Australia and New Zealand are often spoken of in the same breath - both were colonies of Britain in its imperial heyday, and both share a remote location at the farthest reaches of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Yet they are a study of contrasts, divided by almost 1000 miles of sea and 80 million years of seperate geological development. In Australia, an ancient people lived in spiritual and physical harmony with their surroundings, while New Zealand became the domain of Polnesian warriors. Then came a race of pale men in tall ships, and the old ways of life ended for ever.