Beats the Trail
“The Queen Charlotte Track is to the Appalachian Trail what the Ritz-Carlton is to a homeless shelter,” writes Angus Phillips for The Washington Post. Polar opposites. Phillips and a friend wanted to see the…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
I Heart NZ
Three senior writers from The New Yorker have been posting rave reviews about New Zealand in blogs on the magazine’s website. Chief political commentator Hendrik Hertzberg, along with colleagues Judith Thurman, Rhonda Sherman, and…
At Nature’s mercy
“If the volcano erupts, don’t try to outrun the lava,” a guide casually instructs Toronto Star freelancer Teresa Pitman who is on a tour of White Island. “Your best bet is to find something…
What a German Thinks
A new book on New Zealand by German journalist Ingo Petz Kiwi Paradise takes the author to Palmerston North and the Caitlins, tells the story of a game of ping-pong with poet Sam…
Don’t Look Down
The seven kilometre route to Treble Cone can be unnerving for American travellers accustomed to ample four-lane roads leading to their favourite resort. The gravel road winding up from Wanaka to the ski-field has…
Contemporary Christchurch
New Zealand’s oldest city Christchurch is more than punting on the Avon and Octagon wizardry, and boasts plenty to do for the intrepid, including tram, Segway and Antarctica tours, a visit to Fred and…
Leap of faith
Paragliding in Queenstown is, for Victoria Advocate reporter Aprill Brandon, “like jumping out of a plane with only a fourth of your parachute … and in New Zealand where there are no such silly…
Gold ‘Neath the Swingbridge
The Buller River, New Zealand’s longest river at 170km, is proving popular with gold panners from around the globe. “Before you get to the area where gold flakes are found you have to cross…
Bumper season nears
Queenstown is looking at its best ever season this year with record online bookings, cheap airfares and a weak New Zealand dollar promising a booming 2009. NZSki Ltd CEO James Coddington suggested that “the…
Beautiful or Else
“In New Zealand some things are taken very seriously and some are not. Sport is serious. Politics is not. Lifestyle is serious; religion less so,” explains Joanna Norris for Abu Dhabi’s English-language newspaper The…
Home on the Pa
Leading member of the Nga Puhi iwi Hone Mihaka is an oral historian guiding tourists about the land of his ancestors and the Ruapekapeka pa, 14km south east of Kawakawa and one of the…
Hokitika’s Wild Side
The population quadrupled this autumn in Hokitika, as food enthusiasts from around the world flocked to get a taste of the 20th Wildfoods Festival, serving up a host of obscure, adventurous, and downright daring…
Flattery Gets you Places
“Undoubtedly when God created the world He made two Edens. New Zealand is the second one,” writes Betty McCoy for Alabama newspaper The Gadsden Times, describing the country as “a pristine landscape drenched…
Next Stop: South Island
The Pangaea Expedition is making a welcome visit to the fjords of the South Island, heading straight over from a brief stop in South Africa. Eight New Zealand explorers will meet the crew of…
Tours in Make Believe
“When Florida native Michele Maro became captivated by The Lord of the Rings movies, she never imagined she would one day be walking around in the Shire, touring Hobbiton and peeking into hobbit holes,”…
On the Cheap
Rotorua hotpool Kerosene Creek, Rangitoto Island, Waitomo Caves, the Tongariro Crossing and Te Papa are the “five best freebies” on offer for tourists “with strained budgets” writes journalist Xavier La Canna who has lived…
Sirens Call from Russell
Luxury 70-acre retreat Eagles Nest, located on the Tapeka tip of the Russell peninsula, is one of Paradizo’s “emerging hotspots”, which writes that “the team behind Eagles Nest works around the clock making sure…
Tramp of all Tramps
New Zealand boasts more “swoon-worthy tramps per square mile than anywhere else in the world,” according to Backpacker magazine, and the notorious Milford Track is at the top of the list. “From Glade House…
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 Paterson for The Seoul Times…
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 14. Ski area manager Dave…
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 “covered in fresh, untracked powder”,…
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 “turning a nine-second freefall into…
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 Berry, on the NSW South…
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 of Scotland, only warmer. French…
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 Francisco an engaging characteristic: it’s…
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 surreal tranquility and furious geothermal…
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 pine for,” with twenty three…
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 gift from Hundertwasser, who was…
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 voluptuous hills cloaked in emerald…
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 writer Chang-rae Lee, who spent…
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 average mountain biker and you’ll…
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: “The picture was taken in…
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 and brazen New Zealand parrot,…
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 perfect days — and without…
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, The Wine Trail and The…
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 Retreat and Spa, in the…
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 the autumn edition of Century…
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 rated. “This is the list…
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 into infinity, and time, a…
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 Peak. The home’s family wing…
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 operated Wildlife Safaris since 1978…
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 as heavy gardening in the…
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 damp three days. Delivered by…
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 Zealand economy. On November 12,…
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 the overall winner of 2008…
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 at £105,750, low fuel, food…
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 fine cuisine, according to The…
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 Auckland to Te Anau. “This…
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” but for who the “appeal…
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 the visitor “perpetually awestruck.” Queenstown…
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 wild, rocky shoreline and precipitous…
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 the last 27 years has…
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 Sports and Hearty Sun-Bronzed Young…
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 Track. “Fresh air, exercise and…
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 viaduct, 73m above the river,…
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 of Harper’s ‘Longtime Favourite Hideaways…
