Northland

She’s known as one of New Zealand’s ‘rat race refugees’, but Rebecca Shawyer’s decision to throw in a high profile international food career for a lifestyle change is putting her back on the world stage – this time for a different kind of handiwork.

A conservator specialising in Māori and Pacific objects has turned an expert hand to restoring one of New Zealand’s oldest surviving Māori waka (canoe).

New Zealand’s reputation for sustainable practice and environmental awareness has prompted growth in eco-tourism as more travellers seek eco-friendly accommodation.

A regular feature on many parts of the North and South Island coast, 13 different dolphin species live in the waters around New Zealand.

Generations of Kiwis, past and present, have grown up with dolphin tales – the stories of ‘celebrity’ dolphins who’ve achieved local and sometimes international fame through their exploits in New Zealand’s coastal waters.

The smallest and rarest species of dolphin, the Hector’s dolphin, is undergoing a population boost due to conservation work at the dolphin sanctuary at Banks Peninsula.

Environmentally-aware tourists interested in off-the-beaten-track travel are monitoring progress on New Zealand’s national cycleway project, an ambitious project that’s due to begin development in November 2009.

Background information on the host towns and cities for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Thirteen host towns and cities in different New Zealand regions will help fill the 'stadium of four million' promised by the New Zealand Rugby Union for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Like all best kept secrets word eventually gets out, so it's no surprise - with luxury travel now one of the country's fastest growing tourism sectors - that the world is waking up to New Zealand's luxury travel possibilities.