More about the South Island
Dunedin is a lively city with an enduring Scottish heritage. It is located in the Otago Peninsula region, which has many spectacular natural features, such as several huge lakes and forests, accompanied by caves, glaciers, waterfalls and whirlpools.
On South Island you also discover the beautiful Fjordland national park. This encompasses glaciers, waterfalls, mountains and forests. This area offers countless alpine walks with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.
Close by is Queenstown, set on the edge of a lake in an icy valley and the number one destination for lovers of adventure sports. It is a winter wonderland, the Alps of the south.
I only got as far as Picton on the South Island, but I will be back, with warmer clothes! I thought England was chilly in spring, but whew! I was frosty once I hit Wellington and then crossed over.

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Outside of Auckland, North Island
Wellington, North Island
You will want to visit the other main museums while you are here. Wellington Museum of Sea and City has maritime exhibits, especially on whaling and fishing, and a great interpretive feel to help capture what it was like to live there at different eras. It is a great way to pass a rainy day, and believe me, it rained when I was there!
http://www.nzmaritime.org/home.html
Then there is the national museum, the great Te Papa, ‘our house’, filled with treasure and artefacts, whole traditional houses and store houses, and with a remarkable glen next to it to help you explore the plant life of New Zealand.
It shows the seismic history of the islands, and the whaling industry as well.
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/English/
Wellington is pretty in a unique way, though I have to admit I really preferred Auckland. It just seemed more spacious and less claustrophobic. I think it also might bave been because of the earthquake activity—it is a bit like LA, always on the move, and the day after I left they had the largest quake ever recorded.
So I don’t think it’s any wonder that I felt so ‘unsettled’ when I was there that after a couple of days, I decided to head to the South Island for a little day trip-which turned out to be the ride of my life!
The Interislander ferry runs a passenger service to and from the islands across the Cook Strait and through the incredible Marlborough Sounds. There is a free bus from the train station that takes you to board the ferry about 30 minutes before you are about to leave if you are a foot passenger.
What should have been about 2 hours turned into a 5 hour ordeal in a ship like a bucking bronco. I wasn’t ill myself, because I am a good sailor, but some people turned inside out they were so ill.
Then the boat was delayed for the return journey, so I should have been back by eight PM, and I got back to my back packers hostel Lodge in the City at 2 in the morning. The employees still on duty were so kind they got out their own cars and drove us home themselves from the by now bleak and desolate ferry terminal.
But the trip was well worth it, for the views were magnificent, and Picton, the docking point, is a charming town with great food, wonderful walks, and more attractions than you might imagine.
Picton has a small railway line that will take you to Blenheim and points further south, and it is a gateway to wine country around the area, and the lovely beaches on the north part of the south island.
I ate the most superb food at Le Café on the Main Street, overlooking the channel so you can watch all the waterside activity through the plate glass windows, and lunch was the most fantastic fish and chips.

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Outside of Auckland, North Island
On to Wellington
Wellington, on the North Island, is the nation’s capital. It is at the southernmost tip of the north island, on the Cook Strait. Superb views of this vibrant city are on offer from adjacent Mount Victoria.
Wellington has a lovely harbor and offers wonderful shopping, dining and cultural activities, as well as arts festivals are held all year round.
It is a very wet city, and despite being there in spring, and having been in teeshirts the whole time in Auckland, Paihia and Rotorua, I was COLD! So cold that I was wearing my thermal underwear and almost all the clothes I had with me, and I still had to buy a fleece. And I was there in spring!
Your first port of call should be the tourist board, to find out what is on and make your bookings as soon as possible.
The Lord of the Rings tour of many of the sites used for filming, plus a glimpse of Peter Jackson’s house and studios, was excellent, giving you a great feel for the city as well as the films, and taking you out to some really unspoiled wilderness, as well as the Botanic gardens where they did some filming.
You will also get to go to the seaside and yummy Chocolate Fish café, the actors’ home away from home as it were for the three years they were there working on the project. They all lived with host families, for the most part, and so the anecdotes your local guide tells you are fascinating and fun. For example, Viggo Mortensen was nearly arrested for carrying around his sword everywhere, trying to get into the role of Strider/Aragorn!
The Chocolate Fish Café was in danger of losing its place due to high rents, but it has a sister café and it did all the catering for the day tour for us, yummy.
The parks around Wellington were all lovely, and it is great to see it all in person—no, it was NOT all computer generated, you can REALLY go to a lot of the places from the film. It was a long day, but well worth it.
Another fabulous thing to do is take the cable car up the hill to the botanic gardens and observatory, where you can often see free shows and hear lectures on the sky at night over New Zealand. The cable car is, oddly enough, situated next to the McDonalds’ on one of the high streets! Blink and you will miss it. It takes you up to one of the university campuses, a glorious cricket field and the top of the hill.
http://www.wellingtontrams.org.nz/
If you are feeling fit, you can walk back down. The view from the top of the harbor and the city is breathtaking.
Not too far away is the The Colonial Cottage Museum, Wellington’s oldest identified building, which was built by carpenter, William Wallis, in 1858. This was a time when candles were made from tallow and when the nails used to build the Cottage were imported.

Displays show the ways in which the first colonials blended their lives from their Victorian homeland with the dictates of a new country. Enjoy the garden, the remaining portion of an 1840 New Zealand Company Town Acre, on which the Cottage was built.
http://www.colonialcottagemuseum.co.nz/home.html

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http://www.kiwitourism.com/cityoftauranga/

Tauranga is the bustling, confident port city where pleasure craft jostle in the marinas and charter vessels operate fishing, scuba diving and dolphin-watching trips. There is no shortage of shopping and dining in Tauranga either.

This, after all, is the centre of the Bay of Plenty, a region experiencing steady population growth.

The Bay of Plenty is the North-east coast versus north-west coast of the island, and you are now heading into wine country.

http://www.tourism.net.nz/wineries-new-zealand.html

Hawke’s Bay, Hastings. Napier, Gisborne are all charming towns thriving thanks to wine.

The Gisborne Wine Region, located on the country’s most easterly tip and closest to the international dateline, boasts the world’s most easterly vineyards, and the first vines to see the sun each day.

The region receives high sunshine hours on coastal plains that are sheltered from the west by a range of mountains. Soils include alluvial loams over sandy or volcanic subsoils of moderate fertility. Vineyards are predominantly sited on flats, a dramatic contrast with the hilly, rugged terrain around Rotorua and Tarawara.

I didn’t get much time here, not for want of trying, but it was on to Wellington. Just suffice it to say that for all things wine and old world charm, these towns are justly on the map.

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Swimming

The lake provides safe swimming in crystal clear waters. During the summer months the lake temperature reaches an average of 23°C/75°F, while the Winter can see the temperature plummet to 10°C/52°F.

Hotwater Beach

Situated on the southern shores of Lake Tarawera, soaking in the thermal waters is a wonderful way to unwind. The water temperature varies and some mixing may be required to attain the perfect temperature. The temperature is around 38°C/100°F. Hotwater Beach is accessible only by boat. A water taxi is available from Boat Shed Bay, or a luxury charter boat from Clearwater Cruises for a longer excursion.

The Buried Village

Te Wairoa Village was destroyed by the Mount Tarawera eruption which covered it in layers of mud, stone and ash. The Buried Village is the excavation of the Village site displaying many artefacts uncovered after the eruption. Attractions include a wildlife park, outstanding museum, handfed rainbow trout, an exciting bush walk that descends the spectacular Te Wairoa waterfalls, tea rooms and souvenir shop.