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Detailed travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Detailed Travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Larry2006-05-27 03:23:16
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though they still went to see them like everyone
else. One of the daughters also goes to the same school as Anna Paquin (the
young actress who won an Oscar for "The Piano").
Besides movies, we also talked a lot about Australia, New Zealand, and
America (the girls thought I had very strong American accent). They helped
me with some ideas of places to see later in New Zealand, then the father
put in his two cents about the native peoples of the region. He saw the
Aboriginals of Australia as lethargic compared to the native people of New
Zealand (the Maori). He went on about how Australian Aboriginals have taken
a beating over the years, and rarely put up fights, while in New Zealand,
when the whites came, there was actually a formal treaty signed,
guaranteeing the native Maoris protection under the Queen in exchange for
allowing the whites to settle -- something the Maoris have vigorously and
consistantly pursued to this day. He said that you only have to say you're
part Maori, and you're entitled to special claims, and that the NZ Maoris
are quite sophisticated and smart at interpreting a broad, general agreement
to their favor.
When it got late, I walked back to my shack. I thought I had lost my
watch, so asked the front desk if they had a spare alarm clock I could
borrow. They didn't, but they volunteered to knock on my door at 6:00am
(not that I could sleep with the rain on the metal roof anyway). As it
turned out, I didn't lose my watch, but I did lose something else that had
some sentimental value to me: a small "Nike" towel that I won at the U.S.
Embassy in Beijing on July 4, 1988. I took it with me to Australia because
it was a small towel that dried quickly, but now some lucky person in
Cooinda will make use of it.
The next morning, a man from the front desk banged on the door (in
pouring rain)
...
See photographs from:
Australia Gallery
,
New Zealand Gallery
