ADVENTURES IN NEW ZEALAND

        Miles of wild open spaces. High desert plateaus extending from the horizons. Virgin forests of giant prehistoric trees. Grassy plains. Jagged granite rising almost 2.5 miles above the ocean. Glaciers descending into the jungle. Parrots and penguins in the same rain forest. A wild ocean crashing into footprint-free beaches. Boom towns. Ghost towns. No towns. Clapboard false fronts. Dusty main streets at high noon. Cowboys and sheepmen trading stories at the general store and the post office. Country fairs where lumberjacks saw and chop, shearers slice wool, and horsewomen debate Western vs. English, while all covet the prize-winning pies. Wyoming? Montana? Alaska? Mexico? Argentina? East Africa? Australia? Nope, pardner, it's New Zealand: last frontier of the West and first frontier of the East, so far down under we Yanks stage there before departing for Antarctica. Do you think the pioneer spirit of the Wild West has gone the way of the moa? Nope—it's alive and well exactly where the moa used to live.

        In Part One we gallop through the North Island, stopping to gawk at prehistoric trees, Maori fishing villages, clapboard towns, artist colonies, geothermal playgrounds, until we reached the San Francisco of the South Pacific, Wellington, and the end of the island.
        In Part Two we fly to the South Island and explore the water wonders and wine lands of Nelson and Marlborough country, then head for bloomin’ Christchurch with a short stop to spot the whales off the Kaikoura Coast. We take a great rail journey from coast to coast, crossing the Southern Alps and arriving in wild Westland, where we see glaciers, go fishing, and visit frontier towns along the Tasman Sea. Finally, we cross New Zealand’s highest road pass, driving from the coast through the rain forest to the alpine heights and down into the arid rain shadow of Wanaka in Central Otago on the eastern slope.
        In Part Three we explore some of New Zealand’s most famous, most majestic, most remote, and most touristed country, home of the bungy, the kea, the jet boat, and the great treks. We go back a century in Arrowtown, go extreme in Queenstown, and can't believe our eyes in Fiordland.
        Finally, Part Four takes us in either of two directions back to civilization at Christchurch. One direction leads to Scotland on the Pacific Coast. The other crosses the great New Zealand Outback by way of the highest point in Australasia. Along the way we see penguins and albatross, lots of rabbits and a few sheep. Come with us as our Wild Frontier itinerary leads back to Christchurch by way of Dunedin and Mackenzie Country.

PART THREE—
South and Southwest on the South Island

ARROWTOWN
        Arrowtown is Queenstown's alter-ego, what Queenstown might have been, if left alone by developers. Perhaps Arrowtown, with its frontier storefronts, dusty streets and quaint shops, is not overrun because of the fame of its glamorous neighbor 15 miles away. Like many towns in Central Otago, Arrowtown was once a gold-mining center. Now its mining past is hinted at in its wild west appearance and rugged mountain borders. But there are good restaurants and two golf courses here (including Millbrook, a championship course designed by New Zealand’s pride, Sir Bob Charles), which lend Arrowtown a slower, less frenetic pace than the frenzied Queenstown. But Arrowtown is small, and, presumably, boring to those who are looking for an adrenalin fix. Queenstown is for the tourism masses; Arrowtown is for those mass tourism misses.                     photo © HOME AT FIRST


QUEENSTOWN
        In a nation more and more obsessed with developing tourism Queenstown is king. If Queenstown didn’t invent extreme sports, eco-tourism, wilderness trekking, adventure travel, heli-skiing, and jet boating, it certainly takes pride in being credited with their successful commercial development. Local legends like A.J. Hackett—who first conceived that tourists would pay real money to jump off a bridge with a rubber band attached to their ankles at Queenstown’s Kawarau Bridge on November 12, 1988—is credited with starting New Zealand’s adventure tourism craze. His company now offers four different bungy sites in the Queenstown region, each newer site promising a bigger squirt of adrenalin.
photo courtesy New Zealand Tourism

        Queenstown’s ambition to become a combination of Aspen, Orlando, and Vegas has brought the area a colorful mixture of kitsch, glitz, glamour, youthfulness, beautiful people, counter-culture athletes, groupies and wannabe’s. Predictably, legions of mainstream tourists have followed, most more interested in people-watching than in bungy-jumping. And Queenstown has welcomed the mainstream with two of New Zealand’s best golf courses (at Millbrook and Kelvin Heights), a burgeoning wine district, a growing number of traditional non-adventure tours (sightseeing) and soft-adventure activities (horseback riding, day-hiking, fly-fishing, skiing), and a wide range of non-trendy mainstream restaurants including many of the international chains.

        If development in Queenstown could have been done better, it could also have been much worse. The saving grace is the setting of the place—the mountains, the lakes, the canyons, and the rivers collide harmoniously at Queenstown. No matter which spoke of the wheel you follow outward from the Queenstown hub, the scenery will be magic.

photo © HOME AT FIRST

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This article is excerpted from Home at First's exclusive "New Zealand Activity Guide".
The "New Zealand Activity Guide" is the accompanying guidebook keyed to Home at First's
New Zealand travel program. It is issued only to all Home at First New Zealand guests.
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