What do you think of New Zealand?

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mini

used to travel a lot to New Zealand for business and really love the country. Europe has Swiss Alps, Asia Pacific has New Zealand :-). People said there're more sheep and human in New Zealand too :-). New zealand is full of nature, a combination between switzerland and iceland but located on the opposite hehe..

Here are what I think about New Zealand:
New Zealand consists of 2 islands (North Island and South Island).

NORTH ISLAND

- It's a more civilised or cosmopolitan or 'city' like.
- Explore Rotorua where they have the nice hot springs. In here, I rode a quad bike and due to my ignorant, I sped, tumbled over and ended up with a massive bruise. I also experienced the Orb (where you're put inside a giant ball and you roll with it :-) ).
- Auckland City - very nice, easy to explore.

Ponsonby Rd which is 7 mins by cab or 20 mins walk from the heart of Auckland CBD is full of good restaurants and cafes. Shopping here is heaven, full of local new zealand designer and some alternatives young designers. I've tried every single cafes there. Great to spend lazy weekends reading, catching up with friends and just people watching.

Parnel - approx 10 mins drive or you can catch a bus from Auckland CBD. Another great eateries place. Nice neighbourhood, you can stroll with ice cream after dinner.

Devonport - you can either catch a ferry or drive. It gives you the view of the Auckland city next to the beach/water as well. This is popular for a romantic first date where you'll bring your girl and make out hehehe... There's a massive park which you can walk around (check for closing time, this is where you still can walk but can't drive your car up the hill). It has cute little shops, lots of Beds and Breakfasts.

- Tauranga - a small town south east of Auckland. A very famous beach holiday town for Aucklanders. You could hike a small mountain and the town and beach's lovely.

- Wellington is another city in the north island. Smaller than Auckland and in between mountains. Be careful when you fly in to wellington, 3 out of 5 your flights might be cancelled or diverted if the weather and visibility is bad. As I said this is because the city is in between hills and I'm not a big fan of flying in as it's quite scary and the runway is so short. Having travelled much, this must be one of the scariest runway I've ever seen.

SOUTH ISLAND

- Christchurch - main city in the south island. Small enough to walk around the city centre. Usually a base to fly in to the south island then people can travel to Queenstown. You could drive from Christchurch to Queenstown and get a nice view of the South Island as well as driving to Mt Cook.

- Mt Cook - this magnificent mountain is definetely worth visiting. You can walk around and get a view of the mountain (In between christchurch and Queenstown if you drive to Queenstown from Christchurch). You can take picture like in Postcard.

- Queenstown (MY FAVOURITE NEW ZEALAND PLACE).

One of the best place in earth, can be visited anytime of the year. It's definetely an outdoor play ground. This is where they filmed Lord Of The Rings. Postcards pictures everywhere. It's a massive lake surrounded by mountains. In winter, you can ski 4 mountains within 30 mins - 1.5hrs drive from the central queenstown city.

All year round you can do lake cruise, white water rafting (I flew by heli to get to the location because the river was flooded so we couldn't get in by car), Bungy Jumping, Paragliding, Skiing, Lord Of the Rings tour (visiting the locations filmed and shown in Lord Of the Rings) as well as sitting in one of their many pubs and bars during the rainy days :). Food here is good (make sure you eat Ferge's Burger and The Cow's Pizza in the heart of Queenstown CBD).

Make sure you also ride the Shotover Jet boat where you get to experience fast speed of Jet boat with 360 degrees turn and they get you close to the rock (it's scary but fun) so no elbows out of the jet boat since you're pretty much within inches to the rocks.

Don't forget to visit Arrowtown (40 mins drive from Queenstown) - where you get to experience a 4WD ride along the mountain and many rivers of the old mining town - worth doing and you might pan some gold and I did bring back specs of gold leaves (really tiny but visible) home as souvenirs :)!

If you have a spare cash, a must thing to do in Queenstown is to fly in and have lunch at Milford sound - one of the most beautiful town I've ever visited.

Queenstown is just an amazing place, Peter Jackson and Shania Twain bought a house there. It's beautiful and lots of things to see and do. The mountain and ski runways are endless with powder snow.

- Dunedin
If you have spare time, go south further in north island to visit a little town called Dunedin. This has lots of Scottish settlement. So if you happen to miss Haggis, you can get as close to the one in Scotland in this town :-)! It's a student town as well.

Anywhere in New zealand, you can play golf too :). Also visit wineries both in the north island and south island.

Things you should/must do while you're in New Zealand:

1. Feast on Corn fritters for breakfast
I couldn't find the best corn fritters for breakfast other than in New Zealand

2. Eat Seafood!!
Paua/Abalone fresh from the sea and a massive New Zealand Green Lipped muscle (approx 10-12 cm in length)

3. Drink L&Ps (Lemon and Paeora) - this tastes like Mountain dew or lemonade but BETTER. Apparently it'd made with the local water

4. Make sure you somehow hunt or eat (if you don't like the idea of hunting) for a wild boar in the tip of the south island (near Nelson)

5. Do bungy jumping - it's a must thing to do in New Zealand

6. Drink local beer - Monteigh or Speights (Speights are famous for the south island)

7. Have kumara chips instead of potato chips (or french fries). Kumara chips are deep fried sweet potatoes...sooo yummy.

8. Visit and drink Marlborough wines (especially Sauvignon Blanc). New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are really really nice. You can go to winery in Marlborough, it's beautiful.

9. Visit and have dinner at the revolving restaurant in Auckland. This has to be the cheapest revolving restaurant with picturesque city view in the world (compare to Eiffel tower, New York Empire State Building or even Melbourne Rialto Tower :-) ). You get affordable meal - and free as well as express entrance to the top of the tower and a view of Auckland city.

10. Visit Auckland Harbour - they have annual sailing competitions but just a nice harbour with lots of expensive yachts :).

11. Shop and experience cafe culture in Ponsonby Road, Auckland (you can walk from the heart of Auckland CBD - takes about 20 mins or cab it 7 mins :-) )

12. Ski at Queenstown (South island)

13. Go to Hotspring in Rotorua (North island)

14. Try to eat Pavlova - cake dessert/sweet, it's basically a light beaten egg white with sugars, decorated with cream, strawberries or passion fruit :).

15. See Mt Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand) - in the south island in between Christchurch and Queenstown

16. Fly in to Milford Sound (30 mins flight in a small plane from Queenstown, South Island) - This must be one of the most beautiful place I've ever visited. No one live there but it's one of the historic town and really nice to fly in, have lunch and fly back out to return to Queenstown.

17. Ride a Jet Boat with Shotover Jet (at Shotover river, queenstown, south island)

18. Climb the Glazier in Rotorua or Queenstown.

19. watch a rugby match :-)

New Zealand's very nice - it's a safe place, the weather's cool (between 10-15 C in average), the people are lovely and not overcrowded like in Europe.

I'd suggest you go to you tube and search for 'No Reservation New Zealand' - it's a show by the famous US travel chef called Anthony Bourdain, should give you a good idea on New Zealand in general.

BuTTerFly

spectakular landscape, a lot of sheep, cow, and horse, amazing volcanoes with geothermal activity etc.

Bridgey

*puts on tourist perspective goggles*

I love it... but I already live here ^^

Luke L

put simply; the best country on the planet

foca

I think it's great, the panorama is various, there are amazing mountains, rivers, lakes and see. The animals of NZ are so funny.

Little Miss Sweet As !

What do you like to do?? NZ has everything for everyone, if your into Hiking the South Island is great for that, Skiing, you can do in both Islands. They are coming into there Autumn now, so the best time to visit is January, February & March.
The country is very green & you can travel for up to an hour before coming to another town.....the people are friendly & the food...is the best!! plenty of sea food if that is your thing. Make sure to try a Pie from one of the many bakeries around the towns...& Fish n Chip's...if you get FnChip's near a town that is on the sea...it'll be unbeilveabley fresh :)
And that's my take on Aeotearoa....my home :)

Oh...& it is as safe as any other country, just cause it's a small country, dont mean we dont have crime, we have our fare share of it. Keep safe....dont hitch hike

MissE

Amazingly beautiful
My honeymoon destination

Zebra

Loads to do for a tourist, like a lot of countries in one, volcanic activity, great beaches, snow, alps and glaciers, forests, ancient giant trees, good night life in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown (lord of the rings was filmed in lots of locations around NZ, not just Qtown like the lady further up says and I don't find Wellington airport scary at all).

Ttrriissttiin

Wellington airport isnt that bad, it is the closest international airport to where i live and yes it can get windy, but its not closed that often really, and the pilots who fly in there are marvelous...

cool kelly

I love it there. It is beautiful and there are so many fun things to do. The people are so nice there. I think it is amazing!!!

Sugar L

I would see lots and lots of sheep and some hobbit holes.

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