Harbour-side Haven

Hokianga is “the perfect place to build a prototype of a new type of community to model a more visionary idea of how the world can be” writes Kimberley…

Where There is Snow

Mt Hutt has acquired three state-of-the-art snow-making snow groomers and new snowmaking compressors to help produce more snow and improve trails for the 2009 season, scheduled to open June…

High on the Piste

Jane Peak is on a remote station in the Southern Alps accessible only by helicopter and “just begging for a beating” in the ski season when the slopes are…

Wing on a Current

Queenstown BASE jumper and cameraman Chuck Berry, famed for the longest unassisted ‘wingsuit’ flight, has leapt off the top of Terror Peak in Milford Stand once again with wings…

Victorian Mod-Cons

Greytown in the Wairarapa – population 2001 and New Zealand’s first planned town – is definitely worth a visit writes the WA Today’s Kate Duthie, a town not unlike…

French’s Heaven

It was love at first sight for comedienne Dawn French when she landed on New Zealand’s North Island, falling for a “peaceful, unspoilt and friendly” country that reminded her…

Built to Sway

21 February 2009 – “Wellington, full of steep and newly formed hills held together by grass, gorse bushes and stunted ngaio trees … shares with its better-known counterpart San…

The Greatest Crater

Lake Taupo, is “arguably the most famous crater lake on the planet”. Formed by a volcanic eruption 27,000 years ago, Taupo offers up the strange bedfellows of an almost…

Anchors Aweigh

The new Marsden Cove Marina is a luxurious full service port of entry, and a welcome addition to New Zealand’s  Whangarei Harbour. “The area is a cruising ground to…

Privy to Beauty

The Northland town of Kawakawa is home to the remarkable public toilet created by Viennese-born artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who is profiled in the Jakarta Globe. The work is a…

A Paddler’s Paradise

Abel Tasman Park on the northern coast of the South Island is a veritable kayaking nirvana, offering up pristine coastlines of granite headlands, tiny coves of golden sand, and…

Pursuits of Happiness

“Beyond the wild, raw landscapes, another New Zealand beckons: one of sophisticated restaurants, silvery olive groves, and the most lush, grape-heavy vineyards this side of Bordeaux” writes Condé Nast…

Southern Adventures

Queenstown is a land made for thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies, with canyon swings, bungee jumping from bridges, G-force acrobatic flights, and paragliding, just for starters. Say you’re an…

Above the Mountains

New Zealand’s Maori namesake, Aotearoa, is captured at sunset in digital by photographer Chris Picking in the form of a lenticular cloud swirling above the Tararua Ranges. Picking said:…

Region of the Perpendicular

The Milford Track – “what Americans call a trail” – is free of mammals and snakes, explains New York Times writer Robert Hershey, but watch out for the “large…

World’s Best Walk

The Tongariro Northern Circuit and Heaphy Track are two of the world’s best unknown treks, an 82-mile “one-two punch that delivers the full range of Kiwi highlights in nine…

Around New Zealand in 30 Days

Sherman’s Travel offers up a primer on New Zealand’s “stunning landscapes … fantastic wine scene, unbelievable lodges, and happening cities,” charting a course through the premier attractions of Auckland,…

Helli Vacation

Jean-Michel Jefferson heads Ahipara Luxury Travel, offering personalised helicopter tours of New Zealand, custom-fitted to a ‘”clients’ interests, tastes, and aspirations.” The tours typically start at the Cavalli Island…

Divine Dwellings

Nelson’s Lodge at Paratiho Farms is on the market for $14,500,000 and features alongside a $16,000,000 Coromandel property, both properties included as part of a New Zealand promotion in…

Lodge One of the Top

Five New Zealand hotels and resorts have been included in Travel and Leisure’s list of 500 World’s Best Hotels for 2009 with Rotorua’s Treetops Lodge and Estate the highest…

Dipping into the Serene

The Whanganui River Great Walk features in the December issue of online magazine InTheFray, which writer Aaron Richner describes as a “river is so peaceful that can stretch…

For Sale in Central Otago

Queenstown’s 3,000-acre Closeburn Station features in The New York Times international property listings this week. “This six-bedroom three-bath contemporary home has a master suite with views of Cecil…

Top Spot for Tahrs

New Zealand is one of the world’s top hunting destinations according to Men’s Vogue, with New Zealand Wildlife Safaris the magazine’s featured tour company. Terry and Glad Pierson have…

With Loppers at the Ready

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand is joined by British gap-year blogger Ruth Holliday who writes about her time spent with the group in the Telegraph, “doing what is best described…

Walking the Wet

Fiordland’s Hollyford Track “lacks the traffic of Milford Sound” according to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Jenny Tabakoff who tramps the Valley in a guided tour on a particularly…

Celebrating Two Decades

For over 20 years, since A.J Hackett and Henry Van Asch’s first tandem leap of faith in 1988, bungee jumping has poured more than $1 billion into the New…

One Visitor at a Time

New Zealand has been judged to have the most responsible tourism practises on the planet at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards in London. The judges declared New Zealand…

Home with Benefits

New Zealand is the favoured country for British expatriates to live because of its low property prices, mild weather and favourable tax rates. Having the lowest average property price…

Lakeside Hedonism

Blanket Bay luxury lodge on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is the starting point for any adventure a guest can imagine, but it is also home to some very…

The Wild Edge

New Zealand’s dramatic scenery is the backdrop for an 11-day “fall” fashion shoot in the latest issue of National Geographic Adventure, which takes the writer/photographer and his models from…

With Comforts, Without Pack

Opened in 1992, the 71km Queen Charlotte Track is located between Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sound, and Los Angles Times’s reporter Amanda Jones ó who considers herself “an outdoorswoman”…

Relaxed in the South

There is more to Queenstown that diving off bridges and screaming down slopes on snowboards. There is, according to the Irish Independent’s Mary O’Sullivan, a “super holiday destination” leaving…

Through Cloud and Snow

From Wellington Railway Station – “a symphony of towering columns, vaulted ceilings and marble terrazzo floors” – travelling by train north up the west coast “the track squeezes between…

Holiday on Kauri Coast

On the Coromandel Peninsula Metro UK reporter Kieran Meeke catches the Driving Creek Railway, a narrow-gauge railway line set up by local potter and conservationist Barry Brickell, who over…

Big Red Excitement

Queenstown’s Shotover Jet is described by Washington Post reporter Barbara Bradlyn Morris, as one of a number of thrilling tourism activities available for kicks in the “Home of Extreme…

Tramping Pick N’ Mix

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has designated nine tramping tracks as “Great Walks”, which include the Tongariro Northern Circuit, the Kepler Track and the ever popular Abel Tasman Coast…

Over the Alps

On the TranzAlpine, India’s Economic Times reporter’s travel from Canterbury, taking in mesmerising views of the Waimakiriri, through the Otira tunnel and on to Punakaiki and Greymouth. “The highest…

Dream with Opera

Auckland five-star boutique hotel Mollies– owned by opera fanatics Frances Wilson and Stephen Fitzgerald– has received a coveted ‘Hideaways of The Year Award’ and is one…

Oriental’s Ohtel

Wellington’s latest accommodation option, the 10-room boutique Ohtel, is ‘Hotel of the Week’ in The Independent on Sunday. Situated on Oriental Parade, a wooden Victorian house was removed to…

Capital Connections

Wellington’s green belt, its educated populace and diverse economy is comparable to an extent with Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in that both are ideal illustrations of “younger new-world” cities. “Wellington…

Beauty in Cold

Winter in New Zealand is captured in seascape images by Independent photographer Hannah Bills, who travelled through Wellington and then south, taking shots in and around Christchurch, “the Oxford…

The American Dream

New Zealand is an enticing destination for American property developers and investors because the populace speaks English, there are minimal restrictions on ownership and land is still relatively cheap….

Sheep Farm Vogue

The Farm at Cape Kidnappers has made the third annual 2008 Travel + Leisure ‘It List’, one of 30 best new hotels in the world featuring alongside “Europe’s most…

Trend-setting in the Capital

Wellington, according to travel newspaper South African, “manages the fine balancing act of city slicker affluence and small town charm deftly.” “The undisputed cultural centrepiece of New Zealand packs…

Legacy Well Spent

In a helicopter from Queenstown and beyond, over Lake Whakatipu and the Remarkables and then down through Milford Sound, The Mail’s John Stapleton is spending his son’s inheritance on…

Worth the Air Miles

New Zealand could be the most “luxurious destination of all” according to Canadian newspaper The Vancouver Sun in an article which promotes Rotorua’s Treetops Lodge and Estate, Waiheke Island…

NZ’s Hottest Beaches

New Zealand’s four most “sizzling” beaches feature in a Forbes Traveler’s ‘Sexy Beaches Downunder’ slide show. These are: Piha, Hot Water Beach, Onetangi Bay, and Abel Tasman National Park,…

Competing with Green

New Zealand has a reputation for its responsible ecotourism practices; it is a country committed to connecting conservation, communities and sustainable travel, as ecotourism defines. But…

Tour of Auckland

The Flight of the Conchord’s manager Murray Hewitt, Aucklander Rhys Darby, introduces the Guardian‘s Sarah Bourn to New Zealand’s largest city and his favourite place, One Tree Hill. “I…

Twain’s Tramping Track

Motatapu Track, which cuts across a Central Otago high country property owned by Canadian country singer Shania Twain, has officially opened. The 28km track is part of Te Araroa/The…

Peak Inspiration

In preparation for a race to the South Pole, adventurer Ben Fogle hits the South Island for some thrill-seeking training. “The country that staged the world’s first commercial bungee…

Windy Farewell

Paddy Gillooly owns a tourism company in New Zealand which takes visitors by jeep or all-terrain bus to the tip of the South Island’s Farewell Spit, one of…

Abel Tasman Charms

Sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park is “just gorgeous”, “picture perfect” and definitely not short on assets”, writes travel editor Jeanti St Clair about her three-day paddle…

West Coast Purity

Sydney Morning Herald writer Anthony Dennis travels to the South Island’s West Coast and marvels the glow-worms  beneath a “pristine sky … so starry it looks as if…

Indian Love Affair

More Indian tourists than ever are coming to New Zealand for the expansive scenery, favourable weather conditions and a bit of romance. In 2006-20007, as many as 20,946 Indians…

Written on the Edge

Duncan Fallowell’s latest travel book Going As far As I Can about a trip to New Zealand, is a candid account of three months spent in the country…