This is a country with its head in the tropics and its feet near Antarctica, with twenty times more sheep than people, with boundless miles of unwalked mountains, unfished rivers and virgin forest - a country with one of the highest literacy rates in the world and more Scottish pipe bands than Scotland. Made up of two major islands, New Zealand is a country of untapped beauty. Outside the urban centers, the North Island is an endless collection of natural surprises from farm land lined with vines and dotted with sheep, to the rugged terrain around Rotorua, bubbling with geothermal activity. The South Island is larger and less populated, with small towns laced together on the few roads that cut through the vast expanses. The major city of the south, Christchurch, comes as another surprise with its mood and charm, gardens and architecture of a city from the south of England.
Punts glide lazily down the River Avon and the many parks are lively with uniformed school children.
This is New Zealand's adventure center, the jumping off point to view the breathtaking fiord Milford Sound, to walk the limitless network of trails, to take the jetboats cutting the curves of the Shotover River and to raft the rapids. New Zealanders are among the friendliest, most open people in the world. They brought with them not only strong survival capabilities but a powerful relationship to the spiritual world. This connection is reflected in their art, beautiful wood carvings, and jade, brought to life with painstaking skill. Rotorua is at the heart of Maori culture.