4 ways to travel differently in New Zealand (Aotearoa)
THE NEW ZEALAND GRINGO TRAIL
New Zealand has a gringo trail. The key destinations of most tourist companies and lots of individual tourists looks a little like the map below: Auckland, Rotorua, Tongariro, Franz Josef Glacier, Queenstown, Christchurch, home. Sure there might be a Bay of Islands thrown in there, a Te Anau here, maybe some Lord of the Rings filming locations for fun. A nice cross section of mountains, Maori, wine and Hobbiton. Accompanied by a thousand other tourists.
There’s nothing wrong with that. But, there are other ways to see New Zealand. What if, instead of thinking about the “best” destinations to get a cross section of New Zealand, you thought about travelling in a different way entirely.
Here are some ideas for how to travel differently in New Zealand.
Follow the food and drink
If you’re a foodie, or a wino, you already know that New Zealand has a lot to offer. If you’re not a foodie, you’ve probably heard of the Marlborough wine region or New Zealand lamb. But there’s so much more to explore. The country is bursting with local markets, artisan cheese producers and organic kombucha makers. There’s a mismatch between the miniscule population of New Zealand and the sheer variety and availability of foods.
For an alternative perspective on New Zealand, follow the food. There are plenty of blog extolling the virtue of New Zealand’s food or you can download The Food Path, an app detailing the locations of everything food related from cafes and restaurants to artisan producers and markets, even picnic locations.
Food and drink are a shortcut to the soul of a country. Organizing your itinerary around different food highlights gives you another perspective on a place, different people to talk to and more recipes to try.
Here are some other ideas to follow the food:
Make an effort to find and try Kiwi specialties like whitebait fritters, or hangi - a traditional Maori method for roasting meat and vegetables using heated rocks and an underground oven.
Investigate a food festival like Wellington on a Plate or Taste of Auckland. There are plenty focusing on different specialties.
Get on your bike and do some or all of the Great Taste Trail near Nelson. You can cycle between vineyards and restaurants, stopping for a cheese plate or craft beer on the way back.
Make Kiwi food yourself. Cooking with kumara or making pavlova are within anyone’s reach. If you’re looking for ideas you can check out Cuba Street: A Cookbook, a locally produced cookbook based on recipes from Wellington’s famous and diverse Cuba Street.
LOCATIONS:
Cuba Street, Wellington
The Great Taste Trail, Nelson
Columbo Vineyard, Martinborough
Hike all the Great Walks or get out into nature
New Zealand’s nature is no secret by now. Most people who visit New Zealand don’t come for the cities. But lots don’t know how easy it is to get deep into nature. The country has an incredibly well organized and supported series of multi-day walks that are within the grasp of many.
You can do a day walk, or undertake a multi-day hike staying in huts or tents. Most famous of New Zealand’s walks are the 10 Great Walks, the most famous but not necessarily most spectacular walks in the country. There are plenty of other options - shorter, longer, more remote, close to cities, by the coast, in the mountains. There’s even a hike the length of New Zealand - the Te Araroa trail - which can be hiked in sections.
Hiking in New Zealand gives you an opportunity to meet the locals, including curious weka - flightless bird who will steal your iPhone as soon as look at you. Preparing for hikes gets you closer to the local community, whether through visiting local Department of Conservation (DOC) offices for a chat, or finding a local supermarket (shout out to Pak ‘n’ Save) to pick up some trail mix.
How to plan your hikes:
Check out the Lonely Planet guide Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand for a summary of some walks.
Visit a DOC centre as soon as possible or visit the website. The staff are hugely knowledgeable and will make sure to suit their recommendations to your hiking level.
Ask in camping stores. New Zealand is filled with outdoor stores. Not only can they make great recommendations for any gear you might need, they also have great knowledge about local walks.
Take the season into account! Unless you enjoy hiking in the rain for 4 days. Then never mind.
Locations:
The Hillary Trail, Auckland
Around Lake Waikaremoana, Te Urewera National Park
Mount Taranaki, North Island
Stay in unusual accommodation
New Zealand relies on tourism as a part of its economy. It also caters to a wide variety of tourists, rather than merely the backpacker variety. As a consequence there are a huge number of different types of accommodation - from safari tents, to eco-lodges, to marae (traditional Maori meeting houses) to old churches and lighthouses.
Unusual accommodations aren’t always in the best known places, so finding them gives you an opportunity to explore a less seen side of the country. The owners usually live onsite, unlike in fancy hotels, do you get an opportunity to chat to locals and get a glimpse into their lives.
Some ideas for finding unusual ACCOMMODATION:
Unusual Accomodations listings has some great ideas for where to stay for a variety of budgets and tastes.
We don’t usually recommend places, but will make an exception in this case. It’s really worthwhile checking out the Beaconstone Eco Lodge near Westport. It’s affordable paradise.
Locations:
Beaconstone Eco Lodge, Westport
Undertake a literary tour of New Zealand
The literary canon of New Zealand is small but well-formed. It is also strongly connected to the landscape of New Zealand. From the wild shores of the West Coast in Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries to descriptions of the shorelines in the South in Keri Hulme’s The Bone People to descriptions of deep forest in older classic A Story of A New Zealand River, it’s possible to decide to travel around New Zealand guided by the recommendations of fiction writers.
Not only do books connect you to the landscape, they offer insight into the history and culture of the land. Understanding and appreciating the history of the Eastern Cape is easier if guided by Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider. Classics like Alan Duff’s Once Were Warriors or Janet Frame’s An Angel At My Table allow you to consider a side of New Zealand you probably won’t see.
How to plan your literary tour
Read widely. New Zealand’s literature is both broad and deep. Make sure to consider non-fiction as well, and don’t only focus on modern books.
Include films in your research. Several famous works on Kiwi literature, like The Piano and Whale Rider have been translated into beautiful films, which gives you more locations to choose from.
Read while you’re there! Visit a bookshop anywhere and ask for more recommendations. There will be plenty of extraordinary writers and poet you have never heard of.
Visit:
Piha, near Auckland, a filming location for the Oscar winning film, The Piano
Hokitika, the setting for Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries
The Janet Frame House, Oamaru, the house in which famed novelist and memoirist Janet Frame grew up
There are loads of ways to experience New Zealand without mindlessly following the Gringo Trail. Finding something else to focus on allows you to experience more of the minutiae of New Zealand, which is of course where the true enjoyment comes from!
If you’re looking for an alternative perspective on New Zealand, check out our upcoming guide to New Zealand. We don’t make recommendations about where you should go, but we write about the history, culture and background of New Zealand to allow you different insights to the one you’ll find in your Lonely Planet. The guide has articles about the role that 0.4mm wire played in New Zealand psyche, how New Zealand became something of a rebel on the world stage and multiple stories of encounters between Maori and Pakeha across New Zealand’s history.
The guide will be available in April 2020.