The New Zealand Trust of Conservation Volunteers wants you...

Here’s an opportunity for lovers of the outdoors to help save the environment and have fun at the same time. The New Zealand Trust of Conservation Volunteers are looking for people that are willing to rough it and get a bit dirty. Projects include hut and track maintainence, wildlife and habitat conservation, pest control, and tree planting.

Both New Zealanders and overseas visitors are encouraged to apply for the various projects listed on the website.

The Aigantighe Art Museum

This little gem was found on a recent trip to Timaru, 2 hours south of Christchurch.
It is the South Island’s third largest public art museum and is home to an eclectic collection of works from sixteenth century to present day including New Zealand artists such as Goldie, McCahon, and Hodgkins.

The Edwardian House that holds this collection was built in 1908 by Alexander and Helen Grant, Scottish immigrants, as a retirement home. Aigantighe means ‘at home’ in Scottish Gaelic and is pronounced ‘egg and tie’. It was gifted to the city of Timaru and formally opened as an art gallery in 1956.

Beside the paintings and the architecture, another reason to visit Aigantighe is it’s thought provoking International Sculpture Garden.

Shrek on ice

New Zealand’s most famous sheep, Shrek, got to spend his 10th birthday on one of the floating ice bergs the east coast of the South Island. But it wasn’t all fun and games. Shrek was shorn on the iceberg as part of a publicity stunt to promote NZ wool. more…

Things about Christchurch

I just found this great site that will connect you with everything and anything about Christchurch. Perfect place for any visitor to Christchurch (or local) who needs to find out where things are and what’s happening. Check out Christchurch City Links.

Dunedin Railway Station

This old-stone Flemish Renaissance-style railway station might just be the most photographed building in New Zealand. Once the country’s biggest and busiest railway station, it now services the Taieri Gorge Railway, a tourist venture. But its opulent architecture, Royal Doulton mosaic entrance floor and stained glassed windows of locomotives attracts hundreds of visitors daily To see why . DK Eyewitness Travel ranks it among the 200 must see places in the world, check out the photos at DavidWallPhoto.com.

Two New Books

Two new books worth reading

Jump start by AJ Hackett that tells all about the man who commercialized bungy jumping for the world.

A Journey through New Zealand Film by Ian Brodie - a movie themed travel book featuring maps and photos of locations of movies shot in New Zealand, plus interviews with top New Zealand directors

Driving Creek Railway, Coromandel Town

More from my trip to Coromandel Peninsula. If you click on the photo, you will be able to see a montage (technology from onetruemedia.com) of my visit to the Driving Creek Railway, located just outside Coromandel Town.

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Purangi Estate Winery

I was in the Coromandel Peninsula awhile ago and found this gem of a winery. It might not look like much, but the wines are brilliant. I only wish I had bought more. The one bottle I bought, a 2004 Sauvignon Blanc, disappeared way too fast.

The Purangi Winery is located at 450 Purangi Road, Mercury Bay, Coromandel Peninsula.

Release of newest edition of Lonely Planet New Zealand

"The world's biggest film set is also the world's must-visit destination for the umpteenth year in a row," gushes the introduction. "No wonder the locals are smiling. They've long known they live in paradise and now everyone else does too." So begins the 13th edition of Lonely Planet New Zealand. The result of 5 writers on the road for 26 weeks, it offers a sometimes harsh but fair judging of all that New Zealand has to offer.

The authors praise New Zealand for it’s spectacular scenery, adrenalin pumping activities, music, wine and clean green image. The main cities fair well - Wellington is considered hip and energetic, Auckland cool, and Christchurch is seen as a thoroughly modern NZ city.

But some of the small towns are dismissed by the authors for being outdoor shopping malls (Cromwell), nondescript service hubs (Alexandra), fairly bleak (Ranfurly) and of little interest (Balclutha). Harsh judgements, I think, having visited many of the places myself. But it will give many of New Zealand’s small towns ‘food for thought’. If they are truly interested in attracting and then holding the attention of overseas visitors, they may need to work on and develop their appeal.

Lonely Planet guides have always been known for their honest appraisal of a place and this edition is no different. This honesty has only enhanced sales of its guidebook series. And the New Zealand editions are among Lonely Planet’s highest selling. It will be interesting to see if this edition maintains that honor.

New Zealand takes top billing

New Zealand is a star in Hollywood. Its spectacularly rugged and diverse scenery have provided the landscape for a number of Hollywood blockbuster. As a result, movie tourism has taken off in a big way. Following the release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, numerous tour companies and guide books were created specifically to provide fans with access to LOTR location sites. But even before New Zealand became the new Middle Earth, movie tourism existed in New Zealand.
Among the main locations are:

The Piano:

Karekare Beach, Auckland
Lord of the Rings:

Matamata - Hobbiton

Rangitikei River - River Anduin

The Volcanic Plateau - Mordor

Wellington - The Shire, Moria and Bree

Hutt Valley - Isengard, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul

and Helm's Deep

Nelson - Dimrill Dale

Takaka - Chetwood Forest

Canterbury - Plains of Rohan

Mackenzie Basin - Pelennor Fields

Queenstown - Lothlorien

Southern Alps - Misty Mountains

Milford Sound - Fangorn Forest
Perfect Strangers:

Punakaiki Rocks, West Coast South Island
Whale Rider:

Whangara, the tiny village on the NI east coast
The Last Samurai:

Taranaki
The Worlds Fastest Indian:

Oreti Beach in the southlands of New Zealand
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

Flock Hill Station, near Oamaru
River Queen:

Whanganui River in Wanganui

Tourism New Zealand’s website provides more information on visiting the film
locations of Lord of the Rings, River Queen, The World's Fastest Indian, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Lonely Planet’s Code Green mentions New Zealand….

Two New Zealand businesses, Whale Watch Kaikoura and Footprints Waipoua, have been included in Lonely Planet’s Code Green, a guide to responsible travel experiences.

Travel articles about New Zealand

For those who enjoy reading travel articles as much as I do, here’s a few new ones I found:

Sunday Star Times The untamed waters of Fiordland by Yvonne Martin
NZ Life & Lesiure Central Otago by Amy Kelly
Cuisine Magazine Gourmet Goldmine by Lauraine Jacob

World Bra chain record not broken

And the saga continues. Wanakafest 2006’s attempt to beat the world bra chain record has failed. They did finish up with 5 km of bras, which by any standard is a whole lot of bras. But they were way off the record, which stands at 95 km, achieved earlier this year by the women of Cyprus (they too were raising money for breast cancer awareness.

While not breaking any records, the bra chain provided much entertainment and raised over $10,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Trust.

Local newspaper articles:

Wanaka's world bra record falls well short
Bras end up being on small size
TVNZ video

Bra chain record bid set to fail

101 Must do’s for Kiwis

Just released by the NZ Automobile Association, this domestic tourism campaign aims to get more New Zealanders to stay home and travel their own country. Pick up a map at your local BP station and tick off your ‘have done’s’. An interactive campaign, the AA invites everyone to visit their site and vote on their top experiences. And for those who feel that something was missed out, you can submit your ‘102 must do’.

Earlier this month, another site ,Nzlive, was launched by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. It provides a one stop site shop for listing of all New Zealand cultural events, festivals, and activities.

The Christchurch Press article Explore Godzone: Just do it …

Krazy Kelvin’s Maori Blog

This looks like a promising site to learn more about Maori culture. Here’s a description of his blog

Haere Mai / Welcome, Even though I have maori blood in me, I am ashamed to say that I know very little about my maori background, so this is going to be a learning experience not only for me but for anyone who reads this blog. It is a culture within itself that is worth sharing - its people; its language; its food; its music & its heritage ! My thoughts & prayers are with you all. Arohanui ! Kakite !

Check it out at http://kknzmaoriblog.blogspot.com/

Looking for good coffee?

If you’re travelling to Christchurch or Wellington and looking for coffee, then check out the New Zealand Coffee Review. It has a collection of café reviews around the two cities (plus a few other places) that can give you idea of where to go. Don’t know who runs it, but you can write your own review if you want.

WOW !! Fashion on display.

The annual Montana World of Wearable Arts Awards Show are being held in Wellington from 21 September to 1 October. This is not to be missed, as innovative and creative New Zealand artists and designers defy gravity, logic and conservative thought to produce eye opening and mind boggling creations.

Meanwhile, up in Auckland, the annual Air New Zealand Fashion Week runs from 19 to 22 September. Featuring the collections of leading New Zealand designers, the show is held at Auckland’s Viaduct Marine Harbor Village.

Eccentric New Zealand - Tirau

This sleepy town at the intersection of SH5 and SH1 between Hamilton and Rotorua has reinvented itself into the ‘corrugated town’. Shops and cafes line both sides of the highway, with corrugated appendages and designs.

Four luxury New Zealand lodges named in Hideaway Report

Andrew Harper’s latest Hideaway Report named 4 NZ lodges in his list of the 20 top Hideaways of the world. They were:

Taupo’s Huka Lodge at #4
Glenorchy’s Blanket Bay at #6
Northland’s Kauri Cliffs at #10
Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown at #17

Demise of the Bra Fence

What was once a novelty is now causing controversy with the Wanaka Community Board decreeing that the bra fence must be no more. And so the bras must go. But rather than just being thrown away, all bras will be put to good use, as part of an attempt to make the ‘Longest Bra Chain in the world’ to raise money for breast cancer research. As part of WanakaFest 2006, the Breast Cancer Research Trust is calling on women to send in their bras (and a gold coin donation) to help collect the 115,000 bras needed to break the world record.

Where these bras will end up after the festival is up in the air. The ‘bra fence’ will be gone. But there is still the sheep fence surrounding the property….