Hi Poly, this is a really hard topic to tackle as I personally think few Pakeha New Zealanders would identify themselves as racist and would be offended with the implication. But you raise an important point, which is the stunning lack of acknowledgement and knowledge of the Maori history of our country. Maybe this is a question of ignorance- willful ignorance on the part of some, such in the case of willfully mispronouncing Maori placenames or being hostile towards things like Maori language week or the observance of Matariki. Then there is ignorance based on the fact that for my generation, very little of our pre-20th century NZ history was taught in school and there are some massive gaps in our collective knowledge of how NZ was founded and Maori history has not been honoured the way that it should have. For some people it is not a priority, for some it's an embarrassing oversight. I personally come from the south of the South Island, white than white down there, and I know very little. I am ashamed of that and am trying to fill the gaps in my knowledge. Hopefully now with the NZ history curriculum being revamped in schools, we can finally put this to right.

Yes the Black Odyssey is kinda like via ferrata - it is our dry and warm adventure!

No one will say it is warm! No illusions here - it is water in a cave after all!