NZ Travel Information
New Zealand Info
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 most 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
Mt Taranaki from the North Early Morning