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Frommer's NZ

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ABOUT NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand (see map) is 1,200 miles southeast of Australia. It is made up of two major islands: North Island (44,197 square miles) and South Island (58,170 square miles). They are separated by Cook Strait. New Zealand’s population is a mere 4 million. First to arrive were the Polynesians, from a nearby South Pacific island to the North, around the 10th century. Both the Polynesian language and the descendants are called Maori. New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland (population approximately 1.3 million), has the largest Polynesian population in the world. But don’t worry: Everyone in New Zealand speaks English. That’s because the vast majority are of European descent. They started arriving thanks to Abel Tasman, the Dutch navigator who in 1642 was the first European explorer to arrive. Another watershed date in this young country is 1769. That’s when Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy arrived, and the United Kingdom claimed the land for itself. Though New Zealand retains ties to the U.K., in 1907 it became a self-governing nation. The capital, Wellington, is located near the south end of North Island.

AIRPORT TO AUCKLAND
New Zealand landed some of the best press available five years ago when the first "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was released. The film showed the world how beautiful this country is, with its green mountain ranges, flowing rivers, deep alpine lakes and subtropical forests. The result was a 16% boost in tourism. Most overseas arrivals land in Auckland, on the North Island, where I began my trip. I was traveling with a group of writers, and we had a 5-hour layover before our domestic connection to Rotorua. Instead of hanging out in the airport lounge (which was really nice, and had some of the best lounge food I’ve ever encountered), we went outside and hired a driver. Plenty of taxis and shuttle buses waited patiently outside of Arrivals. At the front of the line a man named Darshan offered us a two-hour tour in his Super Shuttle Van (a different company than the one in the U.S. with the same name) for $120 NZ ($75). It was a bargain, especially compared with one-way prices into the city. Taxi NZ$45 ($28); shuttle bus NZ$24 ($15); Airbus NZ$15 ($9.50) per person one-way.

A QUICK TOUR OF THE CITY OF SAILS
Without traffic, it takes about 25 minutes to get into Auckland, a big, cosmopolitan city with a subtropical climate, three harbors, two mountain ranges and more than 50 islands. It reminded me of a mix between Sydney, San Francisco and Seattle. Auckland is called the City of Sails, and the reason was apparent when we drove over the Harbour Bridge. The harbor is filled with sailboats. A great place to view the city is atop Mount Eden -- a dormant volcano (Auckland has 48 of them). If Mount Eden is not high enough, take an elevator up the Sky Tower – at 1,076 feet, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the women in our group wanted to shop, so Darshan took us to Victoria Park Market. Don’t go there – unless you like tourist traps. After explaining we wanted to shop where the locals do, he took us to High Street. That was much more our style. Time passed quickly, but even in those short two hours we could see why Auckland is regularly voted one of the "best lifestyle" cities in the world.

AUCKLAND TO ROTORUA
Although Rotorua is one of the most touristy destinations on North Island, there’s not a lot of air service. That’s probably because it’s only a 2 1/2- to 3-hour drive, and most travelers rent cars to explore the country. (It’s a fantastic country to drive, but they do use the opposite side of the road.) When I learned Air New Zealand flies only a Beechcraft 1900 (a 19-passenger plane resembling a flying tube of tooth paste) to Rotorua, I wondered why we didn’t drive. The plane was so small there was no flight attendant, and when the captain walked down the aisle before takeoff to check if seat belts were fastened, he asked a passenger sitting near me if he would mind moving to one of the empty seats in the front because the plane was "taily." I asked the woman next to me what that meant. She said, "The plane is too heavy in the back." Makes sense, I said. Then she made the sign of the cross. She saw me staring at her with frightful eyes (I hate small planes) and said, "It’s always rough flying into Rotorua." I quickly made the sign of the cross too, but I really wanted to jump out and hire Darshan to drive me. It was too late, though. The pilot had shut the door, and within seconds we were taxiing down the runway. The 40-minute flight turned out be very smooth and scenic. When we landed I turned to my seatmate and said, "You scared the daylights out of me" She said, "I know. I figured if you thought it was going to be rough it would lower your expectations." She was right!

VIDEO
Here’s a 2-minute Johnny Jet Video of my trip down to Auckland. With high-speed the video takes about one minute to load; with dial-up, please allow up to three weeks.

NEXT WEEK
Next week we check in to one of the most amazing and exclusive lodges in the world, and explore some of New Zealand’s beauty, culture and adventure sports.