20 things that you can experience only in New Zealand, world-wondrous


20 things you can only experience in New Zealand

Is the long flight to New Zealand really worth it, or is there just a nice mix of Norway, the Alps and the Sauerland? Nonsense. In New Zealand, you can see things that are not anywhere else in the world!

Kiwis are not (anymore) only in New Zealand, but they are so big!

There are supposed to be travelers who compare New Zealand with the Norwegian fjords, with the Bavarian Alps or (uaaahh …) with the Sauerland. That may be all right – considering only a single region in New Zealand.

Yes, in Fiordland it sometimes looks like Norway. The Southern Alps are just a high mountain, which logically resembles the Alps; and the sheep pastures in Waikato may well remind some people of their German homeland.

But what does not exist in Norway, in the Alps or in the Sauerland (! One!), Is the mixture of everything: snowy mountains overlooking the sea, glaciers that end in the rainforest, dream beaches with hot springs underneath.

And there are a lot of things in New Zealand that you really only find there – which is why a New Zealand trip can not be replaced by any other destination. Sorry, dear Sparfüchse ;-)

20 + 1 things you can only experience in New Zealand

  • Only in New Zealand can you visit the real Hobbiton and drink a beer in the “Green Dragon Inn” -> The latter we have not done, the former is a real highlight

  • Only in New Zealand can you be amazed at your Campervan road trip, how many movie sets from the “Lord of the Rings” you recognize on the roadside (there are a lot, especially on the South Island).

“Get off the road! Quick !! “Hobbit trails in Victoria Park in Wellington

  • Only in New Zealand can you admire the world’s only preserved specimen of a Giant Squid ->at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, which is one of the greatest museums in the world

The giant squid – gigantic!

  • Only in New Zealand can you get to know the culture of the Maori, who discovered New Zealand a little earlier than the English; visit a Maori dance performance, get invited to a marae or at least watch a haka of the New Zealand All Blacks before a rugby match.

A Marae in Rotorua – such carving is only available in NZ © Pixabay

  • Only in New Zealand can you dig for hot water on the beach and build a spa of sand -> Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula is world famous, but Te Puia Hot Springs in Kawhia is much better

The black dunes of Kawhia (historical slide shot of 2002!)

  • Only in New Zealand can you do a cave walk and discover a starry sky under the earth -> not only in Waitomo, but also in Te Anau and in the freely accessible Waipu Caves – and even without caves you will find the “glow-worms” in the forest at night

Once again historical: the exit from the Waitomo Cave

  • Only in New Zealand can you go for a stroll through the city, where sulfur fumes rise from the gullies and the residents cook their food in front of the house in a hot spring ->in Rotorua, which is a great little town

Steam, hiss, blubber – that’s Rotorua

  • Only in New Zealand can you find Pounamu, New Zealand jade, in a river and drag it to a trailer -> The first one you can do with luck with Hokitika, the latter has already successfully tried out Julia, the Huntress of Lost Smite

Find and carve jade – that sounds exciting! © Te Puia NZMACI

  • Only in New Zealand you can visit several geothermal wonderlands -> there are a lot of things around Rotorua and Taupo that are not all equally recommended; our favorites are the Waimangu Thermal Valley and the Craters of the Moon

The Craters of the Moon

  • Only in New Zealand can you (if you are fast and get a nice winter day) ski the same day and jump into the sea -> goes z. In Methven near Christchurch or Mt Taranaki

  • Only in New Zealand can you hike (!) A glacier (and then warm yourself up in a hot spring) with a little fitness -> is still on our to-do list

  • Only in New Zealand can you (or could) swing on a gigantic swing over a 160 meter deep abyss (bungee jumping is something of nineties …)

Can you do that with a child ?! © Shotover Canyon Swing Queenstown

  • Only in New Zealand you can (and should you!) Watch endangered yellow-eyed penguins and tiny little penguins – still in New Zealand in the wild.

A yellow-eyed penguin who is already damn rare today

  • Only in New Zealand can you hug a cowrie that has been around for thousands of years (or not, the tribe is way too big for that) -> this is only possible on the North Island, for example in the Waipoua Kauri Forest – and if you are unlucky, the cowries are soon extinct …

Tane Mahuta, the god of the forest

  • Only in New Zealand can you be stolen by the curious Kea (these are super-intelligent mountain parrots) the hiking boots -> You will almost always meet your colleagues on hikes in the Southern Alps and Fiordland

Encounter of the third kind at Milford Sound

  • Only in New Zealand can you listen to the call of a kiwi in the nocturnal jungle and see it with tremendous luck -> goes to Trounson Kauri Park in Northland, Tongariro National Park and Stewart Island; a bit more comfortable, for example, at Rainbow Springs near Rotorua

Well, where are the kiwis??

  • Only in New Zealand can you climb or ski on active volcanoes ->in theTongariro National Park

On Mount Ruapehu, it is steaming dangerously … (but only clouds)

  • Only in New Zealand can you shudder at the huge Huhu beetles – or try their fat maggots at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival.

A real Huhu beetle © Huhu beetle by Greg Schechter under CC 2.0

  • You can (and will) stand at 10 ° C on the beach and watch the New Zealanders bathing -> In summer it is sometimes so cold on the South Island, everywhere in winter (but when the sun is shining, real New Zealanders go swimming anyway!)

Clearly recognizable: European child (the kiwi children bathed in the background)

  • You can buy a portion of “Fish and Chips” (in New Zealand: “fush ‘n chups”) that will fill your entire family ->or a bunch of other goodies

The soul of every small town: the fish and chips shop

  • You can be the first in the world to welcome the new day at Eastcape -> that too is still out for us …

What unique things have you done in New Zealand that are not on our list??

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Christina Cherry
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