Matakana suffers from reverse alcoholism – the more wine gets poured into it, the more genteel it becomes. A few years ago it was a nondescript rural village with a handful of heritage buildings and an old-fashioned country pub. Now the locals watch bemused as Auckland’s chattering classes idle away the hours in stylish wine [...]
The Marlborough Sounds are a crazed geographic omelette of inlets, headlands, peaks, beaches and watery reaches, formed when the sea flooded into deep valleys after the last ice age. Parts of the Sounds are included in the Marlborough Sounds Maritime Park – a series of small reserves punctuated by private land. To get an idea [...]
The convoluted maze of Marlborough Sounds waterways are a South Island spectacle. Picton is the gateway to the island and a prime spot for walking, sailing, kayaking and exploring Sounds’ hideaways. A cork’s pop south of Picton is agrarian Blenheim, and the world-famous Marlborough Wine Region.
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Splashed across the northern end of the South Island, the Marlborough and Nelson regions are many travellers’ first southern contacts after crossing Cook Strait from Wellington. The South Island’s population only recently topped one million, but less people doesn’t mean less action: there’s just as much to do here, and more room to do it!
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Further along the coast from Kaiteriteri and 18km north of Motueka, Marahau is the main gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. From here you can book water taxis, hire kayaks, swim with seals or wander off on foot into the park. Marahau itself doesn’t really feel like a town – more like a loose [...]
Strung along the beautiful Lake Manapouri, the town of the same name is largely used as jumping-off point for cruises to the sublime Doubtful Sound and as a base for walking expeditions. There’s very little to the town itself – little more than a handful of hotels, with a glut of sandflies to keep you [...]
At Makarora you’ve left the West Coast and entered Otago, but the township still has a West Coast frontier feel. Visit the DOC visitor information centre (03-443 8365; www.makarora.co.nz; SH6; 8am-4.45pm daily Nov-Apr, 8am-4.45pm Mon-Fri May-Oct) at the Makarora Wilderness Resort for conditions and routes before undertaking any regional tramps.
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The expansive high ground from which the scenic peaks of Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park escalate is known as Mackenzie Country after the legendary James ‘Jock’ MacKenzie, who ran his stolen flocks in this then-uninhabited region in the 1840s. When he was finally caught, other settlers realised the potential of the land and followed in his [...]
Southeast of Christchurch are the prominent Port Hills, which slope down to the city’s port at Lyttelton Harbour. Christchurch’s first European settlers landed here in 1850 to embark on their historic trek over the hills. With attractive heritage architecture and eclectic café-bars, it’s now a popular weekend get-away and dining destination for in-the-know foodies. Lyttleton [...]
At the southern end of its namesake lake, this town has unobstructed views across turquoise water, and a backdrop of rolling hills and mountains worthy of a Peter Jackson movie. The town has boomed in recent times, with new B&Bs, holiday homes and resort accommodation taking advantage of the epic vistas.
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