For over 125 years, the Polynesian Spa has been Rotorua’s main draw for its complex of 26 communal and private mineral pools that offer an extensive menu of treatments. But for the best examples of these and other natural phenomena, head to Wai-O-Tapu, an active geothermal area 17 miles to the south, where you’ll find Champagne Pool, an effervescent, blue-green pond rimmed with brilliant orange mineral deposits, and Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts every morning at roughly 10:15 A.M., thanks to the addition of some catalytic laundry detergent.
To recharge in luxury, stay at Solitaire Lodge, built on the elevated tip of a forested promontory overlooking the rainbow trout–rich Lake Tarawera and an extinct volcano of the same name. Closer to the city, the Hamurana Lodge is a sedate manor house and boutique hotel on Lake Rotorua that’s known for great dining and a helpful staff. In town you’ll find the Regent of Rotorua, where the high-style suites are all white save for the stylish wallpaper. Don’t leave without a visit to the Mitai Maori Village, a living history museum where an evening of song, dance, and a traditional hangi feast introduces travelers to the area’s indigenous culture.
WHERE: 143 miles/230 km southeast of Auckland. POLYNESIAN SPA: Tel 64/7-348-1328; www.polynesianspa.co.nz. WAI-O-TAPU: Tel 64/7-366-6333; www.waiotapu.co.nz. SOLITAIRE LODGE: Tel 64/7-362-8208; www.solitairelodge.co.nz. Cost: from $1,100, all-inclusive. HAMURANA LODGE: Tel 64/7-332-2222; www.hamuranalodge.com. Cost: from $350 (off-peak), from $580 (peak). REGENT OF ROTORUA: Tel 64/7-348-4079; www.regentrotorua.co.nz. Cost: $111 (off-peak), $224 (peak). MITAI MAORI VILLAGE: Tel 64/7-343-9132; www.mitai.co.nz. Cost: $85. BEST TIMES: Oct–Apr for summer weather; Jun–Jul for Matariki (Maori New Year).
The Alpine Training Grounds of Sir Edmund Hillary
AORAKI/MOUNT COOK NATIONAL PARK
South Island, New Zealand
While the South Island of New Zealand is known for its palm trees and hibiscus plants, one third of the dazzling national park found here is covered in permanent snow and ice. Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park—it bears names from both the Maori (Cloud Piercer) and the English—contains 72 named glaciers and 22 mountain peaks that top 9,840 feet, including the park’s namesake, which is New Zealand’s highest at 12,316 feet. This is the place to splurge on unforgettable flightseeing. Some flights include a snow landing on the 17-mile-long Tasman Glacier, the longest river of ice outside the Himalayas. In the deep silence of the roof-of-the-world panorama, you can occasionally hear a rumble as the glacier shifts ever so slightly. Very few glaciers lead to lakes and even fewer of those are accessible to the average person, but here you can explore two by boat tour and by kayak, drinking in views of towering ice cliffs and the huge icebergs that float in the opaque turquoise waters.
Skiing is the other activity of choice in this alpine park, with guided heli-skiing, an exhilarating 8-mile-long glacier run (the southern hemisphere’s longest ski run), and downhill skiing available. And there’s hiking as well: A number of guided and self-guided walks take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 days along the well-known Copland Track. New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary trained in this high-altitude park before his record-setting ascent of Mount Everest (see p. 563) in 1953.
Views from the picture windows at the Hermitage no doubt would impress even him. Among the world’s best-sited hotels, it is also the location of the new Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, showcasing mementos of one of New Zealand’s most admired citizens.
In front of the Hermitage hotel, a statue of Sir Edmund Hillary surveys the landscape.
WHERE: 160 miles/257 km northeast of Queenstown. HOW: Mount Cook Ski Planes offers plane and helicopter trips. Tel 64/3-430-8034; www.skiplanes.co.nz. Cost: trips with snow landings from $300. Glacier Explorer offers glacier lake boat trips. Tel 64/3-435-1641; www.glacierexplorers.co.nz. Cost:$110. When: Sep–May. HERMITAGE: Tel 64/3-435-1809; www.hermitage.co.nz. Cost: from $170. BEST TIMES: Jul–Sep for skiing; Nov–Apr for trekking and glacier tours.
A High-Country Stay in the Southern Alps
ARTHUR’S PASS
Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
Shortcuts are rare in New Zealand. Roads typically follow switchbacks over mountains, or avoid them completely, skirting their edges and piling on the miles needed to get from point A to point B. This had posed a distinct problem in the South Island, where the Southern Alps run the length of the land like a chain of vertebrae, dividing the east coast from the west. So the Kiwis created three grand coast-to-coast shortcuts: Lewis Pass in the north, Haast Pass in the south, and the crown jewel, Arthur’s Pass, in the center.
The tiny Arthur’s Pass Village serves as a gateway to vast Arthur’s Pass National Park, which is marked by sprawling beech forests on its eastern side and deeply gorged rivers and thick rain forest to the west. You can ski, hike, or mountain bike while reveling in the alpine scenery. Another way to drink in all the beauty is aboard the TranzAlpine Express, which since 1923 has offered one of the most scenic railroad journeys anywhere. Its 4-hour route stretches from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west, passing gorgeous vistas along the way not visible from the road. With prior arrangement, the train will stop at the minuscule station of Cass (possibly the smallest town in the world, with a population of one), where a representative of the Grasmere Lodge will be waiting to whisk you off to one of the country’s finest retreats.
Set within a high-country station (or ranch) covering roughly 15,000 acres, this traditional homestead began as a two-room hut in 1858. Added onto over the years and extensively renovated, the lodge now hosts guests, who can choose to take part in farming activities among the cattle and merino sheep that still roam the rugged range or to simply enjoy the manor’s world-class country elegance, epitomized by the gemlike spa. The camaraderie of cocktail hour is followed by a communal five-course dinner of New Zealand fare, which may include beef or lamb raised on the farm. Grasmere spreads across more than four rivers, eight streams and creeks, and eight lakes, which allow for fishing, kayaking, and rafting, and there’s endless terrain to explore by horseback as well.
WHERE: Arthur’s Pass is 80 miles/130 km west of Christchurch. TRANZALPINE EXPRESS: Tel 64/4-498-3090; www.tranzscenic.co.nz. Cost: from $90 one-way between Christchurch and Cass. GRASMERE LODGE: Tel 64/3-318-8407; www.grasmere.co.nz. Cost: from $700 (off-peak), from $990 (peak), inclusive. BEST TIMES: Dec–early Apr for warm weather and wildflowers; Jul–Sep for skiing and winter activities.
The Spectacular Milford and Doubtful Sounds
FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK
South Island, New Zealand
The Australians may claim the Great Barrier Reef as the Eighth Wonder of the World, but Rudyard Kipling gave the honor to New Zealand’s Milford Sound. Kiwis disagree with both—they rank it first or second. Milford is the most famous and accessible of the 15 fjords that make up the majestic 3-million-acre Fiordland National Park (the country’s largest) on the South Island’s southwestern coast. The 9.3-mile-long inlet is hemmed in by sheer granite cliffs rising up to 4,000 feet, with waterfalls cascading from the high mountain ridges. Playful bottlenose dolphins, fur seals, and gulls call its waters home, and crested penguins nest here in October and November before leaving for Antarctica. Mitre Peak is the centerpiece, a 5,560-foot pinnacle whose reflection in the mirror-calm water is one of New Zealand’s most photographed sites. Flightseeing is a great way to see it all, and boats leave frequently for 2- to 4-hour or overnight cruises.
It used to be that the only way to reach Milford Sound by land was along the Milford Track, once dubbed “the finest walk in the world,” a description that has deservedly stuck. The strenuous guided trek, which takes 5 days and covers 33 miles, rewards with awesome scenery. You’ll begin on the banks of Lake Te Anau, cut through glistening green valleys, and cross over the utterly gorgeous MacKinnon Pass. Even if you’re spent, don’t skip the optional hike to 1,900-foot-high Sutherland Falls, a treat only Milford trekkers can enjoy up close. The final flourish is a cruise on Milford Fjord, after which y
ou travel back to Te Anau along the incredibly scenic Milford Road and through Homer Tunnel, a marvel of engineering that took 20 years to build and first brought cars to the sound in 1954.
Doubtful Sound is the deepest and, some say, most beautiful of the park’s fjords. When the engines are turned off, you’ll be enveloped in the primeval silence of one of the world’s most remote and magical places. (Captain Cook wasn’t sure he would be able to navigate his way out, hence the name.) Ten times larger than Milford Sound and less known outside of the country, Doubtful Sound retains an element of mystery. And while rainfall in this area is over 300 inches a year, even a day filled with showers has its moody beauty, as spontaneous waterfalls sprout out of nowhere, filling the air with their soothing music.
Mitre Peak was so named because its shape resembles the mitre hats worn by some Christian clergymen.
WHERE: Most departures for Milford are from Te Anau, which is 107 miles/172 km southwest of Queenstown. HOW: Ultimate Hikes leads guided treks. Tel 64/3-450-1940; www.ultimatehikes.co.nz. Cost: 5-day Milford Track from $1,450. Originates in Queenstown. When: Nov–Apr. Real Journeys offers Milford and Doubtful Sound cruises. Tel 64/3-249-7416; www.realjourneys.co.nz. Cost: day trips from $60, overnight trips from $275. When: Sep–May. BEST TIME: Oct–Apr for spring and summer weather.
Superb Tramps on the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks
THE GRAND TRAVERSE
South Island, New Zealand
Don’t be offended if someone in New Zealand asks you if you enjoy a good tramp. It probably means you look fit. In a country where nature is king, it’s no surprise that “tramping” (aka hiking) is a national pastime—and what remarkable scenery there is to tramp through, particularly along the Grand Traverse (a combination of the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks), one of New Zealand’s premier trekking experiences. The 24-mile Routeburn Track (which some connoisseurs find more awe-inspiring than the fabled Milford Track; see previous page) is its first leg. It crosses the Southern Alps over the breathtaking 3,900-foot Harris Saddle and descends through a world of moss-clad trees, giant ferns, mountain streams, rich birdlife, lakes, and waterfalls within Mount Aspiring National Park. One glimpse and it’s obvious why this landscape stood in for the “Misty Mountains” in Peter Jackson’s trilogy of fantasy films The Lord of the Rings. The trail picks up the 25-mile Greenstone Valley Walk, which follows an ancient Maori path through Fiordland National Park, crossing the main divide of the Southern Alps within a beautiful river valley encircled by towering mountains. The 6-day Grand Traverse requires that you be in top shape—it’s not just the scenery that will take your breath away.
Guided treks offer a number of obvious advantages, not least being access to private lodges, with snug beds, hot showers, toilets, and hearty food; those short on time can book 1-day samplers. Visitors who choose to go solo stay in more rudimentary accommodations and must register with the Department of Conservation. The number of hikers is strictly controlled, accompanied or not, so book well in advance.
WHERE: Te Wahipounanu World Heritage Area, southwest corner of the South Island. HOW: Ultimate Hikes offers guided trek packages. Tel 64/3-450-1940; www.ultimatehikes.co.nz. Cost: 3-day Routeburn Track from $900, all-inclusive; 6-day Grand Traverse from $1,245, all-inclusive. Originate in Queenstown. When: Nov–Apr. BEST TIME: Jan–Feb for most comfortable temperatures and least precipitation.
On the Trail of the Grape
MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS
South Island, New Zealand
The Marlborough region of the South Island offers two irresistible reasons to visit: in the north, the grandeur of the unspoiled Marlborough Sounds, with dozens of secluded bays and beaches, and in the south, the award-winning vineyards encircling the town of Blenheim. This area, formerly occupied by sheep farms, is the country’s largest and best-known center of viticulture, with more than 100 wineries producing internationally acclaimed chardonnay and sauvignon blanc and, more recently, pinot gris, riesling, and gewürztraminer. Marlborough is dominated by industry giant Brancott Estate (formerly known as Montana), but wine fans will also recognize names such as Cloudy Bay, Grove Mill, and Hunter’s. A few vineyards, like Herzog, offer some of the country’s finest dining experiences too.
The area was first settled by Maori over 1,000 years ago, and it was well documented in Captain Cook’s diaries from his first landing at Ship Cove in the 1770s. Outdoor enthusiasts know about the hiking along the Milford Track (see p. 673) and the nearby Abel Tasman Coastal Track. But you’ll find amazing views and far less foot traffic on the 42-mile coastal trail, known as Queen Charlotte Track, which can be done in 1- to 4-day segments. And the many bays, inlets, and sheltered coves of the Pelorus, Queen Charlotte, and Kenepuru sounds make this a sea kayaker’s paradise. Local agencies can customize packages that include guided walks, stays at charming lodges, dolphin- and whale-watching cruises, and visits to local vineyards in the company of excellent guides.
West of Blenheim, on the grounds of the Barrows, makers of organic World’s End sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, you’ll find the Straw Lodge. Here, private suites and a tucked-away cottage are mere yards away from the vines, with the peaks of Mount Richmond Forest Park as their backdrop. Nearby, Timara Lodge hosts no more than eight guests; the elegant-but-cozy, Tudor-style manor house was built in the 1920s, and its English-style gardens and small lake make an idyllic setting. Excellent dinners are complemented by wines from the owners’ vineyards as well as from their well-stocked cellar.
If you prefer to be right in the heart of Blenheim, the Hotel d’Urville occupies a well-preserved building on Main Street. Each of the 11 rooms is tastefully decorated, but it is the welcoming downstairs bar and smart, always-abuzz restaurant that make this an all-around great pick.
WHERE: Blenheim is 169 miles/272 km north of Christchurch. STRAW LODGE: Tel 64/3-572-9767; www.strawlodge.co.nz. Cost: from $270. TIMARA LODGE: Tel 64/3-572-8276; www.timara.co.nz. Cost: from $1,280, inclusive. When: closed Jun–Jul. HOTEL D’URVILLE: Tel 64/3-577-9945; www.durville.com. Cost: $160 (off-peak), $235 (peak). HOW: Marlborough Sounds Adventure Company leads multiday guided walks. Tel 64/3-573-6078; www.marlboroughsounds.co.nz. Cost: 4-day trips from $1,300. BEST TIMES: Nov–Mar for nice weather; Feb for Brews, Blues, and BBQs and the Marlborough Wine Festival.
Thrill Seeking in the Adventure Capital of the World
THE HOME OF BUNGEE JUMPING AND JET BOATING
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand
If you want to learn something fundamental about the Kiwi character, you need only know that New Zealand is the recognized home of both bungee jumping and jet boating. The former act of madness originated as a coming-of-age ritual on the Pacific islands of Vanuatu (see p. 698). And while you may not have realized you had a burning desire to attach a thick rubber cord to your ankles before diving headfirst off a bridge, Queenstown’s high-energy brand of fun is infectious, and so far—with a 100 percent safety record—everyone has lived to brag about it. The Kawarau Suspension Bridge, which affords a 143-foot drop, has hosted more than 500,000 jumps. Feeling more adventurous? Opt for Ledge Urban Bungy, which lets you leap 1,312 feet above the rooftops of Queenstown. And there’s more for adrenaline junkies here. The canyon-walled Shotover River is the place for heart-stopping jet boat trips that fly you over the shallow waters—sometimes only inches deep—negotiating huge boulders and rushing rapids.
To recuperate from all that death defying, repair to Eichardt’s Private Hotel, an impeccably restored historical residence on Lake Wakatipu, in the heart of Queenstown’s shopping and restaurant district. Fireplaces and antique furnishings distinguish the five luxurious suites and four cottages, all with front-row views of the lake and the Remarkables mountain range in the distance. Its House Bar is a longtime favorite. A similar European ambience and lakeside views come with your cozy room at Brown’s Boutique Hotel, a 5-minute stroll from downtown. Or check out Pencarrow, one of New Zealand’s best-loved B&Bs. Hidden on a hillside above Lake Wakatipu
just east of town, it has views, gardens, and service to rival any luxury lodge.
HOW: For bungee jumping, A. J. Hackett Bungy, named for the man who made a historic leap from the Eiffel Tower in 1987; tel 64/3-442-4007; www.bun.co.nz. Cost: $135. For jet boats, Shotover Jet, tel 64/3-442-8570; www.shotoverjet.co.nz. Cost:$90. EICHARDT’S PRIVATE HOTEL: Tel 64/3-441-0450; www.eichardtshotel.co.nz. Cost: from $800. BROWN’S BOUTIQUE HOTEL: Tel 64/3-441-2050; www.brownshotel.co.nz. Cost: from $245 (off-peak), from $325 (peak). PENCARROW: Tel 64/3-442-8938; www.pencarrow.net. Cost: from $380. BEST TIME: Jan–Mar for summer weather.
THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
A Turquoise Carpet on an Indigo Sea
AITUTAKI
Cook Islands
It seems strange that of the many islands Captain James Cook visited during his exploration of the South Pacific Ocean in the mid-18th century, he never saw Aitutaki, which is part of the island group that now bears his name. Instead, Captain William Bligh “discovered” Aitutaki in 1789, 17 days before the infamous mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty. Today most of those taking it in for the first time are day-trippers from Rarotonga (see next page), the Cook Islands’s capital, which can seem downright raucous compared to this sleepy outpost.
From the air, Aitutaki’s shallow lagoon resembles a spectacular turquoise carpet spread out on the indigo sea. Ringing it is a 30-mile necklace of 15 tiny, palm-studded motus (small islands), whose empty shores are perfect destinations for picnicking and strolling, not to mention swimming and snorkeling.
The highlight of any visit here is a day tour across the lagoon to one of the deserted islets, where locals will prepare you a picnic lunch featuring barbecued fish, usually snagged on the way. One Foot Island is the only motu that is inhabited (albeit sparsely); photographers are lured by its flawless white beaches.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 106