Spring

As New Zealand bursts into spring colour, an event-filled calendar and the forecast of a long hot summer promise to banish winter blues.

Colourful garden festivals and events throughout New Zealand during 2009.

The Southern Alps glisten with fresh spring snow, and the buzz of enthusiastic spring skiers is unmistakable. Bigger than the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps combined, the Southern Alps stretch 2000 metres high across the South Island.

The start of spring coincides with the beginning of the whitebait season on the West Coast. South Islanders and tourists flock to river entrances with nets to collect the translucent, thin inch-long whitebait.

In spring, New Zealand's vast mountains are usually more accessible for hikers, with receding snow, longer daylight hours, and warmer conditions.

Spring in New Zealand is a season of colour, new life, new harvests of food and wine and exciting arts and cultural events.

Taranaki is renowned for its fabulous gardens of roses, rhododendrons, fuchsias and native plants.

The Ellerslie Flower Show in Auckland is one of the largest floral exhibitions in the southern hemisphere.