The Rough Guide to New Zealand [Paperback]

Certainly none of the cities ranks on an international scale, but in recent years they have taken on more distinct and sophisticated identities. Go-ahead Auckland is sprawled around sparkling Waitemata Harbour, an arm of the island-studded Hauraki Gulf. From here, most people head south, missing out on Northland, the cradle of both Maori and pakeha colonization, which comes cloaked in wonderful sub-tropical forest harbouring New Zealand’s largest kauri trees. East of Auckland the coast follows the isolated greenery and long, deserted, golden beaches of the Coromandel Peninsula, before running down to the Bay of Plenty resorts. The lands immediately south are assailed by the ever-present sulphur stench of Rotorua, with its spurting geysers and bubbling pools of mud, and the volcanic plateau centred on the trout-filled waters of Lake Taupo and three snow-capped volcanoes. Cave fans will want to head west of Taupo to the eerie limestone caverns of Waitomo, where you can abseil in! to, or raft through, the blackness. From Taupo it’s just a short hop to the delights of canoeing on the Whanganui River, a broad, emerald green waterway banked by virtually impenetrable bush, or if you don’t want to get your feet wet, head for the almost perfect cone of Mount Taranaki, whose summit is accessible in just one day. East of Taupo lie the ranges that form the North Island’s backbone, and beyond them the Hawke’s Bay wine country, centred on the Art Deco city of Napier, and the up-and-coming wine region of Martinborough. Only an hour or so away is the capital, Wellington, the most self-contained of New Zealand’s cities, with its centre squeezed onto reclaimed harbourside land and the suburbs slung over steep hills overlooking glistening bays. Politicians and bureaucrats give it well-scrubbed and urbane sophistication, enlivened by a burgeoning café society and after-dark scene.

The South Island kicks off with Nelson, a pretty and compact spot surrounded by lovely beaches and within easy reach of the world-renowned wineries of Marlborough. From there you’ve a choice of nipping around behind the 3000-metre summits of the Southern Alps and following the West Coast to the fabulous glaciers at Fox and Franz Josef, or sticking to the east, passing the whale-watching territory of Kaikoura en route to the South Island’s largest centre, straight-laced Christchurch, a city with its roots firmly in the traditions of England. From Christchurch it’s possible to head across country to the West Coast via the famous Arthur’s Pass scenic railway, shooting southwest from the patchwork Canterbury Plains to the foothills of the Southern Alps and Mount Cook with its distinctive drooping-tent summit.

The flatlands of Canterbury run down, via the grand architecture of Oamaru, to the unmistakably Scottish-influenced city of Dunedin, birthplace of some of the country’s best rock bands and base for exploring the teeming wildlife of the Otago Peninsula. In the middle of the nineteenth century prospectors arrived here and rushed inland to gold strikes throughout central Otago and around stunningly set Queenstown, now a highly commercialized activity centre where bungy jumping, rafting, jetboating and skiing hold sway. This is also the tramping heartland, with the Routeburn Track linking Queenstown to the rain-sodden fiords, lakes and mountains of Fiordland, and the world-renowned Milford Track. The further south you travel, the more you’ll feel the bite of the Antarctic winds, which reach their peak on New Zealand’s third land mass, the tiny and isolated Stewart Island, covered mostly by dense coastal rainforest and famous for testing the patience of even the most avid trampers ! with its almost permanently muddy tracks.

WHEN TO GO With over a thousand kilometres of ocean in every direction, it comes as no surprise that New Zealand has a maritime climate: warm through the southern summer months of December to March and never truly cold, even in winter.

Weather patterns are strongly affected by the prevailing westerlies, which suck up moisture from the Tasman Sea and dump it on the western side of both islands. The South Island gets the lion’s share, with the West Coast and Fiordland ranking among the world’s wettest places. The mountain ranges running the length of both islands cast long rain shadows over the eastern lands, making them considerably drier, though the south is a few degrees cooler than elsewhere, and sub-tropical Auckland and Northland are appreciably more humid. In the North Island, warm, damp summers fade almost imperceptibly into cool, wet winters, but the further south you go the more the year divides into four distinct seasons.

Such regional variation makes it viable to visit at any time of year, provided you pick your destinations. The summer months are the most popular and you’ll find everything open, though often packed with holidaying Kiwis from Christmas to the end of January. Accommodation at this time is at a premium. In general, you’re better off joining the bulk of foreign visitors during the shoulder seasons – October to Christmas and February to April or May – when sights and attractions can be a shade quieter, and rooms easier to come by. Winter (June–Sept) is the wettest, coldest and consequently least popular time, though Northland can still be relatively balmy. The switch to prevailing southerly winds tends to bring periods of crisp, dry and cloudless weather to the West Coast and heavy snowfalls to the fine and plentiful skiing pistes of the Southern Alps and Central North Island.