Post #136430 by Tiki Chris on Wed, Jan 19, 2005 10:43 PM

Kia ora Tiki Central! Emi & I are just back from three fantastic weeks in NZ! And as far as tips go ...

I'm going out on a limb to say that I wish we'd had more time on the North Island - if only to see & experience a bit more Maori & Polynesian culture. Auckland's got the highest Polynesian population in the world (Maori's yes, but also Samoans, Tokilauans, Fijians & more). The Auckland Museum & Te Papa in Wellington were so loaded w/ Polynesian art & artifacts that I thought my head was going to explode! Rotorua (especially the New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute w/ its access to Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley) is an incredible place that was hard to leave!

That said, we happily spent most of our time bopping around the South Island in our rented campervan. Fiordland National Park & the Milford Sound are gorgeous & were well worth the trek!

The only real bummer was the price of souvenirs. Maori carvings are ubiquitous but pricey (along w/ other ubiquitous items such as wool sweaters). Some of this might have a little to do w/ the weak dollar, but still NZ$40 for a T-shirt seems a bit steep.

NZ wines are wonderful & a good bargain. We tried a bunch of inexpensive whites while there. There were a few that I really liked. The Matua Valley Late Harvest Muscat & the Saints Gisborne Noble Semillon were two of my faves.

We could have easily stayed longer & there are tons of places we didn't get to explore but really wanted to. I hope to get back there some day to see them!

I'll post some pics as soon as they're developed.

Cheers,
Tiki Chris

[ Edited by: tiki chris on 2005-01-20 06:35 ]