KAKAPO PARROTS - Waitangi Day

Here's the New Zealand Herald with an article on New Zealand's Waitangi Day celebrations.

The big South Island tribe Ngai Tahu will celebrate Waitangi Day at the country's southernmost runanga, in Awarua, Bluff.

Festivities will feature dignitaries including Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres and Health Minister Pete Hodgson, but they are likely to be upstaged by two rare and shy natives - a one-year-old kakapo chick named Kumi and a 13-year-old takahe called Robin.

Ngai Tahu spokesman Phil Tumaturoa said the birds' visit signified a 'celebration of culture and heritage and the good relationship shared by Ngai Tahu and the Department of Conservation as a representative of the Crown'.