News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Frontier Neuseeland

Frontier Neuseeland

44-page cover spread on NZ in December’s GEO Saison – Germany’s premiere travel magazine. The article, “New Zealand – Setting out into the Big Freedom,” focuses on ex-pat Germans in Aotearoa, from Northland to Stewart Island. The…

Great southern (is)Land

Great southern (is)Land

The South Island was ranked fourth on the BBC‘s “50 places to see before you die,” clocking in behind the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, and Disney World. The list was compiled via a phone…

A Walk in Good Company

A Walk in Good Company

“On the South Island, it’s fun and games with Kiwis on a privately operated trail that delivers fine coastal scenery, rustic lodgings and, happily, no crowds.” LA Times writer discovers the joys of NZ tramping the…

Hostel Heaven

Hostel Heaven

LA Times‘ Youth Beat offers tips for the budget traveller. “NZ has a reputation for having the world’s best hostels, and one thing that helps to keep the hostel owners on their toes is the Blue…

NZ: High-end Bottom of the World Destination

NZ: High-end Bottom of the World Destination

Turning conventional wisdom upside down New York Times finds that:”isolation, long an obstacle to international tourism, has become a plus in the post-Sept. 11 world. New Zealand, long promoted as clean and green, is now adding “safe.”…

Brazarre

Brazarre

In the Sydney Morning Herald: “New Zealand’s most uplifting tourist attraction, a brassiere-hung fence in the Cardrona valley in Otago is being restored. Farmer John Lee will wire 400 bras – sent to him by women…

“If It’s Made in Auckland It Looks Like the Future”

“If It’s Made in Auckland It Looks Like the Future”

Spurred by the America’s Cup (“couldn’t be in a more fabulous setting”) Travel + Leisure checks out the evolving new world styles of Auckland: “The city has evolved over the past two decades from…

“Pastoral Eden”

“Pastoral Eden”

Writer Luba Vangelova takes a road trip up the “stunningly beautiful” east coast of the North Island – a journey described as “temporal as well as geographical.” Vangelova muses over the locals who ” the lost days…

History Resurfaces

History Resurfaces

A letter penned by Captain Cook announcing his return from Australasian waters has been discovered stuck behind a picture frame at Brancaster Hall, England. The 200-year old missive “recalls the grim hardship of what is now considered…

NZ Condé Nast Hot Spots

NZ Condé Nast Hot Spots

US Conde Nast Traveler’s influential “hot list” names the Auckland Hilton, Eagle’s Nest in the Bay of Islands, and the lodge at Kauri Cliffs as the premier places to stay in NZ. Auckland’s 

“Land of the Long White Run”

“Land of the Long White Run”

NZ slopes get the thumbs up from Oz ski-buffs. The Southern Alps: “bigger than the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps combined” – are praised for their variety, beauty, and value for the dollar in a comprehensive SMH report.

Idyll

Idyll

Vogue Living (Australia) visits the gardens of the exlusive Huka Lodge, designed by Suzanne Turley. “With brilliant green lawns punctuated by conifers, native trees and sub-tropical plants, the serene garden of New Zealand’s Huka Lodge encapsulates nature’s…

Queenstown on Cruise Control

Queenstown on Cruise Control

“Adrenalin, who needs it?” John Westbrooke discovers the secret to an enjoyable Queenstown holiday for over-60’s, recommending cheese-tasting, wine tours, and gondolier rides over the ubiquitous bungee jump. Not an extreme sport in sight!

Airborne Frodo-philes

Airborne Frodo-philes

“They can visit Lothlorien They can smell the smells and see the sights that Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee felt.” After months spent ferrying cast and crew around NZ, Milford-based Glenorchy Air is now offering Tolkein…

From Here to Eternity

From Here to Eternity

“Tinkling ivories, crashing waves, visit volcanoes, rainforests and surf-pounded beaches where you can re-enact scenes from The Piano.” The Independent’s “one hour from …” series spreads its compass around Auckland and as well as soulful beachscapes in…

Summer Time and the Living’s Cheap

Summer Time and the Living’s Cheap

Taupo makes the list of top-10 alternate destinations for US students traveling abroad for their summer. Up there with Cappadocia, Kuala Lumpur, and Krakow, Taupo is recommended for its extreme outdoor sports and value for the dollar.

Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water

“In my native NZ, a rain-free day is a small miracle, so my sodden soul soars when I feel that dry heat and behold those azure skies.” Desert-worshipping Kiwi Amanda Jones chronicles her Chilean adventure…

Postcard-spotting?

Postcard-spotting?

Lynn Barber leaves the trains at home and follows the postcard route through godzone, finds it to be “truly paradise” but also close to 100% boring. “To appreciate NZ you need to be all the things…

Best Haul

Best Haul

Ironically for Lynn, NZ was once again voted “Best Long Haul Country” over Australia, Cuba, Japan, Thailand et al by Guardian and Observer readers – they must have got off the bus and visited at…

New Zealand: Closer to the Edge

New Zealand: Closer to the Edge

Independent editor at large Janet Street Porter finds she can’t get close enough: “No wonder I’ve been back to New Zealand three times in three years. Sod the 20-something hours in the plane; the end result…

Utopia: Wild at Heart

Utopia: Wild at Heart

“The grandeur of this place is so extreme it makes you want to dive right into the heart of it”, Aotearoa-NZ is May cover country of one of the world’s most prestigious travel magazines, National Geographic…

From Sea to Sea: Kipling’s Landscapes

From Sea to Sea: Kipling’s Landscapes

Biographer David Gilmour finds chronicler of British imperialism Rudyard Kipling has an affinity for the edges, “his favourite landscapes were in adverse angles of the Pacific (New Zealand and British Columbia) and in opposite corners of the…

Journey to Middle Earth

Journey to Middle Earth

Following in the tradition of cine-tourism success prompted by such films as A Passage to India, Out of Africa, and Crocodile Dundee, New Zealand is enjoying its busiest ever summer tourism season, due in part…

Boondoggle Playtime

Boondoggle Playtime

Featured in the April edition of Fortune magazine’s ‘boondoggle’ section: Wall Street billionaire Julian Robertson has built Kauri Cliffs, a “remote, lush getaway on more than 5,000 acres at the northern tip of New Zealand.” “Three private…

Wanderlust: On the Beaten Track

Wanderlust: On the Beaten Track

A British lecturer has been funded to back-pack around NZ in the name of academic enquiry as the twentysomething MTV generation hit the road with wanderlust in their eyes: “Research done so far suggests that backpacking is…

The Response: “Anything But Dull”

The Response: “Anything But Dull”

Ellie’s provocations do not go unanswered with fans and citizens coming to the defence of the land and people. NZ enthusiast Marianne Curphey: “What makes this country different is that it doesn’t regard wildness as something…

This is Not the New Zealand Edge

This is Not the New Zealand Edge

Guardian Netjetter Ellie finds Godzone = dullzone, writing that you may need a thesaurus to do New Zealand’s beauty justice, but unfortunately that doesn’t make the country any more interesting: “One of the most frequently heard compliments…

NZ: Stroppy Sheilas & Mana Wahines

NZ: Stroppy Sheilas & Mana Wahines

Hauling a caravan behind a vintage Valiant, the Adventure Divas crew do New Zealand. Along the way they shoot pool with young film-maker Sima Urale, chill in Wellington with documentarian Gaylene Preston, are welcomed into the…

“Sweet As”

“Sweet As”

Next stop Queenstown – “an adrenalin-fuelled, hyperactive, big scream of a town where tourists go for one of two reasons: either to jump from a plane, mountain or bridge, or to watch others do…

Wheel World Road Trip

Wheel World Road Trip

SMH’s Kendall Hill goes Campervanning in NZ. She jokes that she was looking forward to a “wucked trip” but, “the pursuit of puns and funny thungs gave way to the pure enjoyment of exploring this remarkable…

Earlier Ellie: “Sweet As”

Earlier Ellie: “Sweet As”

Ellie finds down under dialect quirks and more: “At the Polynesian Spa I soaked in the thermal pools overlooking Lake Rotorua…I don’t know whether it was the ylang ylang, the lavender, the sandalwood or…

World Class Metropolis

World Class Metropolis

Good life here and now: Auckland is ranked above Munich, Melbourne, Stockholm and Toronto to win sixth place for overall quality of life in a William M. Mercer survey of 215 cities, topped by Zurich in…

Paradise Found

Paradise Found

The Southern Alps. The Tongariro volcanoes. The Fiordland rain forest. “There is something archetypal about the scenery here, as though someone copied the planet’s most distinctive landscapes and jammed them all on two islands….New Zealand is the…

A Pub Crawler’s Guide to Philosophy? Yeah Right.

A Pub Crawler’s Guide to Philosophy? Yeah Right.

US tour New Zealand “via its breweries, pubs and hard-case taverns”, finding barmaids who “pour the purge with a scowl that could compete with the hog trophies on the walls”, and brewers who freely offer insight into…

Record Tourism Numbers

Record Tourism Numbers

“Despite the global downturn New Zealand still welcomed a record number of international visitors for the 2010 1,909,391 people visited, a 6.9 percent increase from the previous year”.

Fans Flock to Tolkien Trail

Fans Flock to Tolkien Trail

“Thanks to a bunch of elves, orcs and hobbits”, New Zealand is “one of this year’s most fashionable tourist destinations”. Experts believe the trilogy will boost NZ’s tourist industry by a third. On the edge we’ve always…

Great Escape

Great Escape

The Times lists New Zealand a hot destination, due to scenery witnessed in Lord of the Rings. United Kingdom travel companies report 20 per cent increases in travel bookings since the film’s release. .

Clean, Green and Safe

Clean, Green and Safe

Condé Nast Traveller recently rated Aotearoa the world’s safest destination and the Government wants to make sure the haven remains safe, committing increased resources to help fight terrorism.

Heavenly Creatures

Heavenly Creatures

“Director Peter Jackson knew something Hollywood did not. He knew that his home country was more than a match for the imaginative breadth of Tolkien’s vision. The Lord of the Rings blows the secret – there is…

Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ

Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ

Tourists can now make in-depth explorations of New Zealand’s Milford Sound aboard a four-passenger sub, descending 330 feet underwater.

Marlborough: An Inauguration of the Senses

Marlborough: An Inauguration of the Senses

NBC editor-at-large pontificates on Marlborough: “what a place I found!  It was a delicious way to finish four days of active travel in the near-anonymous adventure axis of the Pacific. It seemed a place beyond…

Land of the Safe White Cloud

Land of the Safe White Cloud

In a survey of travelers carried out by Condé Nast, New Zealand scores the highest for safety, with a reassuring 94.69. It is also voted the ninth most popular destination, beating out traditional favourites like Greece,…

South Sea’s Cruising

South Sea’s Cruising

“… Come aboard … we’re expecting you”. NZ makes the Top Ten Winter Cruise destination listing in November’s Condé Nast Traveller.

Deals Abound in New Zealand

Deals Abound in New Zealand

“Wow,” exclaims an article written by an American tourist holidaying in Auckland and the Bay of Islands. Americans are catching onto the favourable exchange rate and the relative equality of prices, making NZ “an adventure playground…

Edge Exploration

Edge Exploration

New Zealand: “explore it and you won’t regret it”

Green and Gorgeous Land

Green and Gorgeous Land

“New Zealand … is a gorgeous place. It’s pristine and green, people are friendly, and it’s well organised for visitors …” South Africa’s Independent takes an edge challenge and tries to review NZ without mentioning “hot-air ballooning,…

Yankee Dangle

Yankee Dangle

Want thrills? Inhale the air  head to Queenstown for “utter exhilaration” and the town Bill Clinton called the “most beautiful place on earth.”  

Healthy Holiday

Healthy Holiday

Allergic to mold? Your best holiday destination is “a snow-capped New Zealand mountain above the Pacific” where the elevation, snow, and ocean breezes kill dust mites and mold.

Survivor 3: The Holiday

Survivor 3: The Holiday

Survivor 2: The Australian Outback has tourism spin-offs for New Zealand in South Nevada.

Best Beaches

Best Beaches

New Zealand Beaches: solitude, expanse, beauty. The best. “At the back of the beach was a huge whale vertebra, bleached and scoured by the surf. I took a break on a huge log facing the sun,…

Edge to Travel TV

Edge to Travel TV

US Travel Channel radically overhauls its image with “a new TV spot showing skate kids mountain-boarding down a sheep-studded slope in New Zealand”. “For the first time, the excitement and feel of a commercial really matched our…

Milford Enchants

Milford Enchants

Beautiful scenery and dare-devil flying over “a serene sea-loch towered over by glossy, beech-clad pyramidal peaks”.

Top Travel…

Top Travel…

New Zealand scores as Guardian readers’ favorite long-haul travel destination.

And Why…

And Why…

“There was a moment halfway up the Coromandel Peninsula, only a couple of hours out of Auckland, when I felt that this was as good as it gets. But there was plenty of competition for that…

Jumped

Jumped

A.J. Hackett – the edge entrepreneur and adrenalin junkie who took bungee from a bridge in Queenstown to the world – profiled as pioneering legend of ‘American'(!) adventure sport in this month’s Vanity Fair. 

Subterranean Stars

Subterranean Stars

Caver Dominic Casciani admires the beauty below the surface: “In New Zealand I have splashed through cave water, prompting microscopic glowing to light up the cave ceiling like a second zodiac”.