Travel New Zealand has moved...

Travel New Zealand has moved locations...we are now at

Kiwiwriter

For all the same and more...

Please come and visit.

New Zealand water makes a splash...

New Zealand water is free...if it comes out of the tap.



But bottle it up and send it overseas and it seems you can charge a fortune.

Apparently the Claridge, an expensive London hotel, thinks so. They have established a 'water menu' featuring 30 brands of bottled water from around the world. And New Zealand's 420 Volcanic is at the top of the list - as most expensive. Get this, you will pay $55NZ for 420 mls of pure New Zealand water...

Other New Zealand brands on the menu are cheaper. Waiwera and Antipodes brands sell at a mere $24NZ.

5 resources to help plan an eco-friendly trip around New Zealand.

A Blog Action Day post:



Anyone considering a trip to New Zealand who look at ways to travel more environmentally friendly. Here's a few links to help you plan a greener trip...

Ecotours - links to over 100 ecotourism operators in New Zealand offering tours.

Organic Explorer - a resource guide/directory to eco-friendly places around New Zealand where you can stay, eat, sightsee and shop

Focus on New Zealand - looks at the role of nature and eco-tourism in New Zealand.

Green Globe NZ - collective of award-winning, unique, and innovative tourism operations demonstrating responsible behaviour.

New Zealand Eco-Wise Travel Guide complied by the Ministry of the Environment offering tips on how to be eco-wise and leave gentle footprints when travelling in New Zealand (or anywhere else)

US Idol Spot for Kiwi Singer...

New Zealander Joanne Jaffa is one of 40 top contestants for the latest US Idol competition, the Next Great American Band. Joanne, together with her daughters Leticia and Krystle, play in the classical crossover band CJA The band is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Travel New Zealand has joined the Blog Action Day 2007

Travel New Zealand has joined the Blog Action Day 2007 project.

It's a great idea - getting bloggers from around the world to all post on the one topic on the same day. The first ever Blog Action Day takes place on October 15, 2007 and the topic is 'environment'.

Over 700 bloggers have already registered...

Check it out at Blog Action Day 2007

Net Guide's New Zealand Photo Competition.

Net Guide is holding a New Zealand Photo Competition.

Head on over and check out the recent entries. All photos must celebrate New Zealand’s unique culture, lifestyle and landscape.

Images are added to the slideshow daily and you can vote on your favorite one. Or better still enter your own New Zealand photo for the chance to win a Sony Alpha digital SLR package.

Reading New Zealand: From the Writer's Notebook...

From the Writer’s Notebook by Lydia Monin (Reed Publishing, 2006)

Subtitled Around New Zealand with 80 authors, this travel book provides an interesting insight into historic New Zealand through the eyes of famous writers such as Mark Twain, Zane Grey, Anthony Trollope, and Agatha Christie etc, etc.

Focusing both on the visiting writers preconceptions of New Zealand - for example, before Mark Twain visited New Zealand, he thought that New Zealand and Australia were connected by a bridge - and on their actual impressions of New Zealand, this book is a fascinating journey around New Zealand in the late 1800s and early 1900s.