Know your waka from your haka's

The islands of the long white cloud. Our first stop, Auckland, north island, the city of sails - New Zealand's largest city situated on a active field of 48 volcanoes with a land mass twice the size of London.

After our short flight across the Tasman sea which ended in a tussle at custom desk number 4 a more of an easy couple of days exploring the city are looking favorite. We are excited to see how NZ differs to
Oz, or even if it does at all ?

From downtown Auckland you can walk to Auckland's museum, a very grand looking building sat up high within the Auckland's Domain park. Here they hold Maori culture performances so fancying a bit of haka
action to kick start our visit we headed over without delay.

Once inside we were called into the main show by a Bu, a shell type trumpet. Fe all very excited at the thought of all those oversized thighs and that chest slapping. There was a definite buzz among these
museum folk knowing that a performance of the famous high-energy haka was just around the corner. These lads certainly didn't disappoint either.

Brief Maori history: Between 3 and 4 thousand years ago the ancestors of the Polynesians entered the pacific from the west. These lot were masters of sailing and navigating open seas and were the first persons

to discover and settle in the islands of the pacific. Language, food plants, domestic animals and decorated 'lapita' (pottery) all indicate a southeast Asian origin for these remote ancestors of the Maori

people. The term Maori belongs to the widespread Australasian family of languages which originated in Southeast Asia 5 to 6 thousand years ago.

The Maoris are great wood carvers, each tribe having its own different style. In the 19th century great changes confronted Maori people with the signing of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi which opened the doors to European settlement and by 1860 Maori were outnumbered within their own land.