New Zealand comes with a reputation as a unique land packed with magnificent, raw scenery : craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests, snow-capped alpine mountains, bubbling volcanic pools, fast-flowing rivers and glacier-fed lakes, all beneath a brilliant blue sky. Even Kiwis themselves - named after the endearing, if decidedly odd, flightless bird that has become the national emblem - seem to be filled with astonishment at the stupendous vistas of what they like to think of as "Godzone" (God's own country). All of this provides a canvas for boundless diversions , from moody strolls along windswept beaches and multi-day tramps over alpine passes to the adrenalin-charged adventure activities of bungy jumping and whitewater rafting; in fact, some visitors take on New Zealand as a kind of large-scale assault course, aiming to tackle as many adventures as possible in the time available. The one-time albatross of isolation - even Australia is over a thousand kilometres away - has become a boon, bolstering New Zealand's clean, green image, which is, in truth, more an accident of geography than the result of past government policy.
To a large extent New Zealand lives up to these expectations, and remains unfettered by the crowds you'd find elsewhere. What's more, everything is easily accessible, packed into a land area little larger than Britain and with a population of just 3.8 million, over half of it tucked away in the three largest cities : Auckland, the capital Wellington, and the South Island's Christchurch. Elsewhere, you can travel miles through steep-hilled farmland and rarely see a soul, and there are even remote spots which, it's reliably contended, no human has ever visited.
Geologically, New Zealand split off from the super-continent of Gondwanaland early, developing a unique ecosystem in which birds adapted to fill the role normally held by mammals, many becoming flightless through lack of predators. That all changed around 1200 years ago when the arrival of Polynesian navigators made this the last major land mass to be settled by humans. On sighting the new land from their canoes, Maori named it Aotearoa - "the land of the long white cloud" - and proceeded to radically alter the fragile ecosystem, dispatching forever the giant ostrich-sized moa, which formed a major part of their diet. A delicate ecological balance was achieved before the arrival of pakeha - white Europeans, predominantly of British origin - who swarmed off their square-rigged ships full of colonial zeal.
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Top Destination Cities
- Auckland 's urban sprawl completely smothers the North Island's wasp waist, a narrow isthmus where the island is all but severed by river estuaries probing inland from the city's two harbours. To the west, the shallow and silted Manukau Harbour opens out onto the Tasman Sea at a rare break in the long string of black-sand beaches continually pounded by heavy surf. Maori named the eastern anchorage the Waitemata Harbour for its "sparkling waters", which constitute Auckland's deep water port and a focus for the heart of the city. Every summer weekend the harbour and adjoining Hauraki Gulf explode into a riot of brightly-coloured sails. Hotels in Auckland New Zealand
- Christchurch is used by many tourists as a base from which to explore the South Island, with the steep, angular terrain of Banks Peninsula and the vineyards of the Canterbury Plains proving the most popular out-of-town destinations. Many of the outdoor activities for which New Zealand is famous are accessible from here, with a plethora of city-based companies offering trips involving rafting, paragliding, ballooning and mountain biking in the surrounding countryside . The city is also within a two-hour drive of several good skifields to the west , making it possible to combine a day on the pistes with an evening in Christchurch's numerous nocturnal watering holes. Indeed the place's only real drawback is its cost: compared with the rest of the South Island, Christchurch is an expensive place to spend any length of time.
Hotels in Christchurch New Zealand
- Queenstown is the most popular holiday destination in New Zealand for international visitors, offers an incredible range of things to do no matter what the season. Queenstown's four distinctive seasons feature long summer twilights (December-March) and brilliant autumn colours (April-May), some of the world's best skiing and snowboarding conditions in winter and early spring (June-September).
Hotels in Queenstown New Zealand
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