Why do so few people live here? (New Zealand)

Member Name: nickyturnill

Product:	New Zealand
Date:	28/11/05 (386 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pristine, Stunning, Empty, Still, Clear, Cool, Calm, Relaxing, Beautiful.....

Disadvantages: It is half way around the world.....

New Zealand is situated in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Australia, and composed of two main island, termed simply the North and the South islands. The capital is Wellington, a harbour-side city located on the southern shores of the North Island. New Zealand's population is a modest 4 million, there are more sheep here than there are people and the emptiness of this stunning country only adds to the appeal. New Zealand is a destination that I cannot speak about highly enough, clean airs, clear skies, backdrops of mountains, empty coastlines, translucent lakes, amazing views... it is the perfect outdoor destination for backpackers and thrill seekers and it would also make a great family destination if you can cope with the very long flight.

I backbacked NewZealand in the Summer of 2000 with my best friend, Gemma. We were there for about a month on a trip encompassing Oz and some of the pacific islands. We were there in August, our Summer but New Zealand's Winter, consequently it was pretty cold, particularly on the South Island, but thankfully New Zealand is prone to generally good weather and on the whole we experienced clear cloudless skies and little rain. We got by without proper winter coats! Just layers of jumpers and hoodies!!

We paid about £800 for out flights with Air New Zealand which included three 'stop-offs' (Australia, Rarotonga and Samoa). Air NewZealand is by far the best airline I have EVER flown with and I've flown quite frequently. The food was great, the staff friendly and accomodating and the seats have head wings which make sleeping on a plane much easier. Despite this 24 hours on a place is never going to be much fun and you are going to need to allow yourself time to adjust to the time difference (10 hours) once you're there.

I'm not going to detail all of the trip because I could write thousands of words. Instead I'll just give you a brief itinery and then an account of what I felt where the main highlights of the trip.

Itinery
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From Wellington we took the ferry across to the South Island and then the bus down the West Coast, stopping first in Nelson to visit Abel Tasman National Park. From here we continued the trip by bus to Franz joseph (glaciers walking!!) and then we decided to hitch for most of the rest of the way as we didn't have any money (being young and naive about the cost of the trip). I know that many people have strong opinions about hitch hiking and I know it doesn't come without risk but I would like to say that we met some very interesting and kind people while hitching, it was an experience I wouldn't forgo and it saved us alot of money, although it is costly in terms of time. So, we hitched to Queenstown (party town, skiing, extreme sports) and stayed there for almost a week. From Queestown we headed back up the East coast stopping in Christchurch for a few days and then in Kaikora (seals everywhere and whalewatching!!!). We briefly stayed in Picton before catching a ferry back over to the North Island where we headed to Napier, followed by Taupo (big lake), Rotorua (volcanic parks), Auckland (New Zealands largest city) and the Bay of Islands in the far North(dolphins, stunning scenery) which just about completed our tour!

While we did manage to cover a pretty expansive area during out travels there are clearly a number of places that we didn't have time to get to. For example Milford Sound (fjords) of the South Island are supossed to be stunning and we also didn't have chance to see any of the coast line of the North Island.

Highlights
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WELLINGTON
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Wellington is the prettiest of NZ's cities, complete with harbour and stunning waterfront, colourful buildings overlooking highlands and a quaint tram line if you don't fancy the walk. Additonally theres is good shopping and night life and it's not too touristy which is a benefit in my opinion but you wouldn't want to spend ages here, it is just another city at the end of the day.

FRANZ JOSEPH GLACIER
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Take a day trip or a half day trip and go glacier walking up in the mountains on the West Coast of the South Island. Oh my god I have the most amazing photo's of this you wouldn't believe it. The view is stunning and you get to crawl through ice caverns and crevices. It isn't too physically demanding either so don't worry. In addition to the walks you can take a helicopter ride over this whole area (sadly we had to forgo this, we needed to eat).

QUEENSTOWN
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Situated South Central South Island. This is a pure party town! Full of fabulous bars and eateries, situated on a large lake and surrounded by a stunning backdrop of mountains. Take the cable car up and marvel at one of the most amazing views ever. Go skiing, snowboarding, white water rafting, fishing or hiking. Indulge in a whole variety of water sports and finally for those who dare take a bungy jump (not for me thanks)! One of my favourite places ever, we had the time of our lives!

KAIKORA
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Situated on the Eastern shores of the South Island, the main reason to go to Kaikora is to complete a whale watching tour. However, this depands on the season and there are no guarentees. Sadly we were unlucky in this respect. Otherwise Kaikora is a quaint seaside town ideal for taking long walks along the coastline to marvel at the coastal views and the sheer numbers of seals that you'll see just footsteps away.

ROTORUA
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Found in central North Island, this is the center of volcanic activity in New Zealand and there are a number of volcanic parks in which to marvel at bubbling mud pools, shooting geyers and pools of astonishingly bright greem and orange coloured water. This was another truely amazing experience. Be warned though because of all the sulphur a rotton egg smell hangs over the whole town and steam comes up out of the drains which is a little unpleasant!

THE BAY OF ISLANDS
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North of Auckland, on the North Island, the Bay of Islands is a group of pictureque scattered archipelegos famous for it's dolphins, if you have ever wanted to swin with them then here's your chance!

Throughout our trip we stayed in hostels, which are abundant and friendly, paying around about £8 per night. The hostels were generally clean and well equipped and almost all of them contain kitchens which also helps to cut the costs alot. New Zealand is a little cheaper than the UK on the whole when it comes to food and getting round etc but the cost of a trip really depends what you want to do. Obviously if you want to go skiing, skydiving, white water rafting and engage in a whole lot of other extreme sports then it's going to cost you alot more.

In summary I really can;t recommend New Zealand enough. I fell in love with it almost immediately. The scenery is breath takingly stunning, particularly in the South where the highest mountains are found. In addition the country is so empty that you can drive along main coastal routes for hours hardly passing a soul. This is the most amazing and beautiful country and there is simply no way you could fail to love it!

Summary: WOW. What an amazing place......