Are you considering New Zealand for your next overseas adventures but are trying to justify the:
- Time (the flights take long enough as it is to get there)?
- Cost (check out the supermarket prices 😮 )?
- The places you won’t go to if you go here (you want to go to all the places)?
No worries, I’ve got your back if you’re looking for good reasons to visit NZ.
I may be a Kiwi and a bit biased but having travelled a bunch (60+ countries), I’ve come to believe these are the reasons you should have at the top of the list as to why travel to New Zealand.
8 REASONS TO TRAVEL NEW ZEALAND NEXT
1. THE BIRDS ARE WERIDO’S
Penguins! Yup, you’ll see them in NZ.
Seem like a funny reason to start with? You’re right. But stick with me for a moment.
The birds in NZ are pretty bizarre, and you might just find yourself becoming a bird nerd by the end of your stay. I’m going to highlight three of the weirdos you’ll come across.
- There’s the kiwi, the national bird that’s nocturnal and flightless (we have a few flightless birds).
- The kea, which is endangered and has a habit of stealing the rubber from windscreen wipers.
- And the kakapo is the largest parrot in the world and rather than flying it climbs trees…in the middle of the night, because it’s nocturnal too.
There are lots of places in NZ where you can have awesome bird experiences thanks to conservation programs like the one on Kapiti Island.
It was even thought that the countries annual bird of the year vote was influenced by Russia! How funny would that have been? It turns out all the votes were legitimate though!
2. MILD CLIMATE YEAR ROUND
As the popular saying goes “You can’t beat Wellington on a good day.”
50 degrees Celcius? Nope, we aren’t familiar with that. -10 degrees Celcius? Nope, very few of us are familiar with that too.
When you’re packing for New Zealand, you’ll need to pack for the potential of four seasons in one day, but overall the temperatures are mild year-round. You can see the highest (42) and lowest (-25) recorded temperatures here but these are out of the norm.
It’s not perfect, but to give you an idea, I’ve compiled the screenshots average temperatures of a few cities above (thanks Google) to give you an idea of the ‘mildness’. Of course, you might get a bad weather week during your visit, but I’m no weather god (unfortunately).
3. ALL OFF ADRENALINE JUNKIE ACTIVITIES
You can even go SUPing through a cave to see glowworms.
If you’re looking to tick off a bunch of adrenaline-filled activities on your bucket list, NZ is the place to do it. A self-driving plane attached to a wire, anyone?
Queenstown is the self-professed adventure capital of the world, and they were smart to do so. Whether they are or not is debatable, but with bungy jumping, jet boating, paragliding, skydiving, hang gliding, skiing, snowboard, whitewater rafting, and a bunch more all available in and around Queenstown, it’s not like they’re outright misleading you.
Don’t just head straight to Queenstown though! You can do most of these activities in other places around the country, with Queenstown thought to be overtouristed by many.
4. NO DANGEROUS ANIMALS
No dangerous animals, but heaps of sheep.
Snakes? No.
Sheep? Yes.
Crocodiles? No.
Deadly spiders? No. Well, the occasional whitetail spider will be spotted.
Anyway, these are the main worries for people when they consider travelling to Australia. Yet, just a three-hour flight away, in little old New Zealand we haven’t got any of the badies. Well sometimes a snake might try to sneak into the country…
You can explore with a sense of peace here.
5. GOOD HIKING TRAILS FOR ALL LEVELS OF FITNESS
The Kaikoura Peninsula Track is great for those who only want to do a short walk (less than 30 minutes), but also works for those who want an activity to fill in a couple of hours.
Whether you’re someone who goes hiking (we call it tramping) regularly or you’ve never hiked in your life, you’ll love the trails in New Zealand. Most of the countries trails are looked after by the Department of conservation, and they do a terrific job of keeping all tracks in great condition. For the regular hikers, you’ll have no shortage of options, but even those who just want to go for a short hike will have no problems with trail options like the Wentworth Valley Falls.
And of course, there’s the Te Araroa Trail spanning the length of the country if you’ve got a spare five months or so.
Tip: If you’re road tripping around New Zealand (campervan buying tips here), you’ll likely drive along Centennial Highway near Wellington. You should definitely fit the Paekakariki Escarpment Track in as part of your day.
6. VARIETY OF LANDSCAPES
A massive sea cave you can visit when you’re in the Catlin’s
Okay, this is what people love about New Zealand, possibly the most out of everything on this list. It’s definitely the reason I love New Zealand the most. We’re incredibly lucky to have a variety of landscapes and given the size of the country, you can see several on any given day.
You could be exploring caves in the morning before heading out to surf in the afternoon, before finishing the day in a geothermal wonderland. And yes, it’s not unrealistic that you’ll have a day just like that.
Here’s a bunch of landscapes you might find when exploring New Zealand:
Caves, volcanos, glacial lakes, alpine deserts, surf, snowy mountains, fjords, goblin forest, beaches (lots of different types of sand), geothermal stuff, bizarre rocks, and raging waterfalls. Just writing this list got me excited!
7. MAORI CULTURE
The Maori rock carving on Lake Taupo you can take a tour to see has become one of the most iconic pieces of Maori art in the country.
“Can you do the haka?”
When overseas this is one of the questions I’m asked the most (i can’t). Thanks in part to the All Blacks, and the mysteriousness of the Maori culture, the haka is something people around the world are familiar with.
There are lots of immersive Maori culture experiences you can get around the country, but Rotorua is where most people go to visit a Marae, watch a haka performance, hear about Maori legends and traditions, and eat a hangi.
Even if getting immersive Maori experiences isn’t on your must-do list, you’ll get some experiences with many Maori place names, words on signs, and you’ll probably interact with Maori people in your day to day interactions whether you realize it or not.
For those who love to learn languages, you could even learn some Maori for free online before you arrive.
8. WE SPEAK ENGLISH…WITH A FUNNY ACCENT
If you speak English, you’ll be good as gold travelling around here, unless your 100% committed to pronouncing the Maori place names correctly. You’ll get lots of love and smiles for attempting regardless.
If you aren’t confident with your English, you’ll be right. You might get a shock at first when we say something to you at a normal speaking speed which combined with our accent, and New Zealand slang, well, you might think we aren’t speaking English. You’ll get the gist of what we’re saying though, and just let us know we need to speak a bit slower and we’ll happily do so 🙂
So New Zealand is most likely a long way from where you are, and the potential costs for the trip are a lot higher than many destinations, but I hope to see you in New Zealand sometime soon!
What to read next:
- What to do with onward travel is you only want to book a one way ticket to New Zealand
- What to buy in New Zealand for souvenirs
- Some unique facts about New Zealand
- Heaps of fun things to do in New Zealand
Hey, it’s Jub here. I’m the guy behind Chur New Zealand, helping you have the best time hiking, trekking, walking…whatever you want to call it…in NZ. I’m based in Queenstown and am always out and about exploring trails, old & new. If you have any questions, reach out.