Drop-dead gorgeous
It’s a long journey to New Zealand, but the pay-off in vacation satisfaction is huge. The country is viewed as ideal for adventurers, given the wide array of venturesome activities that tour companies and outfitters offer.

However, the country’s many diversions also include fine wine and food, Maori cultural experiences, spas for soaking in natural mineral waters — in other words, things that appeal to all personality types. Besides, the language is English, people are friendly, visitors feel safe, the dollar goes a long way and the natural settings range from simply pretty to drop-dead gorgeous.

About New Zealand
The nation comprises the North and South islands, plus the smaller Stewart Island. About the size of Colorado, it has almost 10,000 miles of coastline, which compares with 12,383 miles for the entire continental United States. Also roughly the size of Great Britain or Japan, it has a population of not quite 4.3 million which makes it one of the world’s least-crowded countries.

New Zealand wants the world to know it is “clean, green and nuclear-free.”
It wants to clarify something else, as well: It is not Australia! Although the two countries have clear connections — the “upside down” location, Anglo-Scots-Irish settlers and codependent economies — their histories and geographical differences produce some differences in personality traits, too. The two countries are 1,300 miles apart. New Zealand is small and green, with no large cities. Australia is mostly a huge desert and has several cities with more than 1 million people.

All travelers talk about New Zealand’s scenery and like the lack of crowds and commercial development. New Zealanders lead the world in caring for natural resources, qualities that centrics, and particularly venturers, heartily applaud. Especially among active travelers, the talk eventually turns to outdoor activities. Venturers can camp and hike, fish, climb mountains, take to the water in sailboats and, during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, go skiing.

It was a New Zealander who pioneered bungee jumping, creating a nutty national sport for the calm and sensible New Zealanders. Tourists from the world over give it a try here.
The more mellow tourists make other choices, of course, things like ogling geysers and bathing in thermal pools in Rotorua, attending Maori cultural events, hitting the wine trails or overnighting afloat in Milford Sound.

All personality types praise New Zealanders, who are generally more traditional in outlook than their Australian cousins and a little gentler, which centrics especially like.
Visitors also admire the relationship between the European newcomers and the native people. The indigenous Maori influence local culture much more than is true for the Aborigines in Australia.

• Go to The Station, the activity booking and visitor information site in Queenstown, and you’ll see why the town calls itself the adventure capital of the world. Scores of activities are available, so select one or two or more. Bungee jumping, maybe?

• Queenstown options include whitewater rafting on the Shotover River. Also, jetboating adventures on the Shotover and Dart rivers, operated by Shotover Jet and Dart River Safari, respectively.

• If you can’t get to Queenstown, take the 11-second aided tower jump 630 feet down the side of Auckland’s Sky Tower to a landing station at ground level.

• Attend the annual Hokitika Wildwoods Festival where delicacies include mysteries and near-mysteries like horopito, mako shark, Maori potato, mutton bird, octopus, paua, punga fern, seagull eggs and whitebait. Still more challenging (for most, anyway) are these delicacies: possum pie, wasp larvae, worm sushi and turbot fish bathed with sandfly dressing. Sample when you dare, then eat somewhere else.

• Sample heli-skiing in the Southern Alps. It’s expensive, but it could be a thrill of a lifetime to take a ski plane trip to the top of the Tasman Glacier and then ski down.

• At Waitomo on North Island, try blackwater rafting, also called cave tubing. You’ll ride on an inflated rubber inner tube through the Ruakuri Cave, with lighting provided by glowworms.

• Sample Blokart sailing (land-based sailing). Or, sail the traditional way, on New Zealand’s waters.

• Ride the Zorb, which is a giant, hollow plastic ball surrounded by a thick air cushion that is typically pitched down a hill with its thrill-seeking passenger harnessed inside.

• Go surfing in the waters along the 65-mile coastal Highway 45, popularly called Surf Highway 45, in the Taranaki area in the southwest of North Island.
Or, for a bigger rush, try dam dropping. Unique to Taranaki, this has you plummeting over a 26-foot dam then whitewater sledge through river rapids.

• Also in the Taranaki region, paddle in a 39-foot waka (Maori canoe) down the Waitara River.

• In the land of “Whale Rider,” watch whales — as well as a supporting cast of dolphins, fur seals, penguins and sea birds.

• Can you imagine planning a vacation stop to see a bunch of insects? Do it anyway! Waitomo is home to the Glowworm Caves where thousands of the insects emit a spooky greenish light that attracts their food — and many tourists.

• Fish for trout and salmon, or troll the ocean for bigger game, all in uncrowded waters.

• Go to Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park, typically a two-day motorcoach trip from Queenstown, with overnight on a small ship in the sound. You can fly in and out as well, but flights are frequently canceled because of the same brooding clouds over the sound that give the place its dramatic appearance.

• Plan an itinerary around “The Lord of the Rings” film locations.

• Take a ferry from downtown Auckland to Devonport, a quaint hamlet full of 19th century homes on a tiny peninsula at the opposite side of Haitemata Harbor from Auckland.

• Sample station life on a real sheep farm.

• Take a cooking class at the Sileni Estates vineyard in Hawke’s Bay on North Island. Also, attend tasting sessions featuring cheeses, olive oils and chocolate — as well as wine. Have a gourmet lunch on site, and shop in the estate’s gourmet cellar store and cheese larder.

• Visit a marae (traditional Maori community site), where you will typically witness a wero (challenge) and a powhiri (welcome); see a cultural performance including the haka (war dance), the poi and waiataaringa (action songs), and then enjoy a hangi (eating food that has been cooked below the ground).

• Visit Waiheke Island, one of dozens of islands in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. Waiheke first became a hideaway for artists and alternative lifestylers, but, now, it is also home to winemakers and olive growers — and white-collar commuters. Travel from Auckland is by ferry.

• Visit Rotorua on North Island to see geysers and other geothermal wonders and to bathe in thermal pools. Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, site of the gorgeous and vigorous Pohutu Geyser, is the most popular. In addition, see Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and the Hell’s Gate Thermal Reserve for the colorful wonders served by Earth’s hot and bubbling underground waters.

• Also, at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, include time at its Maori cultural center, which displays arts and crafts and offers Maori performances.

• The Coromandel Peninsula on North Island, east of Auckland, is a favorite leisure spot for New Zealanders. The attractions are nice beaches, Maori and mining history, and some lovely scenery.

• Take a wine tour to Hawke’s Bay vineyards on North Island. Wine tours are on offer out of Queenstown on South Island, too.

• If you get lucky, spot one of New Zealand’s fabled-but-shy kiwis.

• In Queenstown, cross Lake Wakatipu aboard the 1912 steamship Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm. Here you will see sheep shearing and enjoy a traditional New Zealand carvery buffet dinner.

• Devote at least a day to Napier, a major dot on the Art Deco map. Take one of the Art Deco Trust’s downtown walking tours.

• For the scenery, travel by train, aboard the Tranz Coastal, down the coast of South Island from Blenheim to Christchurch. For more than 60 miles, it runs along a thin ledge of land pinned between the Pacific Ocean and the rugged Kaikoura ranges.

• Go to the observation level of the Sky Tower in Auckland for 360-degree views of the city and its harbors.

• Cruise the South Island’s scenic, abundant wildlife areas of Marlborough, Dunedin and Doubtful and Dusky sounds. To visit these locations, you will typically travel aboard small vessels that can navigate shallower and narrower channels.