Archives for October 2021

COSMOPOLITAN AUCKLAND

While writing my series of 7 book on New Zealand, I undertook a great deal of research which revealed interesting stuff about the country I was previously unaware of. Although some of this information didn’t end up in my books, it did give me the idea to start writing blogs on all things pertaining to New Zealand. Here is a really interesting fact: The Maori name ‘Aotearoa’ is supposed to mean ‘New Zealand’. In fact, it only refers to the North Island. The South Island’s Maori name is ‘Aotearoa-me-Te-Waipounamu’. Therefore, the media etc all have it wrong when they use ‘Aotearoa’ as the Maori name for New Zealand. It is actually an insult to South Islanders as they are effectively disregarded when this word is used interchangeably. read more