Live The Dream: Travel To New Zealand

By Kerri Turner


The decision to travel to New Zealand is easy. Aotearoa, as New Zealand is also known, might be small but it has a stunning range of natural features ranging from mountains to sandy beaches and from deserts to lush virgin forest. It offers huge variety for the adventure tourist while the traveler that prefers to be more relaxed will love the easy pace of life.

New Zealand has excellent sailing facilities and offers the opportunity for some great fishing and diving. It is also home to some of the world's best wines. Following a wine trail of its finest vineyards will take the visitor across the length and breadth of the country.

Most visitors to New Zealand arrive at the country's largest city, Auckland. It is a multi-cultural metropolis with over a million residents. The City of Sails, as Auckland is also named, boasts a magnificent harbor where water sports enthusiasts are able to indulge their passions all year round.

For great views of the city, a walking tour of the harbor bridge is hard to beat although a trip to the top of the Sky Tower is a major contender. The brave might like to try the "sky walk" around the outside of the tower 192 meters above the ground or else try a bungee jump. Others might prefer a game of chance in the casino.

For anyone wanting to learn about New Zealand's history, a visit to Auckland's War Museum has to be on the agenda. It tells the story of the country and explains its place in the Pacific community as well as housing one of its most important heritage libraries. A visit to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, that overlook the Bay of Islands, where the Treaty of Waitangi, the document that effectively led to the establishment of modern New Zealand, was signed.

Traveling south from Auckland, visitors can experience the geothermal activity around Rotorua where the air is filled with the aroma of sulfur and boiling mud pools and geysers abound. The fascinating glowworm caves at Waitomo should not be missed while the vineyards of Hawke's Bay will delight lovers of good wine.

A short hop over Cooke Strait will bring the visitor to the South Island. Here, running north to south, are the splendid Southern Alps and the home of adventure tourism, Queenstown. Nestled at the foot of the Remarkables at the edge of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown is a center for skiing, skydiving and white-water rafting. The scenery is magnificent and can be enjoyed from the air or maybe the back of a horse.

From Queenstown, visitors can drive to Te Anau and the World Heritage area of the Fiordland National Park. This unspoilt area abounds with unique flora. A popular and relaxing way to view the sights is to take a cruise on the Sounds where visitors are treated to glimpses of wildlife and spectacular waterfalls the tumble down from the great rocky walls that seem to enclose the Sounds. Queenstown is also only a day's journey from Glacier country where visitors can get up close to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.

Everyone who decides to travel to New Zealand finds something to suit. Many never want to leave. Relaxation, sport and adventure are all on the menu. The visitor just has to choose.




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