What is Waitangi Day?
Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs signed what is often considered to be New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.
I find it so interesting that New Zealand celebrates its National Day when the British came into the country rather than when they left, like the US and Independence Day. Regardless, this is a lovely country with lovely people - even if they do have an unusually high affinity for the Brits.
Our Celebration
Since I had the day off, I started off the morning with a nice little chat with my mom on Skype. Since it was her birthday in New Zealand, I got to wish her a happy birthday over video chat. Love you mom! Then it was off to the beach!
Amazingly, it was a sunny, warm day so we went to the beach for the first time this summer. The best part of the day was when we forced Ike to swim in the ocean. When I picked him up to cuddle him, he just kept paddling away in my arms for several minutes. We love that little guy. The worst part of the day was later than night when we realized how sunburnt we both got. We forgot to take sunscreen because we really haven't needed it with the lackluster summer we've had. We were sure sorry the next couple days!
Brian took a little video of the beach on the ipad and we took a couple of pictures. Enjoy!
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| A boy and his dog |
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| All set to enjoy the sun! |
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| Look at that clear, blue sky. Also, have you ever seen dark brown sand? |
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