Waitangi Day – New Zealand Day

Unfortunately, Waitangi Day is no stranger to protests and once again this has happened.  We certainly believe in “freedom of speech”, but name calling,  insults, and jostling of invited guests by a few radicals at the ceremony on our National Day happens time and again. The lower marae has been the centre of political discord in the past, most notably in 2004 when former National Party leader Don Brash had mud thrown at him and former Prime Minister Helen Clark was jostled and shouted at by the crowd as she walked on.  Helen Clark avoided the marae ever since and instead attended festivities in the Waitangi grounds over the bridge after this shameful behaviour.  Prime Minister John Key appeared unperturbed by the protesters, but this sort of behaviour by a few loud mouthed people is upsetting to the majority of New Zealanders on our special day.

Here in Romany Rambler land we are much more civilised.  Robin likes to fly the flag when we are home.

Flying the flag at home

Our Leisureline caravan is proudly made in New Zealand and the manufacturers added a picture of our flag on the rear wall.

NZ flag sticker on the back of our caravan

And just so there is no doubt that we are Kiwis, and proud of it, we have two kiwis on display in the caravan, standing on guard duty above the door in the caravan. 

Kiwis in the caravan

New Zealand is often called “Godzone”, abbreviated from “God’s Own Country”, and is a phrase that has been used for more than 120 years by Kiwis to describe their homeland.  The  phrase was often used and popularised by New Zealand's longest serving prime minister, Richard John Seddon.  He last quoted it on June 10, 1906 when he sent a telegram to Thomas Bent, the Victorian Premier, the day before leaving  Sydney to return home to New Zealand. "Just leaving for God's own country," he wrote. Sadly, he never made it, dying the next day on the ship Oswestry. 

Happy Waitangi Day to New Zealanders everywhere.  As an active  sports fan, Robin is especially pleased to be a Kiwi today as the New Zealand Sevens Team won the Wellington leg of the HSBC world series championship of the Rugby Sevens Competition.