|
 New
Zealand comes with a reputation as a unique land packed with magnificent,
raw scenery : craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests,
snow-capped alpine mountains, bubbling volcanic pools, fast-flowing
rivers and glacier-fed lakes, all beneath a brilliant blue sky. Even
Kiwis themselves - named after the endearing, if decidedly odd,
flightless bird that has become the national emblem - seem to be filled
with astonishment at the stupendous vistas of what they like to think of
as "Godzone" (God's own country). All of this provides a canvas for
boundless diversions , from moody strolls along windswept beaches and
multi-day tramps over alpine passes to the adrenalin-charged adventure
activities of bungy jumping and whitewater rafting; in fact, some
visitors take on New Zealand as a kind of large-scale assault course,
aiming to tackle as many adventures as possible in the time available.
The one-time albatross of isolation - even Australia is over a thousand
kilometres away - has become a boon, bolstering New Zealand's clean,
green image, which is, in truth, more an accident of geography than the
result of past government policy.
To a large extent New Zealand lives up to these expectations, and
remains unfettered by the crowds you'd find elsewhere. What's more,
everything is easily accessible, packed into a land area little larger
than Britain and with a population of just 3.8 million, over half of it
tucked away in the three largest cities : Auckland, the capital
Wellington, and the South Island's Christchurch. Elsewhere, you can
travel miles through steep-hilled farmland and rarely see a soul, and
there are even remote spots which, it's reliably contended, no human has
ever visited.
Geologically, New Zealand split off from the super-continent of
Gondwanaland early, developing a unique ecosystem in which birds adapted
to fill the role normally held by mammals, many becoming flightless
through lack of predators. That all changed around 1200 years ago when
the arrival of Polynesian navigators made this the last major land mass
to be settled by humans. On sighting the new land from their canoes,
Maori named it Aotearoa - "the land of the long white cloud" - and
proceeded to radically alter the fragile ecosystem, dispatching forever
the giant ostrich-sized moa, which formed a major part of their diet. A
delicate ecological balance was achieved before the arrival of pakeha -
white Europeans, predominantly of British origin - who swarmed off their
square-rigged ships full of colonial zeal.
The subsequent uneasy coexistence between Maori and European societies
informs both recorded history and the current wrangles over cultural
identity, land and resource rights. The British didn't invade as such,
and were to some degree reluctant to enter into the 1840 Treaty of
Waitangi , New Zealand's founding document, which effectively ceded New
Zealand to the British Crown while guaranteeing Maori hegemony over
their land and traditional gathering and fishing rights. As time wore on
and increasing numbers of settlers demanded to buy ever larger parcels
of land from Maori, antipathy soon surfaced, eventually escalating to
hostility. Once Maori were subdued, a policy of partial integration
ensured the rapid dilution of their cultural heritage and all but
destroyed Maoritanga - the Maori way of doing things. Maori, however,
were left well outside the new European order, where difference was
perceived as tantamount to a betrayal of the emergent sense of
nationhood. Although elements of this still exist and Presbyterian and
Anglican values have proved hard to shake off, the Kiwi psyche has
become infused with Maori generosity and hospitality, coupled with a
colonial mateyness and the unerring belief that whatever happens, "she'll
be right". However, an underlying inferiority complex seems to linger:
you may well find yourself interrogated as to your opinions of the
country almost before you've left the airport. Balancing this out is an
extraordinary enthusiasm for sports and culture , which generate a
swelling pride in New Zealanders when they witness plucky Kiwis taking
on the world.
Only in the last couple of decades has New Zealand come of age and
developed a true national self-confidence, something partly forced on it
by Britain severing the colonial apron strings in the early 1970s, and
partly by the resurgence of Maori identity. Maori demands have been
nurtured by a willingness on the part of most pakeha to redress the
wrongs perpetrated over the last century and a half, as long as it
doesn't impinge on their high standard of living or overall feeling of
control. More recently, integration has been replaced with a policy of
promoting two cultures alongside each other, but with maximum
interaction. In this way New Zealand is set to forge through the new
century with considerable dignity and a good deal of uncertainty. |
