New Zealand is the world’s best kept secret; it contains six of the seven climatic regions on the planet, boasts a series of unparalleled golden-sand beaches, protected marine parks to explore from on or beneath the surface, safe-but-active volcanic areas, pristine snow-capped Alps to ski and climb, prehistoric forests and unique flora and fauna. It does all this in one easily accessible package without thousands of miles to travel between each destination and it has an enviable reputation as one of the safest destinations in the world, lacking poisonous animals and boasting a low crime rate.
It is a country where the only stress is that taken on willfully by the adventure-minded tourist (in the form of bungy jumping, parachuting, white-water rafting etc). You can walk for miles in New Zealand without seeing another soul, accompanied by rustling trees, running water and unusual bird song but perhaps the country’s greatest asset is its warm, friendly and hospitable population.
For informed and accurate tourist information, on all of the country’s highlights, travelers should contact one of the local
VICs (Visitor Information Centers) situated all over New Zealand.
North IslandAucklandAuckland is the country’s largest urban and suburban area with a population of over 1.5 million. Even so, it is surrounded by varied and exquisite scenery with attractive harbors and beaches to the east and the rugged Waitakere Ranges, the thundering, undeveloped surf beaches and burgeoning vineyards to the west. Known as the ‘City of Sails’, with more boats per capita than any other city in the world, these days Auckland’s reputation as a sailor’s Mecca is cemented by repeated successful defenses of the
America’s Cup. The city offers excellent shopping, galleries and museums; it has a university and provides a multicultural environment characterized by a blend of European, Asian and Polynesian cultures, particularly on the busy and atmospheric Karangahape Road. There is also the distinctive Sky Tower, a casino with a glorious circular, glass viewing gallery at its bulbous summit. The views of the city, its beaches and the mountains, the coast and sea beyond are stunning. It is also possible for the particularly brave tourist to abseil down the side of the building to the street, a drop of over 100m (328ft).
An exploration of at least one of the stunning golden-sand islands of the Hauraki Gulf, accessible by ferries from Waitamata Harbour and also visible from the Sky Tower, is highly recommended. Most of the city center is walkable but the outlying suburbs of Devonport, Herne Bay, Parnell and Ponsonby (with their attractive eateries and well-reputed fashion industry) are brought within easy reach by a reliable public bus network and taxi system.
NorthlandThe narrow, predominantly Maori stronghold of Northland, the ‘Winterless North’ pushes out 350km (217 miles) from Auckland and separates the Pacific Ocean from the Tasman Sea. It provides the sub-tropical element in the New Zealand equation and is famed for its palms, citrus fruit, avocados, bananas and myriad gorgeous, sandy unspoiled beaches. It also gives tourists the opportunity to begin to understand Maori culture, art and history. On the east coast, the beaches exist between straggling peninsulas and headlands, offering calm bays that are safe for swimming. Perhaps the most famous area is the Bay of Islands, intricately sculpted and renowned for excellent diving, boating/sailing and game fishing. The west coast offers enormous dune-backed black-sand beaches that are lashed almost constantly by Tasman breakers, rip tides and biting winds (there is no safe swimming here). The views are fantastic and, just inland, the forests of the Northland Forest Park, contain some of the world’s oldest trees, including the famous
kauri, many of which date back centuries. Cape Karikari, overlooking Doubtless Bay was one of the locations for films such as
From Here to Eternity and
The Piano, and offers access to wide, rugged, moody beaches surrounded by steep hills and cliffs, while Cape Reinga overlooks the spectacular meeting of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea and the narrow extension of Ninety-mile Beach down the west coast back toward Auckland.
Pacific Coast HighwayA spectacular coastal road runs parallel with the intricate filigree of small inlets and beaches around the Coromandel Peninsula and the long sweeping bays of the east coast. The journey begins with the ferry from Auckland to Coromandel, where the road weaves along the side of the peninsula’s tiny, sun-trap inlets before opening out on the long run down from Hot Water Beach towards Tauranga. The warm water bubbles from beneath the sands overlooking the surf providing a perfect spot from which to watch the tide come in at sunset from your own personally dug hot pool.
The volcanic hills of the Coromandel Peninsula retain much of their original rainforest and the Coromandel Forest Park Reserve contains large numbers of giant kauri trees which are famous for their tall straight trunks.
A popular holiday destination in the Bay of Plenty is Tauranga, with all the amenities of a major tourist city including all levels of accommodation and some wonderful restaurants. The climate here is essentially benign and the sandy beaches attract many visitors while inland there is an abundance of orchards, particularly citrus and kiwi fruit. In Poverty Bay lies the city of Gisborne, which sits adjacent to Hawke’s Bay, a wine growing region of international renown. Around 70 wineries (ranging from large commercial estates to small boutiques) are open for free wine tasting. This area is best known for its red wines, particularly
Pinot Noir. The reason for the wonderful wine is the high annual sunshine hours which benefit the grapes and visiting tourists to both Hastings and Napier. Napier was razed by an earthquake in 1931 and subsequently rebuilt in the
art deco style of the time. Today it boasts one of the world’s finest collections of lovingly preserved
art deco buildings.
Inland, between Hawke’s Bay and the Bay of Plenty, is the UNESCO-listed Te Urewera National Park, the largest native forest on the North Island and home of the lovely Lake Waikaremoana, 585m (1919ft) above sea level, with its strenuous but rewarding (three to four day) circular trail.
Central North IslandThe center of the North Island is dominated by the geothermal city of Rotorua, the extraordinarily picturesque Lake Taupo and the UNESCO-listed Tongariro National Park. The park is a spectacular mountain area dominated by three peaks, Ngauruhoe, Tongariro and, the tallest, Mount Ruapehu 2797m (9177ft), still an active volcano, and a major ski resort. When Ruapehu erupted in 1996, many people took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ski the slopes of a live volcano. Lake Taupo presents the less adventurous with an opportunity to enjoy unrivalled brown-trout fishing and a serene expanse of water fed by glacial streams and rivers. Rotorua is a good base for exploring the geysers and the large thermal zone of the North Island. It is a lively city full of all the usual tourist prerequisites and has the distinctive sulphurous smell of the surrounding boiling-mud pools. Rotorua is also a major center for accessible Maori culture – there is an arts center where young Maori learn the skills of traditional bone, wood and greenstone carving. There is also the opportunity to visit a
Marae (a Maori meeting house usually forbidden to
pakeha, foreigners) and enjoy a concert of traditional songs, the
haka (a Maori challenge usually witnessed before All Black rugby matches) and a
hangi (a delicious feast cooked in an earth oven).
The Western North IslandAnother area dominated by Maori culture and history which along with Northland provides the best opportunity to pick up authentic souvenirs. This is an atmospheric area with black-sand beaches, rich farm land, natural kaarst limestone architecture, national parks and a spectacular extinct volcano, Taranaki. Perhaps one of the most magical areas is the famous water-sculptured limestone caves of Waitamo with their glow-worm grottoes. The caves can be explored by punt or by donning a wet-suit and heading underground with an inflated car tyre. This unique New Zealand activity is called ‘cave rafting’ and provides an opportunity to float through the caverns staring at unusual rock formations and ceilings packed with glow worms, that resemble a star-strewn night sky.
Wanganui, on the west coast of the North Island, lies near the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand’s longest navigable waterway. Visitors can travel upriver by jetboat or paddle steamer and downriver by kayak or canoe. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Whanganui National Park is a green vision of unspoiled native bush where there remains the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, a relic of the failed attempt at settlement in the glorious wilderness.
The Egmont National Park is also a UNESCO-listed World Heritage area, and provides an excellent though strenuous opportunity, even for the less adventurous, to climb a mountain (
Taranaki) in a little over eight hours (return). Mount Taranaki, at the center of the national park, is an extinct volcano standing majestically amidst flat areas of lush green dairy farmland. The city of New Plymouth (population 50,000) is well known for its parks and gardens and, in particular, its colorful display of rhododendrons and azaleas in the spring.
WellingtonIn the south of the North Island, Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, occupies the flat area surrounding the harbor basin and climbs the surrounding steep hillsides overlooking the water. This makes it a compact metropolis with a thriving and lively heart. The city is a center of culture, arts, restaurants, theater, fashion and nightlife. Shopping facilities are excellent and hotels offer splendid views of the bay. Every two years, Wellington hosts the
New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, the country’s main cultural event including street theater, comedy, music and film festivals, all going under the same umbrella. The spectacular Te Papa Museum of New Zealand, on the city’s pretty waterfront, combines cultural and historical exhibitions with education, entertainment and leisure activities, including a virtual bungy jump. Wellington is also the departure point for ferries across Cook Strait to the South Island.
ExcursionsPopular destinations for excursions from Wellington include the Wairarapa wine region, Cape Palliser (whose wild coastline provides a habitat for a large colony of seals) and Kapiti Island, home to a bird sanctuary free of introduced predators where
weka, bellbird and
tui, to name but a few, show little or no fear and provide photo opportunities of fantastic quality.
South IslandMarlborough SoundsTo the north of the South Island, the sheltered waterways of the lush and green region known as Marlborough Sounds attract numerous boating, kayaking, sailing and fishing enthusiasts. The Marlborough province is well known for its wine and food, with world-class, new-world wineries such as Cloudy Bay, Le Brun, Fromm, Highfield, Hunters and Montana to name but a few. The best wines from this area tend to be white, sharp
Chardonnay and crisp
Sauvignon Blanc. Nearby, Nelson is a sunny and busy small city on the coast, where visitors will find pretty gardens, spectacular beaches and a growing arts community. Besides being an interesting place for art and culture lovers, the city is a good starting point for excursions to the three national parks in the vicinity. The UNESCO-listed Abel Tasman National Park has a rocky coastline, long golden, crescent-shaped beaches, crystal clear water, a seal colony, an abundance of bird life and a fine coastal track – the Abel Tasman Track (three to four days). Nelson Lakes National Park, also on the UNESCO World Heritage list, offers skiing and snowboarding during winter and fishing or sub-alpine walking tracks during the summer. The Kahurangi National Park, another UNESCO World Heritage area, has a selection of walking tracks that offer an extraordinary range of scenery from mountains and karst tablelands to dramatic black-sand beaches on the west coast. The most famous of these is the tough Heaphy Track (four days). The Kaikoura coast, further south, is a world-famous conservation area, sitting opposite a deep water trench full of marine life, and is renowned for boat rides at close quarters with various species of whale and the chance to swim with dolphins.
ChristchurchTo the south, on the edge of the flat patchwork quilt of the Canterbury Plains, lies the ‘Garden City’ of Christchurch, the South Island’s largest community. The tree-lined River Avon meanders through the center of the city, which with its public school, old university buildings (now a fantastic arts center) and examples of Neo-Gothic architecture is reminiscent of an old English university town. The central square of the city is occupied by a cathedral which provides a useful landmark for tourists either on foot or using the charming historic trams. About 500m (1640ft) from the square is the vast expanse of Hagley Park, on the borders of which are the Old Canterbury University/Arts Center, the Canterbury Museum, the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, the botanical gardens and Christ’s College. Just a short walk along the river is St Michael and All Angels Church; an unusually beautiful wooden Neo-Gothic building combining French and English styles and containing a mixture of Maori and Catholic elements. For excursions from Christchurch, the nearby Banks Peninsula provides a hilly alternative to the flat city, with a cable car, beaches, boat trips, pods of Hector’s dolphins (unique to New Zealand) and a number of accessible walking tracks. Another alternative is to take a hot air balloon ride and from that vantage point look west across the broad flat plains to the Southern Alps, north to the Kaikoura Ranges and Cook Strait and south down the east coast as far as the historic white-stone city of Oamaru.
Southern AlpsFrom Christchurch, a single rail line and road lead to the Southern Alps, up over Arthur’s Pass and down the other side to the wild west coast. This is the route of a breathtaking rail journey which can be completed, there and back, in one day on the Tranz Alpine Express. The tiny village of Arthur’s Pass is a good starting point for climbing, canyoning and trekking trips to the UNESCO-listed Arthur’s Pass National Park nearby. The Alps themselves, which can be accessed by five main roads from the east coast, are the spine of the South Island pushed up by plate movement in the earth’s crust. They are larger than the similarly named mountain range in Europe and the spectacular scenery of snowy peaks and glaciers contains unique flora and fauna. The area is dominated by the mighty sagging-tent peak of Mount Cook (3754m/12,313ft), also known by the Maori name Aoraki (cloud piercer). Mount Cook National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage area and contains more than 20 peaks over 3000m (9840ft). Sliding down from one side of Mount Cook is the spectacular Tasman Glacier, one of the longest outside the Himalayas. All types of skiing and snowboarding are available along the Alps with many uncrowded ski fields, including heli-skiing, while around Mount Cook there are a number of stunning lone and guided walking and climbing trips of one to five days.
West CoastAt the foot of the Southern Alps’ western slopes, the thin strip that is the West Coast is one of New Zealand’s wildest untouched natural areas. The coast gets about 4m (13ft) of rain a year, and is a sparsely populated region with a dramatic mountain and native forest landscape, with pristine bush-fringed lakes, which provides a home to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. It is possible to take guided ‘ice walks’ on the glaciers or enjoy the myriad wilderness walking tracks that snake in and out of the forests, round the river valleys and gorges, and into the foothills of the Alps. It is also worth visiting the small communities of Greymouth and Hokitika where you can purchase carved greenstone, called
pounamu by the Maori, who use it for decoration and to make weapons. This beautiful, green, hard nephrite jade carved in a traditional shape (each shape carries its own meaning and story) provides the perfect souvenir of a trip to the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’.
FiordlandTo the southwest of the South Island is Fiordland, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Area, which offers a huge range of walking tracks in the wilderness consisting of numerous lakes, mountains, native forest and a pristine coast. Many scenes from the blockbuster film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings were filmed in different areas of Fiordland. Nestling beside Lake Wakatipu at the foot of the Remarkables Range, Queenstown is known as New Zealand’s ‘adventure capital’ where tourists can bungy, paraglide, parachute and jet boat (in narrow gorges) until weak at the knees. There are also several world-class walking tracks running out from Glenorchy just along the lake shore, including the Caples, Greenstone Tracks and Routeburn (all four to five days). Only 100km (60 miles) or so away is Te Anau, on the shores of the gorgeous Lake Manapouri, where many more walking trails (from one to six days) wind into the bush, over the saddles and around the fjords, mountains and forests including the famous Milford Walking Track (four to five days). From Te Anau traveling north, a beautiful scenic road leads to Milford Sound (wrongly named a sound when in fact it is a fjord). Tourist boats carry people out to the sea along the narrow, high-walled, glacially-scooped fjord where Fiordland crested penguins, seals and sometimes whales and dolphins take advantage of the abundance of fish due to the unusual conditions. In the fjord, a layer of freshwater, from the mountains, lays on top of the salt water from the ocean refracting light and creating a mini ecosystem teeming with marine life. For those interested in an even more deserted wilderness experience, there are kayak and boat trips into the adjoining Doubtful Sound.
SouthlandThe green and fertile province of Southland at the bottom of the South Island is home to the cities of Invercargill and Dunedin (which is Gaelic for Edinburgh), both of which have strong Scottish roots and retain a distinctive Celtic flavor. In Dunedin, this is perhaps best reflected by the city’s streets bearing the same names as those of Edinburgh, and the presence of Wilson’s Whisky Distillery (reputedly the world’s southernmost distillery) and the Emmerson’s and Speights breweries. Unlike Edinburgh, Dunedin also has the Otago Peninsula, a glorious natural thumb poking out into the Pacific, where it is possible to see rare yellow-eyed penguins (Maori name
hoihoi, meaning noise maker), enormous yet graceful royal albatross, and basking on the rocks around the peninsula – fur seals. Invercargill’s Sub-Antarctic Audio Visual and Gallery is a wonderful museum containing, among other interesting exhibits, a number of live tuatara, New Zealand’s very rare and prehistoric lizard, while nearby is Bluff, home of the famous ‘Bluff oysters’, a delicacy that should not be missed. Between Invercargill and Dunedin is the Catlins Forest Park, with its wild beaches, pods of Hector’s Dolphins and the only mainland colony of Hooker sea lions.
Stewart IslandAcross the Foveaux Strait, New Zealand’s third-largest island, Stewart Island, has few inhabitants and can be reached by plane (travel time – 20 minutes), helicopter, or boat ride aboard a motor catamaran from Bluff. The island has various attractions, including a rare chance to see the endangered
kiwi (New Zealand’s national symbol) in the wild. The birds feed in the evenings around Mason’s Beach, accessible by plane, or by water taxi to Patterson’s Inlet, followed by a delightful four-hour walk. Another draw card is Ulva Island, a predator-free, offshore expanse of bush and beautiful beaches where curious native birds come down to the foreshore to watch tourists clambering off the water taxi.
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