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Discovery of New Zealand

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There were to be many explorers visit the local area and in 1642, Abel Janszoon Tasman from Holland sailed into the waters and apart from investigating the waters but the first encounter between the Maori and the Europeans was violent and did lead to bloodshed. At the time Tasman tried to communicate with the Maori population by coaxing them on board but this had its failures and as a result, Tasman left the shores without even leaving his boat. It was to be over 100 years later that British born explorer James Cook arrived in the area in 1769 and unlike Tasman, he managed to make it ashore and establish an understanding between the Maori’s and the European’s.

In the area today you will find that the north and southern islands are divided by what is known as the Cook Strait. A simple yet vast iron bridge has been placed between the two islands and therefore you can have easy access to both of the islands.

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