Auckland’s fashionable North Shore abounds with spacious parks, reserves, beaches and golf clubs offering a diverse range of settings and contours. The region is noted for surprising contrasts in the form of its coastlines, with sheltered bays in the east and wild, surf-pounded black sand beaches in the west.
Blue skies, balmy, sub-tropical days and spectacular seascapes make the ‘Winterless North’ of the North Island the perfect holiday location. It is no surprise then, to find that private developers have secured prime cliff top land to create manicured courses that are aesthetically pleasing works of art.
Slide into your seat, buckle yourself in, grip the handrail and wait for the adrenalin to flow. Later when the driver says ‘Hold on" respond quickly before he executes a white-knuckle jet-spin. These simple instructions are all you require to enjoy a uniquely New Zealand experience - jet-boating on the wild West Coast rivers.
Take a hike on a massive river of ice sliding inexorably down the precipitous slopes of the Southern Alps. Glacier walking is one of New Zealand’s top attractions. Experienced guides can lead you into an alien world of blue-tinged ice caves, seracs and pinnacles on the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers on the South Island’s West Coast.
Welcome to the heart of Glacier Country - the township of Franz Josef - nestling at the foot of the Southern Alps. Feel the buzz of excitement as coach loads of expectant tourists are whisked away from the Alpine Adventure Centre, and aerial sightseers soar skywards in a whirl of rotor blades, bound for Mt Cook.
New Zealand has a dynamic duo of glaciers, which are easily accessed and provide a fascinating and unique holiday experience. Nowhere else in the world, at this latitude, do glaciers flow down into a temperate rainforest so close to sea level.
What do you fancy as an appetiser? Was that whitebait or worm patties, huhu grub sushi or battered snails? You will be spoiled with choices at the Hokitika Wild Foods Festival, a culinary celebration of the Kiwi's innovative ability to ‘live off the natural resources of the land and sea’.
The fun of a West Coast holiday begins with a journey through the Southern Alps. A 600 km long, incredibly straight wall of mountains locks the Coast into an exclusive climate zone and eco-system. Ancient Maori greenstone (jade) trails were the only land links with the rest of New Zealand 150 years ago.
Be sure to visit New Zealand’s only white heron (kotuku) nesting colony. It’s a neat experience observing these magnificent birds, which are supremely graceful and elegant in all their movements. The colony of 150 white herons, royal spoonbills and little shags is found in the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve.
Virtually every rock-bound riverbed yields secrets of heritage gold diggings. Fossick in the loose gravels of any tumbling mountain stream on the Coast and you have a good prospect of winning a small ‘colour’. Visitors to the West Coast can have a personal experience of the 1860’s gold rush days at Shantytown.
The ‘Stone of the Gods’ was literally fashioned as the offspring of volcanoes, earthquakes and uplifted mountains. Greenstone, or ‘pounamu’ was prominent in ancient Maori mythology because of its vital importance as the medium for tool and weapon making.
Pull on a wetsuit and helmet, then launch your raft onto a fast-flowing river for the spine-tingling, heart-pounding ride of a lifetime. The wild West Coast has numerous short, steep rivers descending from the high country in the Southern Alps.
