Archives: Locations

Dunedin is a city in New Zealand, at the head of Otago Harbour on the South Island’s southeast coast. It’s known for its Scottish and Maori heritage, Victorian and Edwardian architecture, and a large student population. Hiking and cycling trails crisscross the dramatic landscape of the adjoining Otago Peninsula, home to colonies of albatross, sea lions and rare yellow-eyed penguins

The North Island of New Zealand is known for its volcanic activity, national parks and cosmopolitan cities. Home to about three-quarters of New Zealand’s population, it has the country’s largest city, Auckland. Surrounded by bays and islands, it’s known as the “the City of Sails.” At its southern tips is harbourside capital Wellington, home to the national museum, Te Papa

Abel Tasman National Park is a wilderness reserve at the north end of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s known for the Abel Tasman Coast Track, a long trail winding over beaches and across ridges between Marahau in the south and Wainui in the north. The headland at Separation Point is home to New Zealand fur seal colonies. Little blue penguins, bottlenose dolphins and seals inhabit the Tonga Island Marine Reserve

Punakaiki is a small village on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located between Westport and Greymouth on State Highway 6, the only through-road on the West Coast

Franz Josef / Waiau is a small town in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. Whataroa is 32 kilometres to the north-east, and the township of Fox Glacier is 23 kilometres to the south-west

Wanaka, a resort town on New Zealand’s South Island, is set on the southern end of its namesake lake with views of snowcapped mountains. It’s the gateway to the Southern Alps’ Mount Aspiring National Park, a wilderness of glaciers, beech forests and alpine lakes. Treble Cone and Cardrona ski resorts are near the park. Just outside the town is the outdoor maze and sculpture gallery of Puzzling World

Milford Sound is a fiord in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s known for towering Mitre Peak, plus rainforests and waterfalls like Stirling and Bowen falls, which plummet down its sheer sides. The fiord is home to fur seal colonies, penguins and dolphins. Milford Discovery Centre and Underwater Observatory offers views of rare black coral and other marine life. Boat tours are a popular way to explore.

Queenstown, New Zealand, sits on the shores of the South Island’s Lake Wakatipu, set against the dramatic Southern Alps. Renowned for adventure sports, it’s also a base for exploring the region’s vineyards and historic mining towns. There’s bungee jumping off Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge and jet-boating on the Shotover and Dart rivers. In winter, there’s skiing on the slopes of The Remarkables and Coronet Peak

Hinewai is an ecological restoration project on Banks Peninsula, privately owned and managed by the Maurice White Native Forest Trust, but freely open to the public on foot.

Hinewai Reserve occupies 1250 hectares in the south-eastern corner of Banks Peninsula on the South Island’s east coast. The reserve lies east of the town of Akaroa.

Ashburton is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is 85 kilometres south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satellite town of Christchurch.