A view from New Zealand

Last week at the Clarion Library, an appreciative group learned about New Zealand through the eyes of Jan Libbey and Tim Landgraff, who went there with their son, Andrew, in November last year. November is the country’s early springtime, so it was cool and rainy.

Their flight to Sydney, where they met Andrew, who was working for Case New Holland there, from Los Angeles took 15 hours. It was just a hop over to Auckland, New Zealand. After touring the north island, they flew down to Christchurch and rented cars to get around. Christchurch is in the middle of the south island, on the east side, and a grand church there has been ruined by the earthquake of 2016. Queenstown is further south. They later flew back to Auckland from Queenstown.

Most of the economy and culture (food) of New Zealand is British. The Maori natives were given equal citizen rights, yet their culture was subordinated by British domination. Most towns have an English name and a Maori name. Tourism helps Maoris to have pride and work. Increased trade with Japan has led to some Japanese culture visible there.

The cultural series at the library continues with a sharing time with C-G-D's Norwegian exchange students Monday, March 13 at 7 p.m. Also, see the March 16 editon of the Monitor for Karl Schaper's story of his time growing up in Germany, when he was forced to participate in the Hitler Youth.