5 Lazy Ways to See New Zealand’s Natural Beauty
“In addition to the heart-pounding adventure sports that make New Zealand world-famous, the island nation is chock full of less strenuous activities that are just as worthwhile as their adrenaline-pumping alternatives,” writes A. Van Houten for Paste Magazine.
- Get Ferried Across the Cook Strait
While the Cook Strait ferry between New Zealand’s North and South Island offers plenty of food and entertainment, “the view of the rugged coastline outside is the real highlight,” writes Van Houten.
- Watch the Penguin Waddles on Otago Peninsula
At the Royal Albatross Centre on Otago Peninsula, “located just outside the city of Dunedin on Taiaroa Head, human-made nesting boxes provide a safe place for the penguins to nest and to entice them within range of a purpose-built viewing platform.”
- Stargaze at Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve
The more than 2,700-square-mile Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is home to the world’s southernmost planetarium at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre and the Mount John Observatory. The area has the clearest night skies in New Zealand and is a great place to spot the aurora australis, or Southern Lights. - Heli-Tour Franz Josef Glacier
Take a Heli tour and get “bird’s eye tours of the 7.5-mile-long slab of cerulean ice” as well as the opportunity to “disembark onto the snowfield on top of the glacier”. - Cruise the Milford Sound
Milford Sound has been described as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. “The glacier-carved gorge is surrounded by craggy peaks that set off gushing waterfalls in every direction when it inevitably rains.” Take a cruise and take in the magical surroundings.
Article Source: Paste Magazine, A. Van Houten, September 12, 2016
Image Source: Wikipedia
