Heritage

New Zealand is a young country, but we're proud of the culture and history already established by our ancestors.

The Maori are the tangata whenua, the people of the land, and they invite you to share their traditions. You are welcomed onto their marae (meeting places) with song and speech, learn their history, and share their food, cooked in hangi or earth ovens, as it was in Hawaiiki hundreds of years ago.

The European settlers tried to create a little bit of Home, wherever that was. The Bay of Islands hosted whalers and sealers as well as the first missionaries, and The Treaty House there is where New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed in 1840. Just north of Auckland, people from today's Yugoslavia settled, digging for the gum of the native kauri tree. Auckland and Wellington attracted people from everywhere, as cities and big towns always do, but there are still colonial homes preserved and appreciated.

Christchurch was a very English city, but just outside it is Akaroa, where a French community established itself. Dunedin is our Scottish city, reflecting the homeland of those who came in search of religious freedom, and supplied the goldfields of Otago. Oamaru, blessed by local limestone, built magnificent Victorian edifices by its harbour, and is a great favourite for those keen on architecture. Another is Napier, in the Hawkes Bay, devastated by an earthquake in 1931, and rebuilt in the contemporary Art Deco style.

Across the country, people took advantage of the openness of a new country, to create wonderful gardens as well as spacious houses. Many still exist, and the mature gardens are a joy to see. October and November are the best months for viewing the stately private and famous public rhododendron gardens of Taranaki and Dunedin. Christchurch, where more than one third of the city is devoted to parks and gardens, is known as "The Garden City," and is at its most spectacular during February, which also coincides with the Festival of Flowers. Auckland is renowned for the Parnell rose gardens, as well as the Ellerslie Flower Show. Held each November, this is the largest horticultural show in the Southern Hemisphere. With New Zealand's mild climate and generally long sunshine hours, species from all over the world flourish alongside the bountiful native flora. Of the country's 2000 or so native flowering plants, about 75 per cent are unique to New Zealand.