Just Where Are The Victoria Falls? - Someplace Close To Taupo I Believe? Or Why Do Kiwis Often Ignore Their Own Beautiful And Diverse Country?
While the headline above may seem peculiar and inappropriate, it is taken from an advertisement shown on New Zealand television several years ago. It is connected with the tendency of travelers from NZ to ignore the bountiful destinations available within the boundaries of their own beautiful and diverse country.
Encompassing the wonderful stone buildings of south Canterbury and Southland to the Unique and fragile Beech forests of the West Coast; to the vast sandy beaches of Northland, the secure sandy coves of the East Coast; to the magnificence of the looming, often snow covered slopes, of the active volcano which is Mt Ruapehu. The night life of the largest cities contrast with the comparatively sedate rural existences lived by the people within half a day easy drive from the centre of these busy metropolis.
Roads are almost entirely sealed now, but unsealed and less frequented options with evocative titles still exist. The 'forgotten highway' which goes from Taranaki into the Ruapehu District is just one such example. The 'Bridge to nowhere' is New Zealand's monument to the rugged and difficult terrain of the central North Island. Even this small territory nestled in the South Pacific, after almost four hundred years of human habitation, there are still generally untraveled tracts of land in existence.
Wooden churches and stone stores from our colonial past still exist. With history texts in hand, an individual is able to still see the carved wooden grave markers of those participants within those same pages. Having studied New Zealand's heritage in my time at university, such distinct markers give substance to the languid process of time in provinces of this land, my homeland, New Zealand.
Speaking again, to the essence intended in the title, I will inform you, the visitor, that as a teenager, myself and my friend cycled many of the pathways of this beautiful and diverse country. I am assured that I have at least a fundamental appreciation of this landscape. In earlier years, my experiences as a boy scout saw me hiking about the old tram tracks and logging skids of gold mining and forestry operations around Wairongomai. Now, just as then, bush covered and less than 'easy going' country. The men and women that moulded a state from this wilderness which was pre-colonial NZ were indeed of sturdy stock. Often the settlers were military veterans of the Victorian Empire's conquests covering the globe. They were not unaccustomed to discipline and hard physical labour.
It can therefore, be seen, that New Zealand has vast scope of interest for the adventure seeking and those people wishing to experience an exciting, and not too distant, history. You can be having breakfast in a cafe near the shores of the great Lake Taupo in the morning, then be skiing the slopes of Ruapehu soon after lunch. You can be studying historical documents in a provincial museum in one of many small towns around the country, then, that same night be dancing the night away in a trendy night club in one of the main city centres.
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