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Old October 21st, 2004, 10:23 PM
Peter
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In article , JohnM says...
Now I don't know if I should include Stewart Island and especially the
Chathams. Point is, I am interested in the Moriori and all that. Have
you been to the Chathams, Peter?


Let me just say that I wish I had the time and money for such a trip!
That's a good leisurely, thorough way to do it, short of doing the
backpacker thing and working your way around the country. I cover the
whole lot in 14 days, but then I like driving, and New Zealand has some
wonderful, uncrowded roads.

I haven't been to Stewart Island or the Chathams. Both are pretty much
off the tourist trail. Stewart has a few tourists, but it's more time
and more expense to get there, and not a lot to see or do on arrival.
Comparitively, that is. Chathams more so.

I don't know much about the Chathams except that it was used by the
British to imprison Maori "troublemakers", most famously the superb
guerilla Te Kooti, who made a remarkable escape from the Chathams and
terrorised the residents of the East Coast - Maori and pakeha alike.

If I had the time I'd take a good look at some of the sites of the Maori
Wars. The Maori seemed to take an inordinate amount of fun in outwitting
British troops and dealt them some notable defeats. All the more
extraordinary because the Maori were usually just stealing some time out
of their normal farming activities to put in a campaign, while the
British included some of their best Imperial troops. In fact at one time
there were more British soldiers in New Zealand than there were in the
UK itself.

But I digress...

Pete