Country Info
- Wellington
- Capital
- New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
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- 3,864,129
- Population
- NZ
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New Zealand Slideshow
Travel Blogs from New Zealand South Island, 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! ... more than a seagull or an oyster catcher. "That's a penguin isn't it?" she said, and she was right. Stood upright on a rock island just metres in front of us was a Fiordland crested, yellow eyed penguin. I'd seen a few of them on the Milford Sound ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Swing bridge fun
This is a top pick! ... a browse around town the next morning as the sun had made an overdue appearance. As Hokitika is 'the greenstone capital of New Zealand,' I took Mum and Stu inside one of the greenstone factories. We spent ages looking at the different designs, and they ...
Walking up Mt John
This is a top pick! I'd timed my trip to Mt Cook to perfection, as if I'd have arrived 2 days later, then I wouldn't have seen a thing. Jens and me kept looking out of the window and saying how lucky we'd been - all you could see now were clouds! We therefore hung around ...
Overnight Milford Sound cruise
This is a top pick! ... but I wasn't disheartened as we'd been incredibly lucky with the weather, and it is definitely a challenger for my favourite experience in New Zealand. It was made all the more enjoyable by having Charlotte there too, and as we made our way back along the ...
Crossing the Cook Strait
This is a top pick! ... Seumus's Irish Pub (they were ok, but nothing special) and a pint/Archers aqua Alco pop. It is now Saturday Morning. The rain has not stopped since about 7pm last night and we head to the North Island at 1.15pm Speak to you all soon Paul and ...
12,000 feet high and rising!
This is a top pick! ... of the lakes and mountains. The fact that I found a $10 note on the way back to the hostel was the icing on the cake! My list of highlights in New Zealand is growing, but it will take something extra special to surpass the skydive over Lake ...
Milford Sound
This is a top pick! Two updates in two days. This is unheard of! Actually I've just done a lot in the past two days between Doubtful and Milford. Today I woke up kind of groggy and wondering if I wanted to even get up to go ot Milford. Would they reschedule if I just ...
The Rakiura Track
This is a top pick! ... a fry up on Saturday morning, hoping that it would give me an energy boost ahead of my walk. I have done a fair bit of walking in New Zealand, but this was to be the first serious tramp where I had to carry my main backpack. It did feel quite heavy, and ...
Puzzling World!
This is a top pick! I had a one night stopover in sleepy Haast, which I knew would be uneventful, but I enjoyed the relaxation ahead of Wanaka and Queenstown. The hostel had an indoor garden, and so I spent a lot of time in there listening to music and planning which ...
Wellington to Fox Glacier
This is a top pick! ... off the coast of Vancouver. Forested and grassy rolling hills dotted both sides of the Cook Strait. Arriving on the South Island we found a delightful place to spend the night and made ourselves juicy steaks with potatoes and vegetables for dinner. ...
Lake Hauroko
This is a top pick! On Sunday I headed off to Lake Hauroko near Tuatapere with Blair. Originally I planned on checking out the Clifden Caves, but I don't really have a good enough flashlight (torch). Blair and I ended up taking a walk for roughly three hours up the side ...