Spring

Tickets for New Zealand’s premier wine, food and music event – Toast Martinborough – are about to go on sale with organisers bracing themselves for a repeat of last year when 10,000 sold out in just 13 minutes.

It is business as usual for tourist operators in Christchurch & Canterbury as the region bounces back from a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

Spring is a prime time for garden enthusiasts and the combination of climate, creative planting, centuries of nurturing and a picturesque backdrop make Dunedin’s Rhododendron Festival a highlight event on New Zealand calendar.

The cooler climes of Otago in New Zealand’s South Island are perfectly suited to growing rhododendrons and every year, when the blooms are at their best, the city of Dunedin celebrates with a special festival.

A traditional Japanese tea house and garden, designed and constructed in Japan, and then rebuilt in New Plymouth, New Zealand, is to become a major feature of the 2009 Taranaki Rhododendron & Garden Festival.

A nest of tuatara eggs discovered at Wellington’s world-first wildlife reserve – the Karori Sanctuary – has conservation staff in a state of expectant excitement.

A leading New Zealand boutique wine-producing region is opening its cellar doors to rugby tourists with a rare behind-the-scenes festival event that’s set to reveal some inner secrets.

Auckland is on 'Cloud' nine, Wellington’s launching a waka, Nelson’s taking a long Italian lunch, Bluff’s reserving the juiciest oysters, Westland’s celebrating whitebait, and wineries all over New Zealand are dusting off their vintage best.

The state of emergency has been lifted in New Zealand’s Canterbury region and life is returning to normal two weeks on from the serious earthquake on 4 September.

A team of All Blacks rugby legends will play a feature match against some famous old French rivals in Queenstown this September in a clash of the “classics” to celebrate New Zealand’s rugby heritage.