What to Do in New Zealand
Monday, July 5th, 2010“Ki Ora! Welcome to New Zealand!” This is often the comment you will get when you step off the plane into one of our international airports at Christchurch, Hamilton or Auckland.
New Zealand is an amazing place to live and a fantastic place to visit. We have lush, green rolling hills surrounding us in many parts of the country but then we also have acres and acres of lush, green flats with flowing rivers all leading out to the Pacific Ocean.
There is so much to do here and no matter what your age, there is something for everyone. Having lived in New Zealand all my life and having traveled around most of the North and South Islands, I can tell you there is no other place in the world I would rather live.
So, what can you do in New Zealand? Well, if you are into hiking and camping, this is going to be like heaven for you. We have some fantastic mountain ranges. The best places to go for hiking and camping are Taupo, which is in the middle of the North Island, Wellington, Christchurch and the west coast of the South Island, where there are some amazing hiking tramps down there.
Not into hiking or camping? Prefer shopping? I have just the place for you! Auckland, our largest city, has got one of the best places for shopping ever! There are so many factory shops and bargains to be had, you will most certainly find something and being a bargain shopper myself, I would recommend checking out “Dressmart” at Onehunga, it is huge and has some of the best shopping to be had! Another fantastic place to shop is the main street of Wellington; catch a cable car to get around. Christchurch has some fantastic shopping malls also.
Ok, so you are over shopping? Want to see all the different attractions New Zealand has to offer? Well, where do I start?! Here is a list of my favourites spots throughout New Zealand, there are many more but these are the ones I love:
- Swimming at 90 mile beach at the top of the North Island. This is just past Kaitia which is about 6 hours drive from central Auckland.
- Fishing off Great Barrier Island. There are some great charters and this is some of the best deep sea fishing you can find.
- Enjoying a good coffee on the waterfront at Mission Bay in Auckland. This is a fantastic place to be during summer.
- Visiting the Auckland Museum for some history about our beautiful country. Learn about the Maori culture and how our country has evolved through the ages.
- Head on down to the Waitomo district and go to the Waitomo caves where you can go white and black water rafting and see the amazing glow worms in the caves. This is a truly surreal experience.
- Visit our national bird, the Kiwi at the Kiwi house in Otorohanga. Get up close and personal with this two legged flight less birds. They are gorgeous.