Back down past Auckland to the Waitamo Caves. Visitors have been guided through these caves for 125 years. The presentations at the two caves we visited indicated that one thing that the Maori and Europeans compete for is the right to charge tourists to view the country's natural resources.
One of the caves (the Glow worm cave) was guided by a Maori woman who talked about the caves being owned by her people for generations. The other cave (Ruakuri cave) was guided by a European woman who described how the descendant of the farmer who owned the land above the cave litigated his ownership of the cave from 1987 to 2003 after the government tried to sell the cave to private owners.
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