Waitangi Treaty and other Cultural Learning

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Well actually we were in the area but we didn't go into the official site of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds cos at $25 per adult and $10 per kid and $18 for every 'extra' activity such as viewing a historical video or learning how to weave flax we decided we could skip it and learn by observation anyway. Here are our observations so far:

It's totally fine to do dangerous stuff in NZ.

Diving from waterfalls is totally fine, leaping from trees into the water 20 metres below, also fine in fact why don't we bang in a few planks into the tree to make it easier for you to get a bit higher up.

Have a 6 year old kids who wants to hang from a zip line 15 metres up in the air?  - no worries - we'll just give him his own gear and let him go for it... just sign this little waiver form first bro.

Got long lawn? - no problem,  let me whipper snip that for you. In my bare feet.

Need to get somewhere on your bike? - don't have a helmet? Don't worry, neither does anyone else it seems. 

In fact it's funny how you don't notice how much safety stuff there is around the place (railings at waterfalls, signs telling you not to jump, rope swings removed from public places, people wearing helmets etc) until you go somewhere where you basically look after yourself. Which is fine and all - it just takes getting used to.

 If you think I'm sounding like someone who hasn't ever been overseas you're not far from the truth - it's been almost 10 years since Jon and I went on our honeymoon to Thailand. sigh.