Recreation & Sport

New Zealander Scarlett Hagen is on top of the world as a mountain biker, but she is happy to scale the heights for almost any outdoor pursuit.

A bumper 2008 ski season - with plenty of snow and international tourists boosting visitor numbers to record levels – has New Zealand’s ski tourism industry in a positive frame for the 2009 winter season.

New Zealanders first started building boats out of necessity, as they lived in a country totally surrounded by sea.

Since AJ Hackett dived off the Eiffel Tower 20 years ago, his bungy-jumping craze has continued to scale new heights of daring.

For the uninitiated, rugby must seem a game of contradictions. The ball, which isn’t round, can only be thrown backwards, but players run forwards, and you earn points for a good try.

Prolific Westerns writer Zane Grey (1872-1939) visited New Zealand’s Bay of Islands in 1926 where he introduced sport fishing for marlin and shark.

Sailing veteran Tony Rae could claim to know the Hauraki Gulf like the back of his hand. But, even though the 47-year-old has been sailing the waters of Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf since he was a boy, he says there are still sheltered bays and hidden coves that surprise him.

Emirates Team New Zealand team mates Dean Barker and Kelvin Harrap love to drive- be it on the water in an America’s Cup yacht, or on the track racing cars.

The northern waters of New Zealand are home to the biggest yellowtail kingfish in the world, known locally as kingfish or ‘kingies’.

The New Zealand invention, Blokart is rapidly becoming the world’s most popular land-based sail sport.