NewZealand punches well above its weight with its outlandish scenery, fabulous festivals, superb food and wine, and magical outdoor experiences. Equally impressive is NZ’s potent, mainstream Maori culture. This is a country that recognises and celebrates its indigenous people the world is a kinder, gentler, more respectful place down here! And while the fanfare surrounding the Lord of the Rings trilogy is waning, visiting the real life.Auckland’s a city of volcanoes, with the ridges of lava flows forming its main thoroughfares and its many cones providing islands of green within the sea of suburbs. As well as being by far the largest, it’s the most multicultural of Newzeland’s cities. A sizable Asian community rubs shoulders with the biggest Polynesian population of any city in the world.he traditional Kiwi aspiration for a freestanding house on a quarter-acre section has resulted in a vast, sprawling city. The CBD was long ago abandoned to commerce, and inner-city apartment living has only just started to catch on. While geography has been kind, city planning has been less so. Unbridled and ill-conceived development has left the centre of the city with some architectural embarrassments.The city and its surrounds also support a collection of activities and tours, many of which centre on the wildlife of the nearby Otago Peninsula. Dunedin is an easy city to while away a few days, and more than a few travellers find themselves staying here longer than they expected as they recover from the noise, adrenaline and crowds of Queenstown ,Christchurch has been slower than Auckland and Wellington to embrace the increasingly multicultural nature of urban New zealand society. Change is now coming through more diverse immigration and a cosmopolitan tinge is being added to the city’s earlier conservatism.New Plymouth acts as the west coast’s only international deep-water port, handling cargo for much of this part of the North Island.
