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Mount Cook, Clay Cliffs – behind a closed gate
That day I was excited like a kid before a school trip. I had a few short walks planned in Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. The weather in the morning was perfect: sunshine, clear sky, and me—naively convinced it would stay that way. My first stop was the Clay Cliffs, a place that’s completely unassuming and very cleverly hidden away from the main road. To get there, you have to turn off State Highway 8 onto a gravel track that absolutely does not look like an access road to a tourist attraction. Just after the turn, you reach a gate that feels very much like the boundary of private…
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New Zealand – rainy Cape Reinga, the Sahara, and the World’s Prettiest Toilet
Cape Reinga is the place where, according to Māori tradition, spirits begin their journey to the afterlife. Route 1 takes you here, ending at the northernmost lighthouse in New Zealand. It’s also the spot where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. And yes, the road here really felt like it led straight to edge of the world —accompanied by sheets of rain and gusty wind. There was nothing happening on the road, zero civilisation around, and out of boredom, I found myself dancing to the rhythm of the windshield wipers. The track seemed endless, twisting along a narrow strip of land like a miniature peninsula—kind of like the Hel…
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New Zealand, Dunedin – Scottish vibes and extreme streets
At first glance, Dunedin looks like a very serious city. Gothic, austere architecture, grand cathedrals, and a railway station that looks more like a palace with luxurious chambers. But beneath that façade lies a vibrant city, pulsing with the energy of students from the University of Otago – New Zealand’s oldest university. You can see it in the city’s nooks and backstreets, where interesting street art and colourful murals are hidden behind the stately buildings. Although today Dunedin seems to be relatively calm, in the 19th century it was the richest and most populous city in the whole New Zealand. The Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s brought people from…
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Queenstown and its surroundings – adrenaline, gold and lingerie on the fence
Queenstown is mainly known as the city of extreme sports. Ziplining, skydiving, rafting, jet boating, paragliding, or even catapults – that’s just a fraction of the thrills you can experience in the area. And for true connoisseurs, there’s bungee jumping. In 1988, AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch kick-started bungee jumping on the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge. Inspired by the ritual vine jumps performed by the people of Vanuatu, they decided to try it themselves – first in Auckland, and then (why not) from the Eiffel Tower. That’s how Kawarau became a mecca for bungee jumpers. For those scared before the jump, at least the view on the way down…
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The Paeroa and Waihi area – a giant bottle, murals, gold and tunnels
Can anything be more abstractive than starting sightseeing with a giant bottle? In New Zealand: absolutely. Especially in the town of Paeroa, home of the iconic Lemon & Paeroa drink. It has a sweet, citrusy taste and feels like something halfway between Sprite and some solid childhood chemistry experiment. The drink was created right here in 1907, using local mineral water. The L&P logo is everywhere, and the enormous brown bottle is a source of genuine local pride. From Paeroa I headed to the Karangahake Gorge – a former gold-mining hub. There are two walking tracks here, each about 2.5 kilometres long. The first, Windows Walk, winds through forest and…
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Hobbiton – The Shire vs. the Sheep: The Story of an Annexed Farm
As I drove towards Hobbiton, or rather the town of Matamata, I immediately knew I was heading in the right direction. The landscape was dotted with perfectly undulating hills, practically begging to be turned into Hobbit holes. It looked like it had been plucked straight from a film set. Yet the most captivating part of the view was the greenery. The grass was so vividly green it almost seemed unreal. At that moment, I thought it was a fair trade-off for the previous day, when a wall of rain had driven me to despair and offered no hope for the rest of the trip. Incredible how the scenery can transform…
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Arthur’s Pass National Park: The Most Beautiful Route in New Zealand?
Arthur’s Pass National Park – or more precisely, the Great Alpine Highway that runs through it, is often considered the most beautiful road in New Zealand. It’s the oldest national park on the South Island (and the third oldest in the entire country), lying across a key mountain pass that links the eastern and western coast. Yet, driving along the Great Alpine Highway is far from an ordinary experience. The road through Arthur’s Pass is a true feat of engineering. Viaducts, bridges, rock shelters and diverted waterfalls, all designed to make it possible to cross from one side of the island to the other. The pass itself rises more than…
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Auckland – a metropolis on a volcanic minefield
Auckland isn’t actually the capital of New Zealand, though it tries very hard to look like it is. Historically, it did hold that title between 1841 and 1865. Today, its modern business district, with towering skyscrapers and cosmopolitan cafés, still feels like the country’s command centre. The city regularly ranks high in quality-of-life surveys, because life here is simply good. Sure, it’s more expensive than other parts of New Zealand, but that clearly doesn’t put anyone off, least of all tourists. Auckland can boast a pretty unique setting. It sits on the Auckland Volcanic Field, a volcanic area made up of roughly 50–53 volcanoes. They’re all dormant now, but the…
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Auckland, Devonport – the fort that never fired… and the fake news that built it
It takes barely a few minutes to ride a ferry from central Auckland to Devonport – a place that seems to exist in a completely different reality. Devonport lies between two extinct volcanoes that not only shaped its history but also perfectly symbolise it. At first glance, it looks like a calm, almost sleepy Auckland suburb: wooden houses, cafés, restaurants, kids fishing in the bay with Auckland’s skyscrapers in the background… but that’s just the surface. Beneath it lies a turbulent past that once made Devonport one of the most strategic locations in the region. Right next to the ferry terminal rises Mount Victoria, an 87-metre volcanic cone. It may…
