We’re on the cusp of entering a New Year. Before we go forward though, I’d like to take a bit of time to have a look back at 2011. I’ve decided to do that in photo form, with photos to represent every month of the year that’s gone. Let’s go! January The year started with us working at a small campsite in the Tongariro National Park on New Zealand’s north island. The … [Read more...]
The Best Day Hikes in New Zealand
After a year in Australia, I summarised my three favourite day hikes in that wondrous country. It seems only fair therefore to give New Zealand a similar treatment, particularly since hiking (or tramping, as it is known locally), is a major highlight of any visit to New Zealand. All the hikes in this section are possible in a day for a reasonably fit person. If you’re not … [Read more...]
The Best Drives in New Zealand for Stunning Scenery
The best way to see New Zealand is on a road trip. You can take your time, enjoy the scenery, and stop off wherever you like to breathe it all in, all whilst listening to your favourite tunes. If you’ve got a campervan, all the better – there are loads of incredible places to spend the night immersed in the beauty of nature. If you can't afford a camper van, you might be … [Read more...]
Lord of the Rings Filming Locations in New Zealand
The entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, as imagined by Peter Jackson in the film adaption of the books, serves as a highly effective tourism advert for New Zealand. Having seen all the films, and being a bit of a Tolkien fan, it was inevitable that New Zealand would make it onto my list of places I must visit. And so it happened that I spent a year travelling around … [Read more...]
Must See Sights on New Zealand’s North Island
A year in New Zealand gave me plenty of time to visit quite a lot of this spectacular country. Due to New Zealand’s handily compact nature though, you don’t need as much as a year to get to see most of the splendour on offer. If I was visiting New Zealand’s North island, and didn’t have all the time in the world, then these would be the places and things … [Read more...]
My top ten photos of New Zealand
Now that I’m coming to the end of my year long stay in New Zealand, I reckon it’s time to look back at my time here and share with you some of my highlights. I’ve got a number of posts in the pipeline, but first, I just wanted to share with you some of my favourite shots from my trip. I love taking shots of landscapes, and New Zealand happens to have gorgeous landscapes by … [Read more...]
Sand dunes and the end of the world
Today I’m back on track, after a brief sojourn around some rather scenic toilets. By back on track, I am referring to the tale of my trip around Northland – the most northerly part of New Zealand’s north island. Unimaginative name aside, this is a spectacular place. Stretching out above Auckland far into the Pacific and Tasman seas, this tip of land is home … [Read more...]
Top five scenic toilets of New Zealand
The eyes of the world are about to turn on New Zealand for a little upcoming tournament involving an oddly shaped ball and burly men wearing short shorts. As a result, I imagine that the New Zealand tourism board is working feverishly to ensure that every last piece of information that the potential tourist could ever dream of needing is written and ready to go. Information on … [Read more...]
Climbing Mount Taranaki in photos
Mount Taranaki is the second highest mountain on New Zealand’s north island, at 2517m (around 8500ft for you folks on the imperial system). The climb up it is a gruelling 17km hike, and this is generally regarded as being one of the toughest day hikes you can do on the north island. With this knowledge in our minds, we decided to give it a go. The day we chose was … [Read more...]