Christchurch - Canterbury

Kaikoura is a leading nature tourist destination, best-known for its whale watching tours.

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

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.

Tolkien fans fascinated by the world Peter Jackson captured on film during his Lord of the Rings trilogy continue to travel New Zealand searching for the real Middle Earth.

While Sir Edmund Hillary became one of the world’s most famous explorers, his mountaineering days began close to home on the slopes of Aoraki Mount Cook in New Zealand - and now visitors to the area can share the passage of his long and brilliant career.

Colourful garden festivals and events throughout New Zealand during 2009.

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