WHAKAREWAREWA, MAORI VILLAGE & MOTHER NATURE

Tonyi Tamaki continues guiding The Winsors and The Grandma across New Zealand.

Today, they have visited the thermal lands where they have seen some of the most amazing geysers of the planet and The Living Maori Village where they have enjoyed the Maori culture.

Before arriving to these destinations, the family has practised their last A2 Cambridge Test.

 

 

Download A2 Cambridge Sample Test (Listening)

Whakarewarewa or Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao, means The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao, and it's often abbreviated to Whaka by locals. It is a geothermal area within Rotorua city in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand. This was the site of the Māori fortress of Te Puia, first occupied around 1325, and known as an impenetrable stronghold never taken in battle. Māori have lived here ever since, taking full advantage of the geothermal activity in the valley for heating and cooking.

Whakarewarewa has some 500 pools, most of which are alkaline chloride hot springs, and at least 65 geyser vents, each with their own name. Seven geysers are currently active. Pohutu Geyser, meaning big splash or explosion, erupts approximately hourly to heights of up to 30 m.

Many of the thermal features at Whakarewarewa have been adversely affected by Rotorua residents taking advantage of the underlying geothermal fluids of the city by drawing shallow wells to extract hot water for both domestic and commercial heating.  

A bore closure programme in 1987-1988 resulted in 106 wells within 1.5 km of Pohutu Geyser being cemented shut, with another 120 wells outside the radius being shut due to a punitive royalty charging regime.

There has subsequently been a pronounced recovery in the geysers and hot springs at Whakarewarewa. Most of the currently active geysers at Whakarewarewa are located on Geyser Flat and aligned on a common fissure. This is a highly complex system, with the activity of one geyser affecting another.

Kereru Geyser, about 2 m above Puarenga Stream, located at the head of a small apron of blackish sinter, erupts every few days or weeks, in a fan-shaped jet 15 m high. No large eruptions occurred between 1972-1988, and it seems its recovery was directly linked to the sudden reduction of well drawoff in 1987. Kereru Geyser is probably independent of other springs on the fissure. 

Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser, Pohutu Geyser, Te Horu Geyser (The Cauldron) and Waikorohihi Geyser are on a sinter plateau about 6 m above Puarenga Stream.

Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser, Pohutu Geyser's closest neighbour, always precedes Pohutu, a feeble jet at first but gradually increasing in power until a continuous 9 m high column is ejected at an angle, when Pohutu usually erupts also. Sometimes Waikorohihi Geyser erupts a discontinuous 5 m high jet, then Prince of Wales Feathers will commence, later followed by Pohutu.

Until 1972, Te Horu Geyser erupted 2–7 m high as often as 10-15 times each day, but after that time eruptions and even boiling ceased. The water in Te Horu's vent began to overflow again in 1998.

A very direct connection exists between Te Horu and Pohutu, with air-cooled water erupted from Pohutu largely falling in Te Horu's vent. This may explain the popular belief that Pohutu is more active when there is a south wind, because most erupted water is then blown away to the north, whereas with a north wind much is returned to cool the system and delay the next eruption.  

 

More information: Te Puia

  

Mahanga Geyser, also called the Boxing Glove, is an old geyser not known to erupt until 1961. Its 3-4.5 m high eruptions occur quite independently of its near neighbour Waikorohihi.

Wairoa Geyser, acclaimed as erupting 60 m high, last erupted naturally in December 1940 after which its water level fell to 4.5 m below overflow and the water became acidic. However, in early 1996, its water level rose to 3.2 m below overflow, with continuous powerful boiling, and it remains so to date.

Beyond Geyser Flat is Waikite Geyser, which forms the apex of a prominent sinter mound 260 m south of Pohutu. This last erupted in March 1967, and since then the vent has remained dry and weakly steaming. 

In June 1996, its previously 8.5 m deep and dry vent suddenly filled with boiling water which rose to within 2.3 m of overflow. In the past Waikite tended to erupt after prolonged periods of excessive rain, suggesting that the level of water in its vent is dependent on rainfall. It is hoped that Waikite may one day erupt again. Meanwhile, Pareia Geyser, just beyond Waikite, has recently reactivated.

Papakura Geyser is the other notable dormant geyser at Whakarewarewa, last erupting in September 2015 after a 110 year period during which it was known to have faltered very briefly only three times.

Near the thermal area, you can experience the traditions of Maori life in an authentic living village and discover its people's centuries-old culture. 

You are going to enjoy your visit to the unique setting of Te Whakarewarewa lets you see how its people use the geothermal springs to cook, bathe, and heat their homes on a daily basis.

When you arrive, you meet some of Rotorua's iconic Maori cultural performers and get a chance to see the Haka, a traditional dance, along with harmonious songs that tell of Maori stories and legends. 

A guided tour through the village gives you a look at life within a living Maori village, as your guide shares the traditions, history, and legacy that has been passed down through the generations.

You also can complete your tour of Whakarewarewa with a unique, traditional hangi meal, cooked with the geothermal vents that dominate the valley.

Don't forget to enjoy an entrée of mussels cooked in the geothermal pools and marinated fish in coconut cream; a main course of beef, chicken, and vegetables; and then a steamed pudding served with custard, fresh fruit salad, and cream.

More information: Must Do New Zealand

 

 

 Tangata ako ana i te whare, 

te turanga ki te marae, tau ana.

A person who is taught at home, 

will stand collected on the Marae.

Maori Proverb

MANAWATU, KNOW THE LEGEND OF HAU AND WAIRAKA

Today, Tonyi Tamaki has guided The Winsors and The Grandma to Wanganui in the North Island. They have visited amazing places and have discovered some Maori legends. 

During the travel, the family has practised an A2 Cambridge Test.

 

Download A2 Cambridge Sample Test (Reading and Writing)

The Manawatu District is a local government district in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region in the North Island of New Zealand. The district is based on the town of Feilding and includes most of the area between the Manawatu River in the south and the Rangitikei River in the north; stretching from slightly south of the settlement of Himatangi in the south, to just south of Mangaweka in the north; and from the Rangitikei River to the summits of the Ruahine Ranges in the east.

Manawatu is said to have received its name by Hau, the great Māori explorer. On his quest to find his wife who had left him for another lover, Hau is said to have pursued her along the south west coast of the North Island. 

As he travelled, he came across and named river mouths including Whanganui, Whangaehu and Rangitikei according to events that befell him at the time. He came across a large, wide river mouth. In awe of the sight and in fear he might not be able to cross it, he stated Ka tū taku manawa, My heart stands still.

This tale includes names of some ancestors of the Maori folk, but, as in other cases, many marvels have been credited to those old Polynesian colonisers.

The following table shows the position of the two leading persons in this legend. The ancestor Poupaka was, we are told, a daring Polynesian sea rover concerning whom several sayings have been preserved.

His daughter Aparangi was taken to wife by Kupe the sea rover, he who came hither to New Zealand, and whose surprising adventure in Cook Strait is related elsewhere in this chronicle. In as much as two near descendants of Kupe were named Haunui native speakers always add the name of the mother, as in the table, in order to avoid confusion.

Popoto in the table came to New Zealand in the vessel Kurahaupo with Whatongo, grandson of Toi, according to traditions preserved by the Ngati-Kahungunu folk. Tauira, an elder brother of the Hau or Haunui of our story, seems to have been the eponymic ancestor of the old-time tribe of the Wairoa district known as the Tini-o-Tauira.

According to a mean of sundry lines of descent Tauira and our hero Haunui-a-Nanaia lived twenty-seven generations ago. The two wives of Hau are shown in the table, Wairaka being the hapless one who yet stands on the drear, storm lashed coast of Pukerua, where Poawha looks out on lone Kapiti.

Hau and his elder brothers are said to have returned to the isles of Polynesia, if so then they may have gone with Tama-ahua, also a Kurahaupo immigrant, and who sailed back to Hawaiki. Hau left his wife Wairaka here when he sailed away; these folk seem to have lived somewhere about the Mahia, and we know that Whatonga of Kurahaupo settled at Nukutaurua in that district. 

More information: Manawatu District Council

Some time after Hau and his brothers sailed away to northern isles his wife Wairaka was carried off by two slaves or serving men named Kiwi and Weka. They seem to have taken her across the island and down to Pukerua, just south of Paekakariki, Wellington district, where they were found by Hau on his return from Hawaiki.

Meanwhile Hau and his brothers had reached the far land of Hawaiki, where they heard of one Rakahanga, daughter of Tumataroa, a young woman famed for her personal attractions. Here Hau was deserted by his brothers, who set off to visit the home of Tumataroa and his daughter Rakahanga, where they proposed to entertain their hosts by performing a posture dance.

Some time later Hau followed his brothers, and, on reaching the village, found the men of the place collecting firewood, whereupon he asked: For what purpose are you gathering fuel? They replied: To furnish light for the posture dancing. Said Hau: Give me some of your fuel. They did so and he took his burden of fuel and entered the village with the others, where all deposited their loads of fuel, while Hau hastened to enter one of the houses to escape notice.

All the people assembled in order to witness the dancing, and Hau entered the big house with the others. He now took steps to secure the famous Rakahanga for himself by the exercise of the powers of white magic. He caught an insect, a kind of fly, and repeated over it a form of love charm or atahu, after which he placed it beneath the threshold of the door.

When Rakahanga arrived to join the assembled people, as she stepped through the doorway the powers of the charm affected her and caused her to look favourably on Hau, the worker of marvels. When she did so enter, Hau made his way to her and she made no demur when he claimed her as his wife.  

More information: Manawatu Gorge Track

On the morrow it became known the Rakahanga had taken a husband, and so her parents asked her where he was. She replied: I do not recognise him among all these people, for as dawn came, he hastened to conceal himself. Her parents said: When you come together again be sure to detain him when day dawns, should you not be able to do so then mark him by scratching his face. The woman now understood what to do.

The next morning her husband attempted to withdraw again ere daylight arrived, whereupon Rakahanga strove to detain him, but he broke away from her, though not before she had succeeded in scratching his forehead. 

Again the parents of Rakahanga asked where her husband was, would she point him out. She looked around her but did not see him, and said: I cannot see him now. Again she looked for him: Ehara! Yonder he is, sitting in the corner. Behold my husband; see the scratches I made on his forehead. 

Then all looked at the man, and brothers of Hau saw that it was he who had gained the love of Rakahanga and had been baffled by her.  

Those brothers then rose and returned to their own place, where they at once set to work to prepare their vessel for a sea voyage, that they might return home to Aotearoa, New Zealand. They were angry with Hau for having won Rakahanga and intended to desert him and so return home by themselves. But a nephew of Hau informed him of the decision that his brothers had come to, and that the vessel was being prepared. Hau told him to return and make a hiding place for him in the forepart of the hold of the vessel, wherein he might conceal himself and so return to Aotearoa unknown to his brothers.

When the vessel sailed for Aotearoa, Hau was in his hiding place, while his friendly nephew was in charge of the baling well of the forepart of the vessel. So they fared hitherward across the Ocean of Kiwa. In nearing the coast of Aotearoa Hau's nephew left his post at the forward baling place, whereupon one of Hau's brothers proceeded to bale out the well.

More information: Te Apiti

While doing so he discovered the stowaway in his place of concealment, and at once attacked him. Hau managed to escape from his brother, but was forced to leap overboard in doing so. He at once resorted to his own strange powers and so called upon the fish of the ocean to assemble and succour him by bearing him to land. Ere commencing this last and most extraordinary part of his voyage Hau found time to repeat a matapou charm in order to stay the progress of his brother's vessel, and render it immovable on the face of the waters.

Hau reached land at the beach called Rarohenga, at Kahutara, near unto Nukutaurua. Now when morning came Popoto came forth from his fortified village, and, on looking down on that beach, he saw some object bethronged by sea birds and concluded that it was a stranded fish.    

He sent a man down to the beach to examine the object, and, when the man reached it, he saw the eyes of Hau looking at him, but the body of Hau was hidden by sea-wrack. The man returned and reported to Popoto: The stranded object is a man who says that you are his father, and he desires that a fire be kindled to warm him. Then Popoto took fire, and fuel, the same being wood of the maire tree, and descended to the beach; a fire was made on the strand and the body of Hau was warmed thereat, and many say that the remains of the fuel are still seen at that place.

Hau was conveyed to the village where his mother, Nanaia, enquired of him: Where are your elder brothers? Hau replied: They are out yonder on the ocean, observe the sail of their vessel like unto a small cloud far away on the horizon.

More information: Event Finda

Then were performed the strange acts of yore, a tapu steaming pit was kindled, and food was placed therein to be cooked, then the firebrands were taken and utilised in a singular ritual performance whereby winds were caused to spring up, in this case a wind favourable to the vessel of the brothers of Hau.

That vessel now approached the land, and Hau went down to the beach to meet it. As the vessel neared the beach the elder brothers of Hau looked at him as he stood there; said Te Matawharite: Yonder is Hau standing on the beach. But Tauira remarked: How could a man cast overboard at sea be here. So the brothers of Hau came safe to land in their vessel, Papa-huakina. Hau then returned to his father's home where he questioned his mother about his wife, and Nanaia replied: She has been taken away by your two servants Kiwi and Weka. Then Hau rose and went forth into the south in search of Wairaka his wife, and her two abductors. 

He came to Taiporutu but found her not, and Hau signed as he thought of his lost wife. At this time Kiwi, Weka and Wairaka had ascended Taumata-hinaki, where Wairaka heard the sighing of Hau, and so said her companions: The sound that comes to me reminds me of Hau. They remarked: How can the man who went over seas be here.

Hau now proceeded on his way and crossed over to Whanganui whence he turned southward and so came to Whangaehu, a name said to have been derived from the fact that he baled water out there, though we are not told what it was baled from. Turakina was so named because he overthrew something there, a tree in one version, and Rangitikei from his striding over the land. Other names given by him were Manawatu, Waiarawa, Hokio, Ohau, Waikawa, Waitohu, Otaki, Waimeha and Waikanae. At Paekakariki he reached the end of the sandy beach. Ere long he came to a barrier of rock through which he forced a passage by means of his powers of magic, and so we have the Ana o Hau or Cave of Hau.

Again Hau fared on, and, on reaching the beach at Wairuapihi, below Pukerua, he at last came upon Wairaka. He asked her where Kiwi and Weka were, and was told that they would return in the evening. Hau awaited their return, and, when they arrived, he attacked and slew them. Hau then commanded Wairaka to go to the off-shore rocks and gather shellfish, when she had waded out some distance he recited the dread matapou spell and thereby transformed Wairaka into a rock. Thus when you look down the iron road of the white man upon the bounds of the sea of Raukawa you will see the storm lashed rock that represents the hapless Wairaka.

In the above we have what may very well be an historical tradition into which Maori narrators have worked a number of their beloved marvels. So it is with the records of scriptless man, and not with such only.

More information: The Culture Trip

Mauria te pono.

Believe in yourself.

Maori Proverb

THE ALL BLACKS. POWER, EFFORT, RESPECT AND VICTORY

Today, The Grandma is very excited because The All Blacks have invited her and her friends to participate in their training. 

Since The Grandma watched a match of U.E. Santboiana than she became a great fan of rugby although it's impossible to her to understand the rules and the meaning of this interesting sport.

She has arrived to the conclusion that the most important of rugby is to advance and this is the reason because of she is so interested in this sport, because it's a metaphor of live: you always must advance. Advance in your life, in your studies, in your work, in your knowledge, in your experiences... Advancing is the secret to improve in all things that you want to do.

More information: Linking words

The New Zealand national rugby union team, called the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's rugby union, which is known as the country's national sport. The team has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the inaugural tournament in 1987.

They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the only international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches. Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks jointly hold the record for the most consecutive test match wins for a tier one ranked nation, along with England.

New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the trophy fifteen times in the competition's twenty-two-year history.

New Zealand have completed a Grand Slam tour four times  1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010. The All Blacks have been named the World Rugby Team of the Year ten times since the award was created in 2001, and an All Black has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award ten times over the same period. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

More information: All Blacks

The team's first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney. The following year, they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game, including  5 tests, tour of Europe and North America in 1905, where the team suffered only one defeat, their first ever test loss, against Wales.

New Zealand's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and the name All Blacks dates from this time. The team perform a haka, a Māori challenge or posture dance, before each match. The haka has traditionally been Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango has also been performed.

Rugby union, almost universally referred to only as rugby in New Zealand, was introduced to New Zealand by Charles Monro in 1870; Monro discovered the sport while completing his studies at Christ's College, Finchley, England.

The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College.

The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, and in 1882 New Zealand's first internationals were played when New South Wales (NSW) toured the country. NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides, the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales; where New Zealand won all eight of their games.

A privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the side only played provincial sides. The British players were drawn mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales and Scotland.

More information: Rugby Museum

International rugby was suspended during the First World War, but a New Zealand Services team did compete in inter-services competition known as the King's Cup. After their departure from Europe the side toured South Africa before their return to New Zealand, and that tour paved the way for a South African team to tour New Zealand in 1921. 

The Springboks, as the South African team is known, played New Zealand in a test series that ended all square. New Zealand conducted a return tour to South Africa in 1928, and the test series was again drawn; both teams winning two tests each.

For the 1960 All Blacks tour of South Africa, the South African authorities insisted that Maori players be excluded from the team.

The subsequent controversy led to the New Zealand Rugby Union refusing any other tour for the following 10 years until the 1970 tour, when Maori players were accepted as honorary whites.

The 1976 All Blacks tour of apartheid South Africa generated much controversy and led to the boycott of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal by 33 African nations after the IOC refused to ban the team.  

New Zealand again failed to win the test series in South Africa: they did not do so until 1996, after the fall of apartheid and the introduction of neutral referees. The 1976 tour contributed to the Gleneagles Agreement being adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of State in 1977.

More information: New Zealand Rugby

The professional era in rugby union began in 1995, spurred by creation of the SANZAR group, a combination of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia which was formed with the purpose of selling broadcast rights for two new competitions, the domestic Super 12 competition and the Tri-Nations. The first Tri-Nations was contested in 1996, with New Zealand winning all four of their tests to take the trophy.

The All Blacks perform a haka, Māori challenge, before each international match. The haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby ever since a tour of Australia and the United Kingdom by the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team, though the New Zealand team that toured New South Wales in 1884 may also have performed a haka.

More information: 100% Pure New Zealand

 

The haka reminds us 

of the inherent fragility of life. 

How little time is given to each of us. 

And how much we still have to do. 

It reminds us: This is our time.

James Kerr

NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI AND EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS

Tonyi Tamaki has just met with The Winsors & The Grandma. The family has been victim of a big jet lag and they must adapt themselves to the new situation in New Zealand.  

Tonyi has welcome them to Auckland and they are resting a little before starting their tour explaining the first Maori settlements in New Zealand and about the British colonization during the 19th century. The family has been practising an A2 Cambridge Test.

Download A2 Cambridge Test_04 (Reading & Listening)

 

The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to sight New Zealand was Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on 13 December 1642. The Dutch were also the first non-natives to explore and chart New Zealand's coastline. Captain James Cook, who reached New Zealand in October 1769 on the first of his three voyages, was the first European explorer to circumnavigate and map New Zealand.

From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire and giving Māori the same rights as British subjects. 

There was extensive British settlement throughout the rest of the century and into the early part of the next century. War and the imposition of a European economic and legal system led to most of New Zealand's land passing from Māori to Pākehā (European) ownership, and most Māori subsequently became impoverished.

New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia. Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that humans emigrated 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 the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.

The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE. Previous dating of some Kiore, a Polynesian rat, bones at 50–150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable; new samples of bone, and now also of unequivocally rat-gnawed woody seed cases, match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained, anthropogenic deforestation.

More information: TeAra-The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

The descendants of these settlers became known as the Māori, forming a distinct culture of their own. The separate settlement of the tiny Chatham Islands in the east of New Zealand about 1500 CE produced the Moriori; linguistic evidence indicates that the Moriori were mainland Māori who ventured eastward.

The original settlers quickly exploited the abundant large game in New Zealand, such as moa, which were large flightless ratites pushed to extinction by about 1500. As moa and other large game became scarce or extinct, Māori culture underwent major change, with regional differences.
 

In areas where it was possible to grow taro and kūmara, horticulture became more important. This was not possible in the south of the South Island, but wild plants such as fernroot were often available and cabbage trees were harvested and cultivated for food. 

Warfare also increased in importance, reflecting increased competition for land and other resources. 

In this period, fortified pā became more common, although there is debate about the actual frequency of warfare. As elsewhere in the Pacific, cannibalism was part of warfare.

More information: New Zealand

The first Europeans known to reach New Zealand were the crew of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who arrived in his ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen. Tasman anchored at the northern end of the South Island in Golden Bay, he named it Murderers' Bay, in December 1642 and sailed northward to Tonga following an attack by local Māori.

Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands' west coasts. Tasman called them Staten Landt, after the States General of the Netherlands, and that name appeared on his first maps of the country.

In 1645 Dutch cartographers changed the name to Nova Zeelandia in Latin, from Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. It was subsequently anglicised as New Zealand by British naval captain James Cook of HM Bark Endeavour who visited the islands more than 100 years after Tasman during 1769–1770. Cook returned to New Zealand on both of his subsequent voyages.

From the 1790s, the waters around New Zealand were visited by British, French and American whaling, sealing and trading ships. Their crews traded European goods, including guns and metal tools, for Māori food, water, wood and flax. Māori were reputed to be enthusiastic and canny traders, even though the levels of technology, institutions and property rights differed greatly from the standards in European societies.

In 1788 the Colony of New South Wales had been founded. According to the future Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip's amended Commission, dated 25 April 1787 the colony of New South Wales included all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes of 10°37'S and 43°39'S which included most of New Zealand except for the southern half of the South Island.

More information: New Zealand History

In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced its plans to establish colonies in New Zealand. This and the increased commercial interests of merchants in Sydney and London spurred the British to take stronger action. Captain William Hobson was sent to New Zealand to persuade Māori to cede their sovereignty to the British Crown. 

In reaction to the New Zealand Company's moves, on 15 June 1839 new Letters Patent were issued to expand the territory of New South Wales to include all of New Zealand. Governor of New South Wales George Gipps was appointed Governor over New Zealand. This was the first clear expression of British intent to annex New Zealand.

On 6 February 1840, Hobson and about forty Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Copies of the Treaty were subsequently taken around the country to be signed by other chiefs. A significant number refused to sign or were not asked but, in total, more than five hundred Māori eventually signed.

The Treaty gave Māori sovereignty over their lands and possessions and all of the rights of British citizens. What it gave the British in return depends on the language-version of the Treaty that is referred to. 

The English version can be said to give the British Crown sovereignty over New Zealand but in the Māori version the Crown receives kawanatanga, which, arguably, is a lesser power, see interpretations of the Treaty. Dispute over the true meaning and the intent of either party remains an issue.

Māori chiefs were motivated by a desire for protection from foreign powers, the establishment of governorship over European settlers and traders in New Zealand, and to allow for wider settlement that would increase trade and prosperity for Māori.

Hobson died on 10 September 1842. Robert FitzRoy, the new governor, took some legal steps to recognise Māori custom. However, his successor, George Grey, promoted rapid cultural assimilation and reduction of the land ownership, influence and rights of the Māori. The practical effect of the Treaty was, in the beginning, only gradually felt, especially in predominantly Māori regions.

More information: New Zealand History

Māori had welcomed Pākehā for the trading opportunities and guns they brought. However it soon became clear that they had underestimated the number of settlers that would arrive in their lands. Iwi (tribes) whose land was the base of the main settlements quickly lost much of their land and autonomy through government acts. Although race relations were generally peaceful in this period, there were conflicts over who had ultimate power in particular areas, the Governor or the Māori chiefs.

As the Pākehā population grew, pressure grew on Māori to sell more land. Land is not only an economic resource, but also one basis of Māori identity and a connection with their ancestor's bones. Land was used communally, but under the mana of chiefs. 

In Māori culture there was no such idea as selling land until the arrival of Europeans. The means of acquiring land was to defeat another hapu or iwi in battle and seize their land. 

Land was usually not given up without discussion and consultation. When an iwi was divided over the question of selling this could lead to great difficulties as at Waitara. While the North Island was convulsed by the Land Wars, the South Island, with its lower Māori population, was generally peaceful.

Māori always had a high birth rate; that was neutralised by a high death rate until modern public health measures became effective in the 20th century when tuberculosis deaths and infant mortality declined sharply. Life expectancy grew from 49 years in 1926 to 60 years in 1961 and the total numbers grew rapidly. 

Māori culture had meanwhile undergone a renaissance. By the 1980s 80% of the Māori population was urban, in contrast to only 20% before the Second World War. The migration led to better pay, higher standards of living and longer schooling, but also exposed problems of racism and discrimination. By the late 1960s a protest movement had emerged to combat racism, promote Māori culture and seek fulfilment of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Urbanisation proceeded rapidly across the land. In the late 1940s, town planners noted that the country was possibly the third most urbanised country in the world, with two-thirds of the population living in cities or towns. 

More information: New Zealand Wars

 

 

 I'm quite proud of growing up in New Zealand where, 
from quite early on in primary school, 

you're learning to count in Maori, 

Maori mythology and dances and colours and history, 
and I think that gives a child a really good grounding.
 

Martin Henderson

THE ALL BLACKS: POWER, EFFORT, RESPECT AND VICTORY

The All Blacks' Logo

Today, The Grandma is very excited because The All Blacks have invited her and her friends to participate in their training. Since The Grandma watched a match of U.E. Santboiana than she became a great fan of rugby although it's impossible to her to understand the rules and the meaning of this interesting sport.

She has arrived to the conclusion that the most important of rugby is to advance and this is the reason because of she is so interested in this sport, because it's a metaphor of live: you always must advance. Advance in your life, in your studies, in your work, in your knowledge, in your experiences... Advancing is the secret to improve in all things that you want to do.

During the travel from Wellington to Auckland, The Grandma has read a new chapter of Rosemary Border's Ghost Stories and she has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Grammar 13).

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The New Zealand national rugby union team, called the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's rugby union, which is known as the country's national sport. The team has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the inaugural tournament in 1987.

They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the only international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches. Since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks jointly hold the record for the most consecutive test match wins for a tier one ranked nation, along with England.

The All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup in 2011

New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the trophy fifteen times in the competition's twenty-two-year history.

New Zealand have completed a Grand Slam tour four times  1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010. The All Blacks have been named the World Rugby Team of the Year ten times since the award was created in 2001, and an All Black has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award ten times over the same period. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

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The team's first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney. The following year, they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game, including  5 tests, tour of Europe and North America in 1905, where the team suffered only one defeat, their first ever test loss, against Wales.

New Zealand's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and the name All Blacks dates from this time. The team perform a haka, a Māori challenge or posture dance, before each match. The haka has traditionally been Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango has also been performed.

Rugby union, almost universally referred to only as rugby in New Zealand, was introduced to New Zealand by Charles Monro in 1870; Monro discovered the sport while completing his studies at Christ's College, Finchley, England.

The All Blacks' haka in 1932

The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College.

The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, and in 1882 New Zealand's first internationals were played when New South Wales (NSW) toured the country. NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides, the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales; where New Zealand won all eight of their games.

A privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the side only played provincial sides. The British players were drawn mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales and Scotland.

More information: Rugby Museum

International rugby was suspended during the First World War, but a New Zealand Services team did compete in inter-services competition known as the King's Cup. After their departure from Europe the side toured South Africa before their return to New Zealand, and that tour paved the way for a South African team to tour New Zealand in 1921. 

The Springboks, as the South African team is known, played New Zealand in a test series that ended all square. New Zealand conducted a return tour to South Africa in 1928, and the test series was again drawn; both teams winning two tests each.

For the 1960 All Blacks tour of South Africa, the South African authorities insisted that Maori players be excluded from the team.

The All Blacks' haka nowadays

The subsequent controversy led to the New Zealand Rugby Union refusing any other tour for the following 10 years until the 1970 tour, when Maori players were accepted as honorary whites.

The 1976 All Blacks tour of apartheid South Africa generated much controversy and led to the boycott of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal by 33 African nations after the IOC refused to ban the team.  

New Zealand again failed to win the test series in South Africa: they did not do so until 1996, after the fall of apartheid and the introduction of neutral referees. The 1976 tour contributed to the Gleneagles Agreement being adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of State in 1977.

More information: New Zealand Rugby

The professional era in rugby union began in 1995, spurred by creation of the SANZAR group, a combination of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia which was formed with the purpose of selling broadcast rights for two new competitions, the domestic Super 12 competition and the Tri-Nations. The first Tri-Nations was contested in 1996, with New Zealand winning all four of their tests to take the trophy.

The All Blacks perform a haka, Māori challenge, before each international match. The haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby ever since a tour of Australia and the United Kingdom by the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team, though the New Zealand team that toured New South Wales in 1884 may also have performed a haka.

More information: 100% Pure New Zealand

The haka reminds us of the inherent fragility of life. 

How little time is given to each of us. And how much we still have to do. It reminds us: This is our time.

James Kerr

WHAKAREWAREWA: MAORI VILLAGE & MOTHER NATURE

Joseph de Ca'th Lon at Whakarewarewa Thermal Village

Tonyi Tamaki and her friends continue her trip across Rotorua.

Today, they have visited the thermal lands where they have seen some of the most amazing geysers of the planet and The Living Maori Village where they have enjoyed the Maori culture.

Before arriving to these destinations, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her First Certificate Language Practice manual (Grammar 8).

More information: Wished and related forms I, II & III

Whakarewarewa or Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao, means The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao, and it's often abbreviated to Whaka by locals. It is a geothermal area within Rotorua city in the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand. This was the site of the Māori fortress of Te Puia, first occupied around 1325, and known as an impenetrable stronghold never taken in battle. Māori have lived here ever since, taking full advantage of the geothermal activity in the valley for heating and cooking.

Whakarewarewa has some 500 pools, most of which are alkaline chloride hot springs, and at least 65 geyser vents, each with their own name. Seven geysers are currently active. Pohutu Geyser, meaning big splash or explosion, erupts approximately hourly to heights of up to 30 m.

More information: Rotorua-New Zealand

Many of the thermal features at Whakarewarewa have been adversely affected by Rotorua residents taking advantage of the underlying geothermal fluids of the city by drawing shallow wells to extract hot water for both domestic and commercial heating.  

Tina & Tonyi at Whakarewarewa Thermal Village

A bore closure programme in 1987-1988 resulted in 106 wells within 1.5 km of Pohutu Geyser being cemented shut, with another 120 wells outside the radius being shut due to a punitive royalty charging regime.

There has subsequently been a pronounced recovery in the geysers and hot springs at Whakarewarewa. Most of the currently active geysers at Whakarewarewa are located on Geyser Flat and aligned on a common fissure. This is a highly complex system, with the activity of one geyser affecting another.

Kereru Geyser, about 2 m above Puarenga Stream, located at the head of a small apron of blackish sinter, erupts every few days or weeks, in a fan-shaped jet 15 m high. No large eruptions occurred between 1972-1988, and it seems its recovery was directly linked to the sudden reduction of well drawoff in 1987. Kereru Geyser is probably independent of other springs on the fissure. 

Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser, Pohutu Geyser, Te Horu Geyser (The Cauldron) and Waikorohihi Geyser are on a sinter plateau about 6 m above Puarenga Stream.

 More information: Rotorua-New Zealand

Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser, Pohutu Geyser's closest neighbour, always precedes Pohutu, a feeble jet at first but gradually increasing in power until a continuous 9 m high column is ejected at an angle, when Pohutu usually erupts also. Sometimes Waikorohihi Geyser erupts a discontinuous 5 m high jet, then Prince of Wales Feathers will commence, later followed by Pohutu.

Until 1972, Te Horu Geyser erupted 2–7 m high as often as 10-15 times each day, but after that time eruptions and even boiling ceased. The water in Te Horu's vent began to overflow again in 1998.

A very direct connection exists between Te Horu and Pohutu, with air-cooled water erupted from Pohutu largely falling in Te Horu's vent. This may explain the popular belief that Pohutu is more active when there is a south wind, because most erupted water is then blown away to the north, whereas with a north wind much is returned to cool the system and delay the next eruption. 

Claire Fontaine visits Kereru geyser

Mahanga Geyser, also called the Boxing Glove, is an old geyser not known to erupt until 1961. Its 3-4.5 m high eruptions occur quite independently of its near neighbour Waikorohihi.

Wairoa Geyser, acclaimed as erupting 60 m high, last erupted naturally in December 1940 after which its water level fell to 4.5 m below overflow and the water became acidic. However, in early 1996, its water level rose to 3.2 m below overflow, with continuous powerful boiling, and it remains so to date.

Beyond Geyser Flat is Waikite Geyser, which forms the apex of a prominent sinter mound 260 m south of Pohutu. This last erupted in March 1967, and since then the vent has remained dry and weakly steaming. 

In June 1996, its previously 8.5 m deep and dry vent suddenly filled with boiling water which rose to within 2.3 m of overflow. In the past Waikite tended to erupt after prolonged periods of excessive rain, suggesting that the level of water in its vent is dependent on rainfall. It is hoped that Waikite may one day erupt again. Meanwhile, Pareia Geyser, just beyond Waikite, has recently reactivated.

Papakura Geyser is the other notable dormant geyser at Whakarewarewa, last erupting in September 2015 after a 110 year period during which it was known to have faltered very briefly only three times.

More information: Te Puia

Near the thermal area, you can experience the traditions of Maori life in an authentic living village and discover its people's centuries-old culture. 

The Grandma dances with the Maori

You are going to enjoy your visit to the unique setting of Te Whakarewarewa lets you see how its people use the geothermal springs to cook, bathe, and heat their homes on a daily basis.

When you arrive, you meet some of Rotorua's iconic Maori cultural performers and get a chance to see the Haka, a traditional dance, along with harmonious songs that tell of Maori stories and legends. 

A guided tour through the village gives you a look at life within a living Maori village, as your guide shares the traditions, history, and legacy that has been passed down through the generations.

You also can complete your tour of Whakarewarewa with a unique, traditional hangi meal, cooked with the geothermal vents that dominate the valley.

Don't forget to enjoy an entrée of mussels cooked in the geothermal pools and marinated fish in coconut cream; a main course of beef, chicken, and vegetables; and then a steamed pudding served with custard, fresh fruit salad, and cream.

More information: Must Do New Zealand

Tangata ako ana i te whare, te turanga ki te marae, tau ana.

A person who is taught at home, will stand collected on the Marae.

Maori Proverb