New Zealand in three weeks, from Auckland to Queenstown

From the Coromandel beaches to the southern fiords

This trip crosses both islands of New Zealand, from Auckland to Queenstown. The Coromandel Peninsula has golden sand beaches and Hot Water Beach, where you dig your own hot bath in the sand around low tide. Next come Hobbiton and the volcanic plateau, from Rotorua to the volcanoes of Tongariro.

In Wellington, the Interislander ferry takes the van on board for the three-and-a-half-hour crossing to Picton. After the beaches of Abel Tasman, the West Coast runs between the Tasman Sea and the Southern Alps, with the Pancake Rocks, the rainforest and the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.

Past the Haast Pass, the road runs along Lakes Hāwea and Wānaka. The turquoise Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki lead to Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest peak in the country (3,724 metres). The journey ends with a boat trip on Milford Sound.

At Wai-O-Tapu, the Lady Knox geyser erupts every morning at 10.15 am, when a guide pours soap into its vent. Further south, Lake Taupō, the largest in the country, fills the caldera of a giant eruption that happened more than 25,000 years ago.

Tongariro National Park brings together three volcanoes: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. Its great hike, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (19.4 kilometres), needs an extra day and a shuttle. The Desert Road runs alongside the volcanoes, through the Rangipo Desert.

Aotearoa, the Māori land

The Māori, who arrived from Polynesia around the 13th century, call the country Aotearoa. The South Island is Te Waipounamu, “the waters of greenstone”. Pounamu, the greenstone of the West Coast, belongs to the Ngāi Tahu tribe; you buy it carved in Hokitika. Many places have two official names, such as Aoraki / Mount Cook. In Rotorua, Te Puia and the village of Whakarewarewa present Te Arawa culture: carving, weaving and dance.

Tongariro National Park was the country’s first, and it was born of a gift. In 1887, the chief Te Heuheu Tūkino IV gave his people’s sacred summits to the Crown, to protect them from being sold. Listed by UNESCO in 1990, the park became in 1993 the first cultural landscape on the list.

What not to miss

1. 1Cathedral CoveAn arch of white rock between two beaches, reached on foot from Hahei.
2. 2HobbitonThe Shire film set, rebuilt to last for The Hobbit, visited with a guide.
3. 3The Pancake RocksLimestone stacked like pancakes at Punakaiki, and blowholes at high tide.
4. 4The Hooker Valley TrackTen kilometres return and three swing bridges to Hooker Lake, facing Aoraki.
5. 5Milford SoundThe fiord and Mitre Peak, nearly 1,700 metres high, best seen by boat.
6. 6The Kawarau BridgeThe 1880 bridge where AJ Hackett launched commercial bungy jumping in 1988.

New Zealand in pictures

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The Cathedral Cove arch and its beach, beside turquoise water.

The New Zealand table

People eat lamb, fish and seafood. In Havelock, on the road to Nelson, try the green-lipped mussels of the Marlborough Sounds. On the West Coast, whitebait, tiny young fish caught at river mouths, is served as fritters. In Rotorua, the Māori hāngī cooks meat and vegetables underground.

For dessert, there is pavlova, a fruit-topped meringue that Australia also claims. For wine, Marlborough is known for its sauvignon blanc, and Central Otago, near Queenstown, for its pinot noir.