Day 4: Waitangi Treaty Grounds
The indigenous people of New Zealand are called Maori. Well, they don’t call themselves Maori, but they are referred to as Maori by everyone (kind of the way we say “Indians” in North America, when they are not actually called Indians). For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call them Maori.
The indigenous people of New Zealand are called Maori. Well, they don’t call themselves Maori, but they are referred to as Maori by everyone (kind of the way we say “Indians” in North America, when they are not actually called Indians). For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call them Maori.
The Maori came over from the Pacific Islands and created a home in New Zealand. They were the first humans to inhabit this island. Actually, New Zealand is the last country in the world to be inhabited by humans.
And of course, the British came later and colonized. And eventually, the Maori people revolted. And then we come to the subject of our blog!
Today, we went to the place where a Treaty was signed between the English and the Maori people to stop the fighting. We watched a dinky dramatized video of what happened, and checked out the “Treaty House” where some old British guy used to live.
The nice part of our visit was seeing the traditional war canoes with the beautiful carvings and masks, and the Maori Meeting House, where we took off our shoes and entered to a house-shaped building full wall-to-wall with intricate mask carvings. We also saw a short show of some Maori tribeswomen singing traditional songs, but it felt a little commercial to us – like it was their day-job. The kicker that made it feel most circus-like was the fact that one of the women kept saying “And now, ladies and gentlemen…”!
Anyhoo, we went back home afterwards and had a nice final evening with Monique and Myles. It was, once again, great conversation, great food, and some nice NZ wine, before we finalized our plans for the next few days, booked some things, and headed off to bed.
A HUGE thanks to Monique and Myles, who went out of their way to show us the best time in North Island. It was so nice to meet up and have the opportunity to spend some quality time with them! We couldn't have seen the amazing things we did without them - only locals would know the *true* beauty of a place (not the beauty catered to tourists) - and they gave us their best! We'll certainly miss them!
From here on out, we’re on our own! No friends to take care of us! Wish us luck!
p.s. We know we're a little delayed with all our posts, but we have either not had time to post, or not had internet to post! Don't worry, though, we write everything down and then put out mass posts at once!
Head of the war canoe
Maori Meeting House
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