Visitor Information New Zealand

Welcome to our visitor information New Zealand page and congratulations on choosing NZ for your next travel adventure.

You are in for an unforgettable experience and we look forward to being your online travel guide.

The following links provide all the information you need to know about travelling in each New Zealand region.

Discover with us this unique and dynamic culture (called the great Kiwi lifestyle) as well as view stunning landscapes of lush forests, pristine beaches, majestic mountain ranges and fertile farming plains.

Koru by Diana Adams

Visitor Information New Zealand: New Zealand is a diverse country, multi-cultural and multi-racial based on a unique blend of Maori, European, Pacific and Asian cultures.

New Zealand comprises two main islands, as Captain Cook recognised in his chart of 1769-1770.

This island lies approximately between latitudes 34 and 42 N., and though separated only by the narrow Cook Strait from the other it is in most respects-topography, scenery, land use, density of population-an almostly completely different country.

Within its own bounds it, too, presents striking contrasts. Northland the peninsula north of Auckland City comprises a variety of soils of differing geo­logical origin.

All dominated by sub-tropical climatic conditions with warm humid summers, mild winters, and a rainfall varying from 40 to 100 inches.

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South of Auckland is the basin of the lower Waikato originally clothed with fern and scrub on naturally poor pumice soils, but now converted by modern technology into the premier dairying district of New Zealand. To the east lies the Bay of Plenty suitably named in its own right for dairying and for citrus and other fruits, and now rapidly developing as the outlet for the timber products of the exotic forests.

The central volcanic plateau is covered by inherently poor volcanic ash soils, and is characterised by a fairly high rainfall and extremes of summer and winter temperatures.

Originally clothed with fern and scrub it has been given over largely to forestry, and now in fact contains the largest man-made forest in the world, mainly of the exotic radiata pine.

The eastern districts of Wellington and Hawke's Bay, areas of mountain, hill, and valley, have a rainfall of from 30 to 50 inches, falling mainly in the winter, and hot summers-conditions that favour sheep farm­ing, and, in favoured places, pip and stone-fruits. The great bulge of Taranaki dominated by Mount Egmont, and the lands west of the mountain ranges that extend north-east from Wellington to merge into the central volcanic plateau, were originally clothed with heavy bush, now replaced, where accessible, after axe and fire, by green pasture.

The North Island not only has more people than the South, but what is more impressive, is that the northern half of the North Island has more people than have its southern half and the South Island put together.

In both islands urban population con­tinues to grow faster than, and to a large extent at the expense of, the rural, as it has done for the last ninety years.

Some towns have shown remarkable growth in recent years, partly owing to the development of new industries in or near them.

But it was not always so. A century ago settlement in the North Island was discouraged by resistance from the Maori people, while gold discoveries in the South at­tracted thousands of immigrants.

In the course of time, resistance from the Maori diminished, as did also the accessible gold supplies in the South: the advice of the elders was, "Go north, young man."

Slowly but steadily the North Island bush, fern, and scrub yielded to the axe and fire of the new settlers, and many thousands of acres were converted into pasturage for sheep and cattle.

Some bush was felled that in the interests of water and soil conservation, as well as of future timber supplies, would have been better left standing; but that comment merely expresses the wisdom of hindsight.

Pastures have been steadily improved with management as well as by the increasing use of fertilisers, nowadays applied from aircraft in areas not readily accessible to land vehicles.

Rivalry between the two Islands flourishes, but the tussle is confined mainly to the football field.

Almost equally or even more intense is the feeling between the erstwhile capital city of Auckland and the present and long­ established capital, Wellington.

But the ardour of Aucklanders who would boast of their beautiful harbour is moderated by the enervating humid climate of the north, while the heat of Wellingtonians is tempered by the southerly gales that lash their equally beautiful harbour.

As to scenery, each island has its attractions, different but unsurpassed of their kind.

Discover with us, the rich heritage and history of each region.

Please search the following Visitor Information New Zealand Network:

Aotea Harbour Visitor Information Kawhia Harbour Visitor Information King Country Visitor Information Raglan Harbor Auckland Visitor Information Bay of Plenty Visitor Information Dunedin Visitor Information Bay of Islands Travel Information Waitomo Cave Travel Information Waikato Travel Information Mokau River Taranaki Travel Information Chatham Island Visitor Information Back to home from Visitor Information New Zealand Queenstown Travel Information Ninety Mile Beach NZ Kaitaia travel information Waiwera Natural Hot Springs Tauranga Travel Information Gisborne Travel Information Cape Kidnappers Travel Information Lake Wanaka Visitor Information Fiordland Travel Information Marlborough Sounds History and Travel Info Nelson History and Travel Info Christchurch Travel Information Westland (West Coast Travel Info Stewart Island Travel information Invercargill Visitor Information Thames Travel Information Coromandel Travel Information Auckland City Travel and Historical Information Wellington Travel and Historical Information Taupo Travel and Historical Information Whangarei Travel and Historical Information

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