Comments (0)

By admin, February 23, 2010 5:23 am

New Zealand MUST SEE- N. Island, S. Island or both?

I’m secretly celebrating my 40th birthday -alone- by choice. I want this trip to be crazy, sexy, cool, like me! I only have 2 weeks vacation: I plan to go to Melbourne, Sydney and then New Zealand.

NZ is fantastic wherever you visit. I’m Australian, but have visited many times (it is just over the ditch, after all). It entirely depends on what you’re interested in, however. Queenstown (on the south island) is beautiful and well known for the adventure tours. It’s close to Milford Sound, which I recommend as a ‘must do’ on the south island: it’s absolutely spectacular. You can get bus tours from Q’town which include a boat trip in the sound. If you’re going in winter and enjoy the snow, q’town is excellent for that, too. Christchurch, also on the south island, is a lovely town. Way down south is dunedin, which is almost dead when university is on break, but is still great fun – if you can get there when the rugby is on, get tickets

North island: Auckland cops a lot of flak from the locals, but is actually a great city. The bay of islands, way up north, is great for beachy type activities, or just for lounging around. It’s also basically where europeans signed an important treaty with the indigenous population (the treaty of waitangi), which has great signifcance.

Wellington has a great museum: it’s worth driving up to the lookout over wellington for the view at night. It’s windy, though

Napier is a small but beautiful town: it was flattened by an earthquake in the thirties, so the whole place was rebuilt at once in the art deco style. If you’re into art deco, it’s unmissable. Rotorua is a very interesting place, with mud pools, hot springs and geysers. It;s the most popular tourist destination in nz. It’s also a base to go on some tours of ‘maori villages’ which, though very, very touristy, are still quite interesting and worthwhile.

Just a few things to mull over…

And happy birthday

Australia, Kangaroo Island

Island Ting Water Adventure of Key West $86.5 Great for the entire family! Sail to the only living coral reef in North America, enjoy continental breakfast, buffet luncheon, afternoon snack, complimentary beer, sangria wine and soft drinks. Snorkel and swim amongst the colorful tropical fish, flora and fauna.

Desert ATV Tours $178.69 Experience the thrill of navigating through creeks, sandy washes, rocky riverbeds, and rugged desert trails on a fully automatic ATV! Visit the most serene mountains and lakes the Sonoran Desert has to offer. You control your adventure!

Kangaroo Island (Small Group) Tour $327.13 Spend the day exploring the wildlife wonderland of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Teeming with native wildlife, Australias third largest island will delight you with its natural beauty. Covered in natural bushland and sugar gum forests, Flinders Chase is the ideal place to get up close and personal with wildlife and explore fascinating rock formations. Admirals Arch is a limestone arch carved by the pounding ocean over millions of years. This is a favourite haunt of a colony of lazy New Zealand fur seals. Continue to Remarkable Rocks and view its collection of sculpted granite boulders. Koalas and kangaroos will be visable throughout this exploration of the island. Whet your appetite with a walk through bushland and you may catch a glimpse of the echidna, a spiny anteater. Vivonne Bay and Point Ellen are ideal for simply lazing around on an endless stretch of white sand beachA storehouse of native wildlife and fascinating natural formations, Kangaroo Island will leave you with memories to treasure.