Greeting from New Zealand

Here comes the letter I promised you to send while I’m in New Zealand. I think it’s a very interesting land, with so many facilities. I cannot tell you about it all, but I’ll do my best.

We went out for sightseeing the first day, and saw a lot of the beautiful landscape they’ve got.The first city we went too is called Wellington and it’s the capital of New Zealand. Our guide was pretty much into birds, so he told us a lot of the old stories about their special birds. For many years ago they had a bird called ‘’the moa bird.’’ The moa bird was a huge bird, it looked like a dinosaur. Not quite the same, but almost. It extinct many years ago, and the reason why, is that the species of people whose called ‘’the Maoris’’ ate them. Only because the bird was so huge that they would have enough food for months, if the killed it. I had a little talk with some of the Maoris, a quite interesting talk. They told me that some people from other countries call them ‘’the Kiwis’’ and it comes from New Zealand’s most famous bird the Kiwi. The bird cannot fly, because it has been eating too much and it makes the weight gain and make them so fat that it gets impossible for them to fly. They taught me their way of greeting each other. The call it ‘’Hongi’’ I normally just give a hug, but they touch each other’s nose. I thought it was funny. One of the Maoris asked us if we wanted to join a special ceremony they were holding. It is a celebration/gathering for their ancestors. The Maoris believe that the dead people are their ancestor. And they have a special funeral for the important people called ‘’a Tangihanga.’’ The Maori people have a special place where they meet sometimes it’s a center called ‘’Marae.’’ On the outside of the building they have engraved figures of the ancestors. They are very proud of the Marae and respect the place. They are in silence together and spend the time on thinking about their ancestors. Enough about the Maori people!!At last I want to tell you about my greatest experience in New Zealand. We tried many kinds of sport. For example bungee jumping and water skiing. I loved it, it was so hilarious. My parents loved it too, but their greatest experience was the sightseeing.