Auckland Attractions
“I fell madly in love with Sydney and I thought, ‘I don’t have to live in America!’ My wife was already in love with Melbourne. Then we visited Auckland and it became our compromise. It’s the…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Green Tours
Gardening is sexy and the green-groupies flock to Christchurch, New Zealand’s Garden City.
Smell of Success
Ben Powell, STA student travel writer of the year, visits New Zealand as his prize. He samples the delights of Rotorua: the small, the spectacle and the zorb.
Fusion Capital
The Independent takes a tour through the capital’s cultural collage: fusion cooking, Te Papa, cafes, Mansfield, transexual MPs, colonial history and Pacific awakenings, and finds in the cosmopolitan brew that “It is hard to know which flavour…
Wellington or Dunedin?
Is Wellington wonderful or should you skip the capital for the joys of the deep south?
Travel Happy
What’s good about Greymouth? It’s close to captivating glaciers and the bottle shop sells fill-you-own beer, sherry and port.
Queen of Tramps
Tramp through virgin forest then peruse the wine list in the spa before a gourmet dinner on the Queen Charlotte Walkway.
What the Hell is That Smell?
Touring Canadian Chris Atchison notes Rotorua’s characteristic odour, but finds “the sheer wonder of the natural show makes the stench a bit easier to tolerate”.
Southern Edge of Life
Get April’s GQ off the stand for Stewart Island savvy: “Stewart Island, on the Southern edge of life, where the foam is white, the hills are green and the necks are red, is a blast” and…
Take a Break
Lunch breaks are best – eating at your desk makes the office “sound like the boiling muds of New Zealand”.
Netjetters in New Zealand
Two of the Guardian’s globe-trotting “Netjetters” are lassoed by Aotearoa’s lures and both have trouble getting back on the plane. Sue jetboats in Queenstown, visits her first rodeo and is “very sorry to leave” and Milly finds…
Buzz of It’s Own
And, “Auckland has a buzz of its own, with enviable dance music, fashion and restaurant scenes and the largest Polynesian and Maori populations in the South Pacific.”
Hot Lodge!
Old-world charm is losing out to “far-flung destinations favoured by the elite such as game lodges in South Africa, Caribbean idylls, palatial hotels in India and New Zealand lodges.
Cisco of the South
Funky Wellington’s natural glories make the city “a superior urban roost with a view, a mini-San Francisco”.
Cup Buzz
The City of Sails is still high on the America’s Cup – and not showing any signs of slowing down before the next one.
Right on NZ
Come to New Zealand, one American’s all-huntin’, no (school) shootin’ right-wing paradise.
Rock Face
“New Zealand is one of the few places on earth where a novice can partake in the wild and woolly sport known as canyoning: an odd combination of hiking and rock climbing.”
Trek Milford
The Milford Track is one of the world’s top ten walks – up there with Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and Snow Lake, Pakistan.
Cold Daring
What better guide through the frozen continent that “a New Zealander who, in younger days, had driven motorcycles across the ice pack and sampled the 80-year-old cocoa from the stores left in the hut of the…
High Brag Value
New Zealand’s rise in popularity with Indian tourists has two sources: massive exposure as background in Bollywood films and exclusivity: New Zealand has “high brag value” once you’re back home.
Bored? Zorb!
“Over the years, Kiwis apparently have become bored counting sheep and have amused themselves by coming up with some extreme sporting activities. They pioneered bungee jumping and zorbing (literally rolling down a hill strapped inside a ball). Also,…
Travel Gets Edgy
Being on the edge means being “enroute to nowhere,” but good cocktails in hot bars, great views from hot baths, wine, alps, adrenaline and Auckland’s revolving restaurant “make this one you must go to sometime”. Also,
Everybody on Board
“Kiwi Experience, a hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus service that was created in New Zealand in 1998 proved such a successful concept that it became a blueprint for imitators around the world.”
Flying Feeling
Air New Zealand is highest-ranked Holiday Which? airline, beating out Britain’s “no-thrills” EasyJet.
Fleet of Foot
Ex-New Zealand detective Cheryl Fleet now runs international tours catering to women on journeys of adventure and renewal.
Living Well
Buzzy Auckland hits the big time, ranked 7th best-living city world-wide. Wellington also cruised high, beating London, Paris and New York at 23rd equal.
Travel Bug
Travel is at the top of the spending list for young UK professionals. Exotic New Zealand is among the choicest destinations on offer.
Capital Style
“Deregulation and the cosmopolitan tastes of a new generation of globe trotting Kiwis have transformed Wellington from a gray town for civil servants into a cultural haven with a thriving cafe scene, a budding movie industry, a…
Which Way do I Jump?
Queenstown – the capital of adventure, or, as this ambivalent adventurer puts it, “dumb stuff”.
Wild Scent
Three New Zealand men kayaking across Antarctica have been chased by a leopard seal, run into a humpback whale and they’re starting to smell like penguins.
Unforgettable
Skiing the South Island of New Zealand is an “unforgettable” experience – a “a must see for every true adventurer”.
Postcards from the Edge
“Dad,” revealed the postcard from New Zealand, “went paragliding”. All it takes is a break from routine.
Wharekauhau Station Seduces
“Included in the rectangular picture window vista is a real sea, Palliser Bay, below the cliffs where the sheep paddocks end, and edged by chalk palisades off to the left.”
Tops for Jumps
Guardian netjetter Sam “takes advantage of New Zealand’s position as tops for adrenaline holidays – he’s just done a bungy jump.”
Trans-oceanic Phone Tag
“After a morning spent hiking in New Zealand’s spectacular Rotorua region – a volcanic area of geysers, thermal pools and surreal landscapes – my tour guide, Jacqui, heard the chirping of her cell phone. Then, with…
Take Your Kit
Tourism New Zealand has a handy pack for travelling Kiwis, useful for defecting question about the number of sheep at home or the name of that atom-splitting guy…
First Wedding
Julie and Sean Humphrey “found out how beautiful New Zealand was and just decided to do something a little different” – traveling from Ohio to Christchurch for the first wedding of the (real) millennium.
Life in a Te Kuiti Villa…
Hints for a best-seller: New Zealand that “far-off place where property is cheap and the good life is to be had on a modest income,” would be ideal for Year in Provence-style escapism.
Unblemished
“We did not spot a single blemish in New Zealand, where it’s hard to tell where the pristine national parks end and the rest of the country begins….We discovered why New Zealand’s Milford Track, with its…
Bungy-free Zone
“They’re funny things, kiwis – like big hedgehogs with bird bits sticking out, and they snuffle around with their heads to the ground.” An anxious Brit birdwatches as an adrenaline-free alternative to “catapulting about the place”.
Professional Holiday
New Zealand is a top destination for young professionals seeking “cultural interest” and somewhere they’ve never been before.
Netjetters to NZ
New Zealand features on the itinerary for the winners of the Guardian‘s netjetters competition.
Turbulent Fiordland
“Fiordland has been twisted, buckled, and tilted. It has been buried beneath ocean sediments for millions of years, then thrust above the waves for wind, sun, and ice to carve and erode. It has been fragmented…
Travel Edge
“Bungee jumping got its start here, and if dangling off a bridge by your ankles isn’t your idea of fun, there’s hiking – or “tramping” as the locals, known as Kiwis, call it – along with…
Leia Skyjumper
Carrie Fisher on drugs, Thai food and going stratospheric: ‘I was in New Zealand recently, on one of those bungee catapults, which I was far too old to go on, and just as we were about…
Thar’ She Blows!
The Kaikoura whale-boom is part of one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism opportunities, worth over US $1billion world-wide.
Milford Magic
“Awesome!” screams Eric Forseter, 23. “The sheer power of being under a natural phenomenon like that is unbelievable.” Milford Sound, “a virtual catalogue of natural wonders of the Southern Hemisphere,” awes and exhilarates visitors.
Global Peddlers
250 bike-riding globe-circumnavigators are on their way to New Zealand as part of Odyssey 2000, an official Millennium event.
Magical Mystery Tour
Bus till you bust with Magic Travellers Network, winners of “Best Scheduled Transport” in the 2000 NZ Tourism Awards.
Edge of a Lonely Planet
“New Zealand values its independence and is not afraid to take on the world,” states the latest Lonely Planet, labelling New Zealand the place for adventure, coffee and wide open spaces.
LA Love
The LA Times runs a triumvirate of New Zealand travel features: Compact New Zealand, Wellington and comment from Fabio, King of Hearts: “They have the most amazing lakes. They’re huge and as deep as the mountains are high”.
A Long Way to Deliver a Letter
Jules Brown from The Observer takes a scenic trip up the stunning Whanganui river on some rather usual transport – a mail bus.
Ski Bunny Finds Roads Funny
Amy Chavez of Japan visited the NZ recently to ski. She found some of the mountain roads a little too close to the edge for comfort.
