New Zealand, For The Outdoor People

New Zealand is a country with a “can do” attitude and a thirst for the outdoors. It makes for a fantastic place to go camping or touring, as so many people do every year. As a result, standards are generally high at camp sites and more often than not tent friendly, offering spacious pitches on grass plots, a welcome change from those horrible gravel options available in some countries. Most sites also offer cabins, chalets, on site caravans or some other form of hard accommodation for varying degrees of luxury.  Standard facilities are usually supplied and kiwi hosts are renowned for their friendliness and willingness to help.

But of course the facilities are not why you’d go camping down under. New Zealand’s natural beauty is hard to match.  Stunning mountains, clear lakes, deserted beaches and rolling hills are available in abundance – the hardest part is where to start! There are no snakes, crocodiles or any manner of other people eating creatures, though plenty of sheep!

Many compare a camping experience in New Zealand to Scotland. The comparison is true in many ways though geysers, glaciers, dolphin swimming and a more temperate climate set New Zealand apart as a camping destination. If you’re of the outdoor or adventurous type, then you really couldn’t find a better place to spend a holiday.

So where do you start? As a guide to the places to visit and things to do, the Kiwi Experience offers a wealth of information. This is a in fact a tour for backpackers, not campers, but you really can’t go wrong if you follow their route. Here’s a quick summary of what you could see and do on your trip.

Starting in Auckland, the countries biggest city, head north towards the Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga. The northern part of the North Island has a subtropical climate, and is home to the Kauri, NZ’s tallest trees. The Bay of Islands is beautiful, and is a great place to go dolphin swimming, whale watching, sea kayaking or fishing. Further north is Cape Reinga and 90 mile beach, a huge flat sandy beach, which is actually around 60 miles long, where you can try your hand at sand boarding.

Heading south again, you must stop at Rotorua and see the geysers and hot springs. The whole town smells of rotten eggs, due to the sulphur in the springs. Carrying on to Taupo, why not give skydiving a go. Taupo has one of the best skydiving centers in NZ, and the view as you jump out from 15,000 feet over Lake Taupo is breathtaking to say the least.

River Valley is an excellent place to stop between Taupo and Wellington. There’s not much to see except sheep and mountainous (and beautiful) countryside, but you can do some of the best white water rafting there is.

Next stop is Wellington, which is where I’ll leave you on this whirl wind tour of NZ, and we’ll catch up with in the next article.