Just Where Are The Victoria Falls? - Some-Where Near Rotorua Maybe? Or Why Do New Zealanders Often Ignore Their Own Beautiful And Diverse Country?

While the heading above may seem perhaps odd and extraneous, it is taken from an advertisement shown on NZ television several years ago. It concerns the tendency of travelers from NZ to ignore the wonderful destinations available within the confines of their own beautiful and diverse country.

Ranging from the wonderful stone architecture of south Canterbury and Southland to the Unique and delicate Beech forests of the West Coast; to the broad sandy beaches of Northland, the sheltered sandy coves of the East Coast; to the magnificence of the looming, often snow covered slopes, of the active volcano that is Ruapehu. The night life of the principal cities contrast with the comparatively placid rural existences lived by individuals within half a day easy drive from the centre of these bubbling metropolis.

The roads are almost entirely sealed now, although unsealed and less frequented routes with evocative titles still exist. The 'forgotten highway' which travels from Taranaki into the Ruapehu District is just one such example. The 'Bridge to nowhere' is NZ's monument to the rugged and challenging terrain of the central North Island. Even this small land nestled in the South Pacific, after almost four hundred years of human habitation, there are still largely untraveled tracts of land to be found.

Wooden churches and stone stores from a colonial past still exist. With history guides in hand, an individual is able to still see the carved wooden markers to the graves of the very participants within those same pages. Having studied NZ's heritage in my time at university, such tangible markers give substance to the languid progression of time in locations of this land, my home, New Zealand.

Speaking again, to the essence intended in the title, I will tell you, the visitor, that as a teenager, myself and my good friend cycled many of the roads and byways of this beautiful and diverse country. I am certain that I have at least a cursory appreciation of this land. In earlier years, my experiences as a boy scout saw me wandering about the old tram tracks and logging skids of mining and forestry operations around Wairongomai. Now, as it certainly was then, bush covered and less than 'easy going' terrain. The people that moulded a state from this wilderness which was pre-colonial NZ were indeed of hardy stock. Often the settlers were military veterans and families of the Victorian Empire's conquests all-around the globe. They were no strangers to discipline and physical labour.

It can therefore, be seen, that NZ has vast scope of appeal for the adventure seeking and those wishing to experience an exciting, and not too distant, history. You can be having eggs on toast in a cafe near the shores of the great Lake Taupo in the morning, and be skiing the slopes of Ruapehu after lunch. You can be researching historical documents in a provincial museum in one of many small towns around the country, then, that night be dancing the night away in a popular night club in one of the main city centres.

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