingredients: aware that if you form a smaller circle you will get a • 4 fresh egg whites taller meringue and it will also be bake harder. • A pinch of salt 6. Put the meringue inside the preheated oven at • 160g fine granulated sugar 120°C. The dough is ready when it detaches easily • 1 sachet of vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract from the baking paper. This usually takes about 1 • 2 tablespoons vinegar hour and a half. • 20g corn starch 7. Allow the cake to cool. If there are any fissures in • 700g cream for whipping cream it don’t worry, they will be covered with whipped • 2 tablespoons powdered vanilla sugar cream anyway. • Fruits (kiwi and strawberries) 8. The cream for the whipped cream must be very cold • Fruit sauce (kiwi) when whisking. Whisk the cream for the whipping cream until it begins to form ridges on the surface. Add powdered vanilla sugar and continue beating Steps: until it hardens. 1. Turn on the oven and heat it up to 120°C. Mix the egg whites with the salt and whisk them until they 9. After it hardened, stop whisking. The whipped cream is distributed in an even layer over the are stiff and grow in volume. meringue crust and is put to cold immediately. 2. Gradually add powdered sugar while continuing to whisk at high speed. If you use vanilla sugar, add it 10. Depending on how soft you want the meringue crust to be, cover it with whipped cream sooner or all now. If however, you use vanilla extract, you have just before serving. to add it at the final. 3. Add vinegar and whisk until the sugar crystals can’t 11. Prepare your own home made kiwi sauce. 12. The fruit decor is according to each person’s fantasy. be seen anymore. Sprinkle the sauce with the fruit sauce you made, 4. Add corn starch and incorporate it in the egg whites then add kiwi slices and strawberries. foam. Whisk for about 1 minute at high speed so

Pavlova

11. L&P (Lemon and Paeroa)

New Zealand Travel

Wellington

Wellington seen from Mount Victoria

Petone Settlers Museum

Museum of Wellington

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Wellington City Gallery

Wellington Botanic Garden

City of Wellington at dusk

Auckland

Auckland Botanic Gardens

Devonport and Waitemata Harbour

Eden Park

Auckland Art Gallery

The Westhaven Bay harbor, sailboats and the Skytower

Auckland Domain

Auckland Zoo

Auckland War Memorial Museum

Murrays Bay

Kelly Tarltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sea Life Aquarium

Christchurch

Christchurch Botanic Gardens during autumn

Christchurch Cathedral Square

Christchurch Botanic Gardens

International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch

Victoria Clock Tower

Canterbury Museum in Christchurch

Hamilton

100

Hamilton New Zealand Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Hamilton Gardens

Claudlands Bridge

101

Other places

102

Hoho Rock

Nugget Point

Milford Sound

Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove) Marine Reserve

Milford Track

103

Lake Wanaka

Another beautiful view of Lake Wanaka

104

Mitre Peak

Tauranga Bay

MÄ ori mural on a rock near Lake Taupo

Bay of Islands

105

Lake Wakatipu

Maori Marae Meeting House

Beautiful Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand

Lake Taupo

106

Piha Beach

Hobbit holes reflected in water

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Oneroa Bay on Waiheke Island

Vineyard in the Marlborough District

107

Beautiful image from Fiordland National Park

Mount Ruhaperu in Tangariru National Park

108

Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand seen from a different angle

Tongariro National Park

Fiordland National Park

Hobbiton Movie Set

109

Astonishing landscape in Fiordland National Park

Lake Rotorua

Hawkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bay in Napier-Hastings

Abel Tasman National Park

110

Abel Tasman Coast Track

Doubtful Sound Fiord

111

Lake Nerine

Lake Pukaki

Mount Taranaki

Lake Rotoehu

112

Mount Cook National Park

Ketetahi Falls

Hot Water Beach

113

Rotorua Museum

Waitakere Ranges National Park

Huka Falls

Nelson Lakes National Park

114

Frying Pan Lake

Waitomo Glowworm Caves

115

Dunedin

Tamaki MÄ ori Village

Paparoa National Park

116

Rangitoto Island

Waiotapu

Waitakere Ranges

117

Mount Aspiring National Park

Fox Glacier

Routeburn Valley

Coronet Peak

118

Mount Cook National Park during Winter

Aoraki (Mount Cook) Peak

Franz Josef Glacier

119

Nelson Lakes National Park

Waiotapu water pond made yellow by sulfur

Queenstown Beach

Westland Tai Poutini National Park

120

Lake Tekapo

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

121

Russell Lupins growing in Lake Tekapo

Arthur’s Pass

Orana Wildlife Park

Queenstown seen from Bob’s Peak

122

Church of the Good Shepherd near Lake Tekapo

Tiritiri Matangi Island

123

Fletcher Bay on Coromandel Peninsula

Akaroa

124

Whale near Kaikoura

125