Unimpressive little Bluff (www.bluff.co.nz) is Invercargill’s port, 27km south of the city. Really, the main reasons to come here are to catch the ferry to Stewart Island, pose for photos beside the Stirling Point signpost or buy some of the famous Bluff oysters straight from the wharf.
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Blenheim (pronounced ‘Blenum’) is a dead-flat, agricultural town 29km south of Picton on the Wairau Plain, between the Wither Hills and the Richmond Ranges. Aside from banks, supermarkets and couple of good eateries, Blenheim doesn’t offer much to enthral or distract, but you must come here to check out the sensational Marlborough Wine Region just [...]
Undeniably pretty, the Bay of Islands ranks as one of NZ’s top tourist drawcards. The footage that made you want to come to NZ in the first place no doubt featured lingering shots of lazy, sun-filled days on a yacht floating atop these turquoise waters punctuated by around 150 undeveloped islands. The reality is that [...]
Paris may be the city of love, but Auckland is the city of many lovers, according to its Maori name, Tamaki Makaurau. In fact, her lovers so desired this beautiful place that they fought over her for centuries.
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Auckland’s a city of volcanoes, with the ridges of lava flows forming its main thoroughfares and its many cones providing islands of green within the sea of suburbs. As well as being by far the largest, it’s the most multicultural of NZ’s cities. A sizable Asian community rubs shoulders with the biggest Polynesian population of [...]
Arthur’s Pass village is 4km from the pass of the same name and is NZ’s highest-altitude settlement. The 924m pass was used by Maoris to reach Westland, but its European discovery was made by Arthur Dobson in 1864, when the Westland gold rush created the need for a crossing over the Southern Alps from Christchurch. [...]
Beloved by day-trippers from Queenstown, exceedingly quaint Arrowtown sprang up in the 1860s following the discovery of gold in the Arrow River. Today the town retains more than 60 of its original wooden and stone buildings, and has pretty, tree-lined avenues, excellent galleries and an expanding array of fashionable shopping opportunities.
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The spectacular 700-sq-km Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, along with Fiordland, Aspiring and Westland National Parks incorporates the Southwest New Zealand (Te Wahipounamu) World Heritage Area, which extends from Westland’s Cook River down to the Fiordland. Fenced in by the Southern Alps and the Two Thumb, Liebig and Ben Ohau Ranges, more than one-third of the [...]
Unless you’ve come to Alexandra especially for September’s NZ Merino Shearing Championships or the Easter Bunny Hunt (both events that draw hundreds to the town), the reason to visit this rather nondescript service hub is for the nearby mountain biking. Some travellers, entranced by well-shorn sheep and rabbit-free slopes, stay for seasonal fruit-picking work.
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Banks Peninsula and its hills were formed by two giant volcanic eruptions. Small harbours such as Le Bons, Pigeon and Little Akaloa Bays radiate out from the peninsula’s centre, giving it a cogwheel shape. The historic town of Akaroa is a highlight, as is the absurdly beautiful drive along Summit Rd around the edge of [...]