"The most beautiful countr ..." a New Zealand Travel Page by martin_nl

Aotearoa, Nieuw Zeeland, or New Zealand as it is called nowadays in english, is a country of many diversities. The country has mountains, volcanoes, geysers, plains, 2 main islands, sheep, gardens, beaches and numerous national parks with some of the greatest tramps in the world. In short New Zealand is the country that has something on offer for everyone.

---

A bit about NZ

---

New Zealand has quite some history, though a lot of it, especially about Maori history and what was before them, is not 100% known. I will not get into it too deep, since history wasn't my best nor my favourite subject, but here goes.... Once there were the native inhabitants of New Zealand and then came the Maori's. The first white man to get to NZ is the good old dutchman Abel Tasman. He named the country Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. He didn't claim the land and it took some time before another European, James Cook got here, and when he did he claimed the land and changed the name to something the english could of course actually pronounce.... And that's how Nieuw Zeeland got transformed into New Zealand. The Maori's call the land Aotearoa, which means 'Land of the Long White Cloud'.

---

My travels in Aotearoa

---

I have travelled around New Zealand with the Kiwi Experience bus, which was very convenient. It took me to most of the places I wanted to go without any hassles, and it was easy to get onto activities.

I started my trip in Christchurch where I stayed for a few days and met up with Rosie (rozehill). She showed me around some of the good stuff in the surroundings of Christchurch. The I went north, crossed the water to the North Island and all the way of to Cape Reinga. After a few weeks in which I boogie boarded down huge sanddunes, farted my way around Rotorua, skydyved back down to Taupo and found my way out of Tongariro NP it was time again to go back to the South Island.

I did the grand loop around that island in which I kayaked the Abel Tasman NP, froze my a$$ off on the Franz Josef glacier, stood 'on top of the world' on the Ben Lomond in Queenstown, got almost washed away on the Milford Track, but had to wear sunnies in Milford Sound the day after, got hailed on at the southern most point of the country and white water rafted my way back to Christchurch.

---

A bit about this page

---

To follow my trails I suggest you do the following:

Take a look at the Must See tips and that will take you around New Zealand too in the same way as I went through it, though only virtual of course ;-)

In the Accommodation tips I have listed my favourite hostel as well as all the backpackers chains you will come across in NZ.

In Nightlife I have put some of my favourite nighlife towns in the country.

In Local Customs I've put up some tips about the Maori culture that might be both useful and interesting to know.

And in Sports I have listed the activities I have done while touring around both the North and the South Island.

Finally after reading this page I hope you feel the need to go to New Zealand too, because well... simply said... it's the most diverse and beautiful country in the world!!!