David Morris

If you are on a New Zealand travel adventure, arrange your schedule to be in Arrowtown, Central Otago, on the weekend of April 16/18. It's the annual Arrowtown Autumn Festival and it is a couple of days of history, fun, music, food and all round good times. That time in April is when the Central Otago foliage is at its glorious finest. Like any climate which has hard winters, the summer foliage in Central turns to firey displays of colour in autumn. Arrowtown, 20km from Queenstown, is at the very heart of that autumnal finery . . . and the good folk of the town celebrate it in down home country style. Let's put it this way: I am specially arranging my travel affairs to be there again. It's that good. Proceedings kick off on Friday ... read more

A cautionary tale by David Morris. The best way to tour New Zealand is by car. With your own set of wheels you travel when you want, go where you want, and stop when you want. Coach options don’t allow that.If you're travelling New Zealand for two months or more, buying a car can be an economical option. Cars are relatively cheap here because we import tens of thousands of used Japanese cars every year. You can buy a reasonable runner from about $1000 upwards. The problem is selling it again when you are about to leave. If you don't get a sale by departure date you can end up nearly - or actually - giving it away. Be especially careful if your plans involve departing around late March or later. By then there are ... read more

Seven Tips on Staying Alive in New Zealand Another tourist has died out in the New Zealand bush, the second in the last few weeks. They are tragedies that just didn’t need to occur. This time it was a young Polish guy who got trapped by rising floodwaters in a bush stream. Last month it was an Israeli girl who strayed off a well-marked commercial track. Many visitors come to New Zealand with trekking (in this country it’s called tramping) high on their list of must-dos. They want to experience the pristine wilderness that has disappeared or been desecrated in so much of the rest of the world. What they don’t realise is that the NZ bush is an unforgiving mistress. It is real easy to die out there . . .and every year many do. ... read more

Kaiwaka in Northland, a village of some 537 souls (according to the 2006 Census), sits astride State Highway 1 20 clicks north of Wellsford. It’s not what you’d call the cuisine capital of the country, but it does have one seriously redeeming gastronomical saving grace: La Nonno, an Italian bakery and café. Apart from a superb range of artisan Italian-inspired breads and pastries they bake a pie to die for. (My doctor tells me if I don’t lay off the pies that’s exactly what will happen to me . . . but what would he know? I won’t live longer, it’ll just seem longer). Try the butter chicken pie, not exactly an Italian classic, but a wonderful manifestation of the pieman’s craft. Even if pies aren’t your comestible of choice, the coffee alone is worth the ... read more

It's official - Auckland, New Zealand, is one of the best cities of the world in which to live according to a recently published report from the international consulting group Mercer. Auckland ranked 5th behind Zurich, Vienna, Geneva and Vancouver . . . not bad company to be keeping. It ranked well ahead of Sydney (10th), Melbourne (17th) and Wellington, New Zealand. Cities were ranked on such considerations as personal safety, schools and education, climate, personal freedom and political stability as well as quality of life and housing. Which only goes to prove what Aucklanders have known all along. It really is a great place to work, live and visit. For more on Auckland's attractions have a look at http://New-Zealand-Travel-Guide.com/auckland.htm. For more on the Mercer study go to http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.jhtml?idContent=1306635#Key_Features_and_Be... read more

High in the hills of New Zealand’s remote Mackenzie Country, in the backblocks of a country that is fairly much the backblocks of this planet, might seem an unlikely place for discovering new planets in the universe. Mt John Observatory has, however, been an integral part of a world-wide team that has recently discovered the smallest planet in the universe, about 8000 light years away, outside of our own solar system. You could find out more about that particular story by going to the website of the New Zealand Herald but wouldn’t it be just so much more exciting to get it right from the source, from the astronomers at the observatory itself. In a remarkable entrepreneurial leap for scientists, the observatory has opened its doors (and telescope window) to visitors for day or night tours. ... read more