New Zealand Travel Blog

The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia runs a photographic competition each year. The winning pictures go into a calendar, alongside their stories exploring Australias Seasonal Changes. The calander showcases a carefully selected portfolio of images representing the diversity of Australias highly variable weather and climate. The calendar, now in its 28th year, is published by the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. 

A group of intrepid New Zealanders are undertaking an amazing and some say perilous journey across the Pacific Ocean to Easter Island. They are sailing in a traditional waka hourua (double-hulled sailing canoes) without GPS or modern navigational tools, in a bid to retrace and revitalise the steps of their ancestors in Maori history; the crew are using only the stars and moon with ocean currents to guide them. Traditional methods of navigation waned soon after European settlement in the Pacific.

Once described as "Mardi Gras meets Haute Couture at a Peter Gabriel concert directed by Salvador Dali," This show twists conventional perceptions of art and fashion Welcome to the World of Wearable Art! Individual works of art are designed and animated by the body then choreographed into a two-hour theatrical show. Each year's performance is original and contains elements of dance, music, drama and comedy. Attracting both local and international artists it is now considered one of the most prestigious art and fashion competitions in the world.

Who or what is DOC? 

When travelling through New Zealand and especially if you venture outdoors, you will inevitably see DOC signs and or meet DOC rangers -  But who or what are they?

Well 'DOC' or the 'Department of Conservation'  is the government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. They have a very cool vision and that is for New Zealand to be the greatest living space on Earth | Kāore he wāhi i tua atu i a Aotearoa, hei wahi noho i te ao.

The Southern Lights, as it is also known, is particularly active in our hemisphere during the winter months. The base is usually seen at about 100km up in the air, and can extend up to a further 300km at the top. This breathtakingly vibrant optical phenomenon is named after the Roman goddess of the dawn (Aurora) and appeared to Tekapo's residents as a  huge green undulating  curtain of light.

With a blatant show of electioneering, the Aurora Australis danced high above the residents of Lake Tekapo this week.

Deep in the South Seas, the most southerly of the Cook Islands has the distinction of being the oldest island in the Pacific. Analysis of its geology shows it dates from 18 million years ago Steeped with legends and myths, its age, structure and ancient artifacts have for decades meant this unique tropical island has become a Mecca for archaeologists and anthropologists... Mangaia’s remarkable natural beauty and serenity are only part of its fascination…

This week two US students trapped in New Zealand's South Island wilderness by a snowstorm, trekked back out to safety after surviving their nine-day ordeal by rationing their meager supplies to a biscuit and jelly per day. "I believe when you go into the bush you take your life into your own hands and need to be prepared to handle whatever conditions occur,"  said 21 year old  Alec Brown . "We could have been more prepared, but in the end we were prepared enough to walk ourselves out." We disagree.

Last week we took our 2 and 4-year-old girls to see the Tamaki Māori Village Experience in Rotorua.

The experience from our perspective was a good one. Once home, like a good little tourist, I logged onto Trip Advisor to air my thoughts and contribute to the so called "reviews you can trust" I came across a review that at first glance looked deliberately malicious (a false review) but on further inspection it became apparent that the reviewer had little or no understanding of contemporary Maori or held a totally unrealistic expectation to what he was letting himself in for.

I was going to start this post with something silly, along the lines “Is that a banana in your pocket…..” and show an image of chimp with the offending item, but thought better of it:  stave off the hilarity this post is about biosecurity and how seriously we take it. This post may just save you a lot of time and a wad of cash.

Sometimes you just get lucky and today was one of those days. We were staying at the beautiful Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort and guess who should pitch up for the dive but the man himself Jean-Michel Cousteau. Considering he only gets to the resort one week per year, our timing couldn’t have been better. One of the best dives I've had in Fiji!