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Just Where Are The Victoria Falls? - Somewhere Near Rotorua I Believe? Or Why Do New Zealanders Often Ignore Their Own Beautiful And Diverse Country?
While the heading above may seem peculiar and somewhat irrelevant, it is taken from an advertisement shown on New Zealand television several years ago. It is concerned 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 constructions of south Canterbury and Southland to the Unique and delicate Beech forests of the West Coast; to the vast sandy beaches of Northland, the secure sandy coves of the East Coast; to the splendour 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.
The roads are almost entirely sealed now, but unsealed and less frequented ways 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 essentially untraveled tracts of land to be found.
Wooden churches and stone stores from our colonial past still exist. With history textbooks in hand, you are 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 personal markers give substance to the languid progression of time in provinces of this land, my homeland, New Zealand.
Returning 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 land. 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, as it certainly was 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 and families 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 muffins in a cafe near the shores of the great Lake Taupo in the morning, and be skiing the slopes of Ruapehu before lunch. You can be browsing through 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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