Country Info
- Wellington
- Capital
- New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
- Currency
- 3,864,129
- Population
- NZ
- Country Code
New Zealand Slideshow
Travel Blogs from New Zealand
Packing the fish...
This is a top pick! ... it was a nice surprise to find a Japanese girl up on Wednesday night. Rie speaks quite good English considering she's only been in New Zealand for 2 months, and I helped her with the CV that she was writing. She said I was a good teacher! She was ...
Penguin spotting...and rain!
This is a top pick! To say that it rained on Sunday would be a massive understatement. I'd not seen rain like it since the floodings in Mount Maunganui. I blame Mum, as once again she declared that "it was brightening up a bit" after a cloudy start to our journey. Soon ...
Home made Yorkshire puddings!
This is a top pick! ... some nice places for the proceeding nights (Hilltop in Papatowai and Freestone Backpackers in Manapouri) so that they'd continue to enjoy the New Zealand experience without me. As for me, I had to pack my things together ahead of my latest jaunt to Oz, ...
Tramping up Pudding Hill
This is a top pick! Thanks to our great planning we spent our second day in the van driving back into Christchurch so that we could pick up some food! That done we headed in the direction of Mt Cook. The beauty of NZ for driving compared to Australia is that everything is ...
Roughing it is an expression, Not a Necessity
This is a top pick! With the weather against us again, we didn't have much enticing us to stop anywhere and Manchester United were playing AC Milan in the Champions League Semi Final the following morning, Paul was adamant that we find a campsite with Sky television, so we ...
Nature on the Otago Peninsula
This is a top pick! ... walking towards a seal colony, where pups were being born daily. I've certainly seen my fair share of seals since arriving in New Zealand, but these pups were the smallest ones I'd encountered. It was lovely to see a mother sleeping on the rocks with her ...
Kayaking an icon
This is a top pick! ... , and another playing in the shallows near our kayaks. We paddled up to the bottom of the Bowen Falls, amongst the highest in New Zealand, but appearing dwarfed by the enormous mountains behind it. We got close enough that I could feel the spray in my ...
Gatecrashers
This is a top pick! 29/11/11: The weather is still terrible in the morning so we eat breakfast huddled in the car and go in search of coffee. Unfortunately we have forgotten that there are barely any people this far up the peninsula so the cafes don't feel the need to ...
Tongariro Crossing
This is a top pick! The Tongariro Crossing is widely regarded as the best one day walk in New Zealand, and Richard from Wellington had also recommended it to me, and so I decided to give it a shot. Coincidentally, when I went to pay for the bus ticket at Reception the ...
Stunning views of Aoraki
This is a top pick! ... . I had the luxury of 3 days surrounded by such awesome scenery, and I was itching to do some walking while you could see New Zealand's highest mountain in all its glory. We arrived at the YHA at midday and it seemed like a lovely place, with spacious ...
A whale's tail
This is a top pick! The summer holidays had arrived. With a spring in my step I boarded the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Christchurch. I gazed out of the plane window at the velvety blue sea, the warm and shining arc of Golden Bay, the long tongue of ...
Windy Wellington
This is a top pick! Well, I've made it to Wellington via train. I travelled with Brian, a guy from my dorm in Auckland. The trip was nice, but long. Picture twelve hours of rolling hills, sheep, and cows. We had the sudden change of weather which I guess I'll be taking ...
Sting rays and stone fish
This is a top pick! ... by scuba gear I had no chance of following it, but it was magical; I was very lucky as they are a rare visitor to New Zealand. The following day we returned to the Tutukaka coast. This time we were beach hopping. We drove through to Sandy Bay, ...
Dec 11, 2011
This is a top pick! 
Doubtful Today
This is a top pick! I'm back online, but not for long. I got up early this morning and headed to Manapouri. What's in Manapouri? Not much. Lake Manapouri is the starting point for trips to Doubtful Sound. I took the Real Journeys bus in and headed across Lake ...
Teachers in Japan...
This is a top pick! ... how much holiday I should receive and lots of other things that I have stored in the memory bank. At the moment, I'm obviously still in New Zealand so I am still thinking about that, but as soon as I get home I will switch my attention to Japan and do ...
Dusky Dolphins
This is a top pick! ... , so after a scenic 2 hour drive, we stopped at Hanmer Springs. Thankfully Stu had forgotten to bring his 'trunks' to New Zealand, so he'd bought some altogether more fashionable swim shorts the previous day. We paid just $10 each and proceeded to have ...
Straight off of 90210
This is a top pick! ... them away quickly. Last night I went to work for the old man. In Bailiez we had a wine taste testing for for the new menus and I was "researching". Of course my "research" was obstructed by the fact that we didn't have anything to spit the wine ...
Around the South
This is a top pick! ... tree", how could I not stop? I saved two trees myself. It's interesting that in Australia the possum is endangered while in New Zealand they're trying to wipe them out completely. The possum is extremely harmful for the native forest and I wouldn't ...
Wine and chocolate
This is a top pick! ... and was then picked out of the crowd to stand forward and actually talk to the Queen when she arrived! (Obviously with my new found patriotism I find this very exciting!). She was able to find common ground with Kevin too because her daughter lives ...
Playing games with Rie!
This is a top pick! ... my journey to the bottom of the South Island will begin, stopping briefly in Christchurch to see Yumi one last time before she leaves on Friday. So, I've had an enjoyable 4 weeks in Nelson, but I'm now ready to explore some other areas of New ...
Friends - Old and New
This is a top pick! ... library and read a biography of Buddy Holly in no time at all...I've become pretty much addicted to his music since I arrived in New Zealand! My latest book is about World War II, as I've decided that I really don't know enough about history in general. ...
In Hot Water
This is a top pick! ... the shore in torturously twisty fashion, and gives amazing views of isloated beaches, rolling surf and flowering pohutukawas- the New Zealand Christmas tree which bursts into crimson splendour for December and January. It reminded me of Cornwall- with ...
Mount Maunganui to Auckland
This is a top pick! ... hard. It took about half an hour to make scrambled eggs with bacon, onion and mushrooms. Later that night Jason's New Zealand beard finally came off after a full 31 days and no one was more pleased than Sylvia. Bright morning skies greeted us ...
Dec 05, 2011
This is a top pick! 
Overnight fishing trip
This is a top pick! Ann was impressed with the boardwalk that Graeme and me had made - it meant that a walk to the boat was no longer a hardship. I was surprised to hear that they'd not been out fishing for a whole year, and Graeme attributed it in part to the unavoidable ...
Whine without the wine. (An 'Oh No' day)
This is a top pick! ... ready for camping in the next few days (i.e. buying jumpers!) and using the internet. Emma is working at one of New Zealand's polling stations today for the general election so we make her and Carl dinner in the evening (and Carl says it's ...
$19 the cost of nature.
This is a top pick! We drag ourselves out of bed at 5AM to drive to Coromandel for our fishing trip with Sean (a friend of Carl and Emma's who kindly offered to take us out fishing on his boat.) When we arrive at his place it is around 7:30 and Sean and his friend Al are a ...
New Zealands own Giants Causeway
This is a top pick! ... happy that we had made the journey. But before I go into this lets go on a side note again. To look at on a map, New Zealand looks to be quite a small country, just a bit bigger than Britain. However when driving along the coast you realize that as the ...
Golden Bay
This is a top pick! ... wind and the sea was very rough, but it was great to be surrounded by vast amounts of untouched sand. For a relatively small country, New Zealand has such diverse scenery. That evening, we drove to the Mussel Inn to watch a Celtic/Pacific band play. I ...