Árdís - 01.01.1958, Page 40

38
ÁRDÍ S
My Visit To New Zealand
By SNJOLAUG GILLIS
Nothing can compare with the joy I experienced in visiting
my daughter, Bella, in New Zealand, becoming reacquainted with
her husband, Ivan, and acquainted with their five children. Yet
the delight in visiting a country where the scenery is magnificent
and the climate delightful added greatly to making my six months
stay in New Zealand a memorable and never-to-be-forgotten ex-
perience. The people of New Zealand are wonderfully friendly.
and the hospitality extended to me at every turn made me feel at
home immediately.
First a little about the history of New Zealand before any
personal experiences. New Zealand was discovered by the Maori
people, a Polynesian race. They lived on the islands for five hund-
red years before they were visited by any white man. In the nine-
teenth century both English and French arrived, and the English
first settled on the Bay of Islands placing their capital at the
village of Russell. By 1840 Auckland had grown to be the largest
city in New Zealand, and the capital was moved there. By 1865
the South Island had been populated to such an extent that the
capital was moved once again to Wellington this time, a more
central location, on the southern tip of the North Island where it
remains today. With the end of years of inter-racial wars in the
1870’s the Maori’s and Europeans began to grow together as a
nation. A personal note here — we did visit the Treaty House at
Waitangi where the pact was signed between the Maoris and the
settlers to end the racial wars. Today there seems to be little racial
discrimination in New Zealand. The two people attend the same
colleges, play at sports together, and both have representatives in
Parliament. Some think that the harmoniousness of the country-
men plays a part in the ready friendship extended to the visitor
by all New Zealanders, brown and white alike.
New Zealand experiences none of the extremes in temperature
that confront us, especially here on the Prairies. Over the whole