Nature / Sustainable Tourism

The dramatic landscape of Auckland's west coast depicted in the 100 per cent Pure New Zealand Garden is accessible within a 30-minute drive from downtown Auckland. This is just one of the starkly contrasting landscapes that are accessible within a short distance from the city.

Eco-sustainability and a four star luxury rating are not usually bedfellows: but Awaroa Lodge, based in Abel Tasman National Park, combines the two effortlessly.

Isolated for around 80 million years, New Zealand became a paradise for birds; some, in the absence of predators, developing unusual and interesting characteristics. Plus other animals.

Ask most people what a ‘fairy tern’ is and you’re likely to get an answer that relates to the latest moves on the TV hit ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Everybody who has visited Rotorua, New Zealand and gasped in awe of its calderas, crater lakes, trout, native bush walks, geothermal mud pools and geysers, skied or snowboarded, owes it to the presence of volcanoes.

Within the unfenced boundaries of Fiordland, one of the largest national parks in the world, is some of the most wild and dramatic scenery in New Zealand.

The majestic kauri tree is the only member of this coniferous genus that is endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to 60m tall with an impressive trunk girth of up to 16m. These ancient trees can live for up to 2000 years and New Zealand's largest kauri, Tane Mahuta in Northland, is appropriately named after the Maori God of the Forest.

It’s the buzz word of the New Zealand tourism industry but what is kaitiakitanga? If you don’t know then tread carefully because it could hold the key to the future of the world.

An inner city slice of native paradise is not what you expect to find in a Capital city but the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is just that.

Swimming amongst wild seals is an exciting experience for visitors to Tonga Island Marine Reserve.