debinthepeg

New Zealand has long been a destination we’ve wanted to visit. I’m in the early stages of research and I’m hoping for some feedback from people on why New Zealand is a special place to visit.

Background on why I’m asking for feedback - we’re from Canada and some areas of our country, or destinations close by, seem very similar to what I’m seeing through my research of New Zealand. We have visited a number of these places over the years and have loved them. The similarities are leading me to question our choice to visit New Zealand but I don’t want to dismiss it based on early research. I’d really like to find the uniqueness about New Zealand that shouldn’t be passed up and that is where I’m hoping you can come in.

A little further background about us. We enjoy nature more than cities. We enjoy walks and 2 -3 hour hikes but are not “trekkers” who do long strenuous full day hikes or multi-day hikes and we also love road trips. All seeming to be a good fit with New Zealand.

Some examples of places we’ve visited that seem to be similar to New Zealand:

British Columbia, Canada:
Vancouver - vibrant city on the Pacific coast surrounded by mountains, with a number of activities outside of the city as well
Kelowna - great wine country set in a beautiful valley (we’ve visited wine regions in California, Spain, and Italy as well)
Vancouver Island - full of nature and wild life, quaint small towns, great salmon fishing, etc., etc.

Alaska and our Canadian Yukon - beautiful glaciers, rugged wilderness, great salmon fishing, among many other things.

Our Canadian East Coast (Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick) – lots of quaint small towns, a couple of interesting cities (Halifax and St. John), sea kayaking, beautiful coastal rock formations, beautiful Provincial/national parks, coastal drives, fabulous seafood, etc., etc.

We have also visited a park set around breath taking waterfalls in Croatia.

A number of places we visited also have your typical tourist attractions:
Toronto, Canada has a tower similar to the one in Aukland with a lot of the same activities.
We’ve had opportunities to do speed boat tours, amphibious vehicle tours, historical type tours, zip lining, etc, etc. in many locations. (No Hobits though – lol)

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. This is a dream I’m hoping not to crush!

marg

We've been to both New Zealand and Canada so agree that a lot of scenery is very similar. However the North Island is different to Canada - lots of thermal activity and amazing scenery to go with that. Plus more Maori culture than in the South Island. Perhaps you could spend more time in the north and less in the south. You could consider combining time in the North Island with time in Australia which is certainly different to Canada.

debinthepeg

Thanks for that feedback. I will take a deeper look at the North Island.

I love the idea of Australia too, would have to make sure I could get enough vacation time from work for that!!

tasmangirl

Lol I live in New Zealand and we may similarities with Canada but we are definitely different.
We probably have better beaches and more of them - although Canada has an enormous length of coast most of it is covered in snow. New Zealand's coast has lovely beaches and road trips with beautiful views around every turn.
Rotorua and the Bay of Islands in the North Island might suit you and Waiheke Island in Auckland's harbour is probably quite unique in the world.
Hobbiton is really well done and worth a visit but not if you aren't big LOTR fans.
As for crushing your dream that is your doing not any posters here. If your perceptions of New Zealand don't inspire you to come here then don't.
Try Australia - big, hot and dry.

Diamantina

As marg and tasmangirl have mentioned the North Island won't remind you too much of Canada, and I think they've done a good job of convincing you of its charms.

There are so many things in NZ that would delight you. These are some thoughts off the top of my head.

Parts of the South Island might remind you of Canada, the mountains and glaciers, the lakes, the fiords, the deeply forested West Coast, and more. But even so, you'll find the South Island very compact. You don't have to drive very far to go from one type of environment to another. For example, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers on the West Coast terminate in temperate rainforests. Wetlands, lakes, beaches, glow worms, and Okarito forest (home to NZ's rarest kiwi species) are 10 to 30 minutes drive away.

But virtue of its isolation, NZ evolved with extremely unique flora and fauna. Until humans first settled here 800 to 900 years ago (Polynesian people first arrived in New Zealand around 1250–1300 AD), NZ was a land of birds, with only three land mammals (all were bats). Today, the South Island mainland is home to three types of penguins (and more species can be found in NZ's subantarctic islands). You won't see wild penguins in Canada.

As for sea mammals, you can see Hector's Dolphins, one of the world's smallest and rarest dolphins, which can only be seen in NZ. And NZ Sea Lions, the world's rarest sea lion, again, only seen in NZ.

Canada and New Zealand are both beautiful, but uniquely different, with different physical and social histories, different fauna and flora (I can't recall seeing giant tree ferns or cabbage trees in Canada, though I'm not a botanist). Even the night skies are different: in the Northern Hemisphere, you can see the North Star, in the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross.

Here, there are 7 sheep for every human (used to be 20 sheep for every human, but they're been increasingly replaced by dairy cows).

Marg mentioned the Maoris. But there are many other people of Polynesian descent that call NZ home, such as Tongans and Samoans. In fact, Auckland (not Vancouver or Toronto) has the largest Polynesian population of any other city in the world.

I could go on and on about what makes NZ worth visiting and distinct, but I'll have to stop here. Oh yes, one last thing, the people are very nice, but then so are Canadians.

I'm a Californian who lives in Dunedin. There are many Canadian expats in Dunedin, so much so that when Kiwis hear my accent, they'll ask if I'm from Canada. So it must hold a special attraction for at least some Canadians.

Diamantina

Another thing to think about. Visiting B.C. didn't put you off visiting Alaska, even though there might have been some similarities. I'm sure you'll enjoy NZ, not only because it's different from places you've been to and enjoyed, but also because it's somewhat similar in terms of natural beauty and attractions that you favor.

debinthepeg

Thanks for the great feedback! I will continue on with my research. The other plus for us is that we would travel either in New Zealand's spring or summer, escaping our cold winter.

As for our beaches and lakes, we do have some beautiful ones, coastal or inland, and they're only covered in snow for a small part of the year - lol. Our summers can be warm to quite hot, depending where you live. The New Zealand beaches I've seen do look wonderful and the colour of the water looks amazing - not really something we see here.

debinthepeg

Also, if my question sounded at all negative on New Zealand, that wasn’t my intent. So far the one guide book and some of the Tourism websites I’ve visited haven’t inspired me – I think I need to find a better guide book! Before crushing my own dream, I decided to turn to you experts to help me see what I’m missing. You’ve all given me some good feedback and now I have to research deeper into the suggestions you’ve given.

I’ve also managed to arrange to have dinner with a colleague that spent 3 weeks in New Zealand last year. I’m hoping that I will have a better perspective after hearing about her trip and what she and her husband experienced.

Again, thank you. The feedback is much appreciated and really does help.

Melnq8

I've never been to Canada (on my list) so can't make a comparison scenery-wise, but IMO you will not find a more welcoming, helpful country than you will in NZ.

Kiwis (by which I mean the people, not the birds or the fruit!) are a breed of their own.

FWIW, I'm a Colorado girl, living in the Rocky Mountains; I've been to NZ over a dozen times, and still want to go back. I cannot get enough.

NZ is a country of small towns, rolling vibrant green countryside and millions of sheep...amongst many other things.

Does the rainforest meet the sea in Canada?

Melnq8

Diamantina -

Regarding this -

<<There are many Canadian expats in Dunedin, so much so that when Kiwis hear my accent, they'll ask if I'm from Canada. So it must hold a special attraction for at least some Canadians.>>

Years of living in Australia and visiting NZ have taught me that Kiwis and Aussies ask that question in order to not offend Canadians by asking if they're American. It's a safer question, as Americans don't get offended at being mistaken for a Canadian, yet Canadians tend to get offended at being mistaken for Americans.

debinthepeg

<<Does the rainforest meet the sea in Canada?>>

I am no expert as I live in central Canada which, unfortunately, is not near a coast (we’re north of North Dakota and Minnesota).

I do believe however that at least part of our British Columbia coast (which is on the Pacific Ocean) is in a rain forest based on what I learned when we were in Alaska. When we visited Juneau and Ketchikan Alaska I was quite surprised to hear that those areas of Alaska are in a rain forest and get very little snow. I thought all of Alaska, being as far north as it is, would have long cold snowy winters – lol. This part of Alaska borders northern British Columbia so I am quite sure that at least part of the BC coast would be in the same rain forest.


Also, glad to hear a Colorado girl loves New Zealand.

Diamantina

debinthepeg, most major tourist destinations in New Zealand will have their own websites, which might give you some ideas. For instance, Rotorua:
http://www.rotoruanz.com/
or Bay of Islands:
http://www.bay-of-islands.co.nz/places-to-see/
or Golden Bay (top of the South Island)
http://www.goldenbaynz.co.nz/
or Queenstown:
such as Queenstown:
http://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/inform...outQueenstown/
And that's just for starters.
I assume you've seen the NZ govt. tourism website (which could be better):
http://www.newzealand.com/us/

Melnq8, you wrote, "Years of living in Australia and visiting NZ have taught me that Kiwis and Aussies ask that question in order to not offend Canadians by asking if they're American. It's a safer question, as Americans don't get offended at being mistaken for a Canadian, yet Canadians tend to get offended at being mistaken for Americans."

Yes, I've posted that very same thing on here before, but, in my case, when I say I'm from the U.S., they'll often follow up with, "But you're accent's not like other Americans." There really are many Canadians in Dunedin. I think the weather, which is cooler than many other parts of NZ, suits them (as it does me, being from northern CA). I'll have to ask my friend from Vancouver Island why she chose to move to Dunedin!

North America's West Coast has great temperate rainforests, see this map for how far they stretch:
http://acrc.alaska.edu/_docs/data_pu...ficcoastal.pdf
In northern CA temperate rainforests have coastal redwoods, among the largest, oldest, tallest trees on earth. Walking among them is like being in a ancient cathedral of trees.

You'll find many redwood trees in NZ, too, but they're not nearly as large. Some trees that are in peril in their native habitat of California thrive in New Zealand, such as Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) and Monterey Pine (Pinus Radiata), with the latter making up 90% of NZ's tree plantations. Their uncontrolled spread has contributed to NZ's "wilding pine" problem. Because, like many introduced species, they do TOO well here. Conversely, California is widely planted with native NZ Pohutakawa trees, with 5000 in San Francisco alone, where some have become pests, undermining sidewalks and such. I guess this goes to show how the climates are similar.

aprillilacs

deb, I think you ask a good question, though of course it's hard to answer FOR you. A lot depends on the time you have to devote to the trip--it's a long way from North America. We spent only a week on the North Island, 10 years ago, tacked on to a trip to Australia, and were honestly a bit underwhelmed by the visit--it was lovely, for sure, and had some areas of interest, but seemed tame. If you just did that, I think you would be disappointed.

Our most recent trip (see my current trip report) was for 3 weeks, to Auckland and the South Island. The South is scenically magnificent, and nature is easily accessible. My husband and I agreed that many places in North America have comparable scenery, but it's spread out across a vast continent. One of the things that makes NZ so special is that all that beauty--and a lot of variety--is packed into such a small space.

I've been to many places around the world, and I'm glad New Zealand was one of them.

Melnq8

Diamantina, lol. Reminds me of the time I was asked in Australia if I was Scottish. Huh?

debinthepeg

Thank you for the additional information and perspectives.

Re the rain forest, I suspected that it ran down the coast south into the US, given the amount of rain those areas receive.

Aprillilacs, thanks for the additional perspective on the north and south island - definitely noted. Will read your trip report as well. We would spend approximately 3 weeks in New Zealand, I don't think it would be worth visiting for anything less given the amount of travel we'd have to do to get there. Our goal would be to be visit both islands - how much we could see on each - tbd.