Waitangi - An Aerial View

Waitangi, Northland. Image Courtesy Waitangi National Trust
This is the very beautiful Waitangi National Trust Estate as viewed from the air. I visited here again on my recent trip around New Zealand and I was lucky enough to do two of the Trust’s guided tours, with Waitangi’s senior guide, Wil Napier (Ngapuhi), who was born and raised on the Waitangi grounds. This is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed on February 6th, 1840, granting Maori the rights of British subjects. The flagpole is in the foreground on the spot known as Te Pitowhenua, or Birthplace of a Nation. The Treaty of Waitangi is one of only two treaties in the war signed in peacetime not war. The other is the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959. www.waitangi.net.nz