New Zealand Tourism for some years now have endeavoured to market their many attractions to Australians through television, newspapers and magazines. If anything, with the concern of Asian destinations in the early 2000's after the Bali bombing, Asian dug laws and imprisonments and the Thailand tsunami to name just three of the issues, New Zealand ran hard to fill the tourism gap. (au.christiantoday.com)
Across the Tasman, New Zealand has many features that galvanises Australians to visit. There is a rich history with New Zealand from issues of trade and people transfer for employment. Moreover New Zealand is tourism friendly and realise they need to compete in an international tourism market place.
And compete New Zealand does, well above their weight. They market their tourism with much finesse and in so doing illustrates to Australians, that a family can have a delightful holiday, particularly with their lower dollar.
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson illustrates this that in his own local region (Tweed Heads), the Presbyterian minister in 2011 took his family of five on a New Zealand South Island driving holiday on a budget. This is by no means an isolated situation as he himself visited with his family of young adults in 2008.
A Passionate People
New Zealand is also a passionate sports nation. The All Blacks have a history of being the most feared Rugby nation in the international sport. The men's hockey team won the 1976 Montreal Olympic Gold Medal beating Australia 1-0. Great Olympic athletes have come from New Zealand from runners to rowers such as the Evers-Swindell twin sisters winning Gold in both Athens and Beijing. Moreover their Netball Team, the Silver Ferns is second to none.
And who could forget Sir Edmund Hillary's feat of being the first man to climb Mount Everest in 1953. (au.christiantoday.com)
There is however a lot more to New Zealand than simply as a tourist destination and a nation of sportsmen and women and of great physical endurance. Look at how New Zealanders have been passionate in rebuilding Christchurch after those earthquakes.
Nuclear Stance
Their international politics stands tall, it's a gutsy little nation. David Lange the then Prime Minister in 1985 refused entry to New Zealand any ship carrying nuclear weapons. This particularly displeased the United States and even threatened the long standing ANZUS treaty between the United States, Australia and New Zealand (en.wikipedia.org)
But stand up New Zealand did, and his stance took him across the world as a guest speaker to universities and major political functions as a hero against the massive nuclear weapon build up as the years of the Cold War drew to a close with the implosion of the Soviet Union.
Lange was involved in television public debates on the nuclear issue to rave reviews and huge international audiences. And never once did he flinch.
High Court of New Zealand
Now we see the New Zealand High Court once again stand tall against the might and influence of the United States legal system. The Sydney Morning Herald have recently revealed that the New Zealand High Court ruled that the armed police raid on piracy accused Kim Dotcom's Auckland mansion was illegal which became a major blow to US authorities trying to extradite him.
High Court justice Helen Winkelmann said it was unlawful for copies of Dotcom's computer files to be taken by US authorities and New Zealand police should return copies to 38-year-old Dotcom. Mr Ira Rothken Dotcom's US-based lawyer said the ruling supported the view that NZ police were acting at the FBI's beck and call and is a great embarrassment to US authorities.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/nzs-piracy-ruling-embarrasses-fbi-20120629-2184c.html
Once again we see how New Zealand at the highest level is willing to stand up and be counted as a sovereign nation and not be kowtowed to by anyone. It's a gutsy little nation. Now Press Service International in conjunction with Christian Today is inviting a group of New Zealand young writers to submit monthly Comment articles for publication.
Mark Tronson says that all this reminds him so much of the Old Testament prophets, the Apostles and followers of Jesus as detailed in the New Testament and down through the centuries. In spite of the odds, these followers of Jesus stood tall as kowtowing wasn't in their vocabulary.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html