Food & Wine

With 85,000 international visitors in the country, Rugby World Cup will showcase New Zealand to a global audience of discerning travellers – and, away from the rugby field, it’s Kiwi food and wine that’s likely to attract the most sustained interest.

New Zealand’s Auckland Town Hall has resonated to some sweet sounds in its 100-year history, and the latest buzz involves a group of busy locals who seem set to stick around for a while.

Air New Zealand’s revolutionary ‘Skycouch’ – the economy seating that folds down into a bed - has won the Aviation category of Condé Nast Traveller's 2011 Innovation and Design Awards.

Glow worms, great food, black water rafting and bungy jumping have left US pop star Katy Perry raving, and in love with New Zealand after her first visit.

Mouths are watering in anticipation of the annual Bluff Oyster & Food Festival celebrating the seasonal harvest of the succulent shellfish that have made New Zealand’s most southern town world famous.

Matariki, the unique cultural festival celebrating the dawning of Māori New Year, will start early this year with the Pleiades star formation due to first appear over New Zealand on 4 June.

The latest in a long list of generous donations for the Christchurch earthquake relief fund has come from a bottle of French Burgundy that sold for NZ$12,500 in a New Zealand charity auction.

With just over five months to go until New Zealand welcomes visitors for Rugby World Cup 2011, it’s ‘game on’ for the construction industry especially along the changing face of Auckland city’s waterfront.

An iconic New Zealand landscape and a picturesque vineyard provide a dramatic setting for an outdoor sculpture exhibition that showcases top Kiwi artists.

While the traditional Kiwi food experience is often around casual outdoor dining, New Zealand is fast developing a reputation for fine cuisine and high-end foodie events and destinations.