New Zealand

Our journey

Our 1730 mile journey took us from the devastation of earthquake damaged Christchurch to beautiful Mount Cook, the lakeside towns of Wanaka, Queenstown and Mannapouri (Doubtful Sound), to the wild and windy Catlins in the far south, the birdlife rich Otago peninsula and finishing at the historic Dunedin.

Welcome

Our visit to New Zealand South Island took us through fertile, green beautiful lands with spectacular scenery, especially in the mountains and sea inlets known as Sounds. Our South Seas voyage was a fascinating mix of islands all the way from the northern Bay of Islands of New Zealand to Papua New Guinea, Melanesia.

A brief history of New

Zealand

New Zealand is a small country, similar in size to Great Britain or Japan but with a population of only 4 million people (only 1 million in South Island) it’s uncrowded. Māori were the first to arrive in New Zealand, journeying in canoes from Hawaiki about 1,000 years ago. A Dutchman, Abel Tasman, was the first European to sight the country but it was the British who made New Zealand part of their empire.  In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed; it ws an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. It established British law in New Zealand and is considered New Zealand’s founding document and an important part of the country's history.