Anzac Day

Red Poppy
Georgia O'Keeffe

April 25th is Anzac Day, a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand that honors members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli, Turkey, during World War I.

The ANZAC forces landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish Army commanded by Ataturk. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. However, it quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, Turkey still held Gallipoli and the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties.

Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died at Gallipoli. The deaths of so many young men had a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders. In 1916, April 25th became the day on which Australia and New Zealand remembered the sacrifice of all those who had died in war.

In New Zealand, Anzac Day is commemorated through memorial services through out the country. A typical commemoration includes a pre-dawn march by returned service personnel and an afternoon parade to the local war memorial.

The red poppy (above) has become a symbol of war remembrance all around the world. The red poppy was the first flower to grow in the battlefields after WWI. In many countries people wear the poppy, usually around Armistice Day (November 11), to remember those who died in war or who still serve, but in New Zealand the poppy is most commonly seen around Anzac Day.

The Cadbury Easter Bunny

Did you know that the Cadbury Company has a factory in Dunedin? Yeah, I didn't either before I moved here. Some days the air smells like chocolate and you know the factory is making up a big batch of goodies! You can take a tour of "Cadbury World" and learn how their chocolate is made. I haven't made a visit yet, but I'll report back when/if I do.

The Dunedin Cadbury factory opened in 1930 and now produces some of New Zealand's favorite candies including Pinkys, Jaffas, Perky Nana, Chocolate Fish, Freddo, Wine Gums, and Pineapple Lumps. And now that Easter is upon us, the shops are filled with all the Cadbury Chocolate Bunnies and Creme Eggs you could ever want. (Alas, there is not a colorful, sugar-coated marshmallow Peep in sight....)

I always wanted the Easter Bunny to leave some of these eggs in my Easter basket, but it's probably better that they never appeared. Honestly, I've never actually managed to have more than one bite of these sickly sweet, gooey eggs. I'd rather eat a box of Peeps!

You can check out Cadbury New Zealand here:
http://www.cadbury.co.nz/

And just for fun, check out the Peeps webpage!
http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Waitangi Day

February 6 is Waitangi Day, the national holiday here in New Zealand that marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs signed what is New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.

The Treaty was signed at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands on the North Island. The Treaty itself is short, consisting of only three articles that officially made New Zealand part of the British Empire, guaranteed Maori rights to their land, and gave Maori the rights of British citizens. However, English and Maori versions of the Treaty differ significantly so there is no real consensus as to exactly what was agreed on.

Although the Treaty is generally seen as marking the beginning of the New Zealand nation, it was largely ignored for more than a century after its signing, and various legal judgements ruled it irrelevant to New Zealand law and government. Despite this, Maori frequently used it to argue that their rights were being denied.

Today, the style and mood of the celebrations on Waitangi Day have been influenced by the increasingly heated debate surrounding the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand. The commemoration has often been the focus of protest by Maori activists and is often marked by controversy. Protest groups argue that the Treaty was a fraud with which Pakeha, or white New Zealanders, conned Maori out of their land.

Just yesterday, Prime Minister John Key was attacked by 2 Maori men at the Waitangi Day celebrations. While watching the news clips of the attacks, I had flashbacks of shoes flung at a certain former U.S. President....

While I enjoy learning about New Zealand's history and culture, I can't help but feel guilty about celebrating Waitangi Day. It would be like Americans celebrating a day to commemorate the many treaties that conned Native Americans out of their lands in the United States. On that note, the sun is out and my boyfriend has the day off so we're heading out for a hike!

Kia Hari Te Tau Hou: January 5 2009

Happy New Years e-mail: January 5 2009

Kia Hari Te Tau Hou!

I hope everyone is happy, healthy and relaxing after the holidays.

Christmas here in New Zealand was very mellow. Without the family and friends it really didn't seem like the holidays this year. We spent Christmas Eve at home watching American movies on TV and Christmas Day enjoying the Summer sunshine that has finally appeared. We decided not to exchange gifts and save our money for road trips instead, although I did cook a yummy dinner for us.

Almost the whole of New Zealand goes on holiday for at least 2 weeks during Christmas (and it is "Christmas" here, none of that PC American lingo for the Kiwis). With the Dunners (those that live in Dunedin) away and the students still out on Summer break, Dunedin has been sooooo quiet. Only cruise ship tourists during the day and no one is out after 5 pm, the city feels like a ghost town!

We did some curling at the ice rink here in Dunedin earlier in the week. Curling is an ancient Scottish sport that involves sliding granite "curls" across the ice in order to get it in the center of a bulls-eye down on the other side of the court. You sweep the ice with brushes in order to speed up the curl to get it closer to the center or slide your opponents out of the center. It's kind of like the Italian bocce on ice. It was actually a lot more fun that I thought and if any of you come visit us, we are definitely going curling! We also did a little night hike to see glow worms in a canyon just NE of town. It was amazing! They looked like constellations on the canyon walls!

With the University closed for 2 weeks and my boyfriend unable to work, we decided to take a day trip on NYE to an area on the South coast called "The Catlins." It's a beautiful, rugged coastline about 1.5 hours drive south of us. There is lots of native forest, waterfalls, dramatic sea caves, and quirky Kiwi settlements (not big enough to really call a town). Since we are getting 16 hours of daylight right now you can really pack in a lot in one day. We did some great hikes in the podocarp forests - a very old family of trees that exists from Gondwanaland. We even had a crazy run-in with little fan tail birds that decided to put on a show for us, they were hilarious!

After a day to re-group and pack lunches we were on the road again. This time we headed inland to Central Otago, which is gold mining country turned wine country. And in fact, it looks a lot like the Sierra foothills in CA, although there are some amazing rock formations and scenery that was used in filming Lord of the Rings. We continued on up to Queenstown, adrenaline capitol of the world where you can find all sorts of death-defying activities to empty your wallet. We did a beautiful hike in high alpine beech forest on lake Wakatipu. There were amazing lichens, mosses, and ferns, and the waterfalls were roaring because it had been raining earlier in the day. After dinner in a very crowded Queenstown, we drove back to Central Otago and stayed in a B&B in Alexandra. The next day we spent wine tasting (where I learned the true meaning of 'minerality'), picking cherries at a small pick-your-own farm, and enjoying the small towns in gold country.

Our road trips were so fun and it allowed us to finally see the New Zealand that everyone raves about. Although, we did have to deal with the Kiwi drivers.....many of the roads are narrow and/or winding but we consistently had cars tail-gating so close we could see the driver's blood pressure rising. We were even passed by a double fuel tanker on a blind curve! Even so, I can't wait to explore more!