Product Description

The sun shows up here first for a reason. Come for bracing light or caverns underground, glacial valleys or black volcanic sand. Tour every landscape on earth, all rolled into one country. Dig for pipis on the beach, or sample oysters on a platter. Savour solitude with a view, or city culture. Things are never just black and white in New Zealand.

Stick Out Your Tongue – taste the freshest seafood, world-class wines, or the best lamb roast there is.

Roll Your Eyes – yet another magnificent view of mystical mountains, braided river plains or calming coastlines.

Slap Your Thighs – a good time’s easy to find, from happening Auckland to waterfront Wellington.

Stand Up Proud – and experience Maori culture firsthand: take part in a powhiri, or fill your puku at a hangi.

Run At It Shouting – bungy jump, sea kayak, surf, trek and hit the white water with the best of them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77722 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 772 pages

Review
“Lonely Planet guides are a must-pack” --Toronto Star, February 2006

From the Publisher
Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Destination New Zealand

You're winding your way along a valley etched into the earth by an ancient, industrious glacier, continually crisscrossing a broad, pebble-bottomed river that couldn't look fresher if it had just splashed its way out of a cloud, and drinking in views of variegated rock-hills, the knotted greenery of unkempt arboretums, and snow-dipped peaks crowding before an expansive blue backdrop...Such memory-filling vistas are commonplace in New Zealand, but truth be told, overblown descriptions don't do the country justice - this is one of those rare places where superlatives fight a losing battle to match the actual stature of the land, not the other way around.

And it's not just the living landscapes of New Zealand that conquer the expectations of contemporary explorers. Desires are also fulfilled (and fuelled) by restaurant plates decorated with home-grown edibles, glasses spilling over with fine local wines, entrancing Maori stories, and an overwhelming choice of inventive activities ranging from the impossible-made-easy allure of bungy jumping to the panoramic excitement of a river-skimming jetboat ride.

The wild, rough-cut beauty of this faraway country, where travelers tread paths of ice, lava, sand and rimu-sheltered dirt on their way around the pairing of main islands and across pristine satellite islets, has fittingly gained cult status as the celluloid setting for one of the most inspired stories ever told. But unlike Lord of the Rings, New Zealand is real - this is not Middle-earth, so forget the fictional comparisons and confront the country's magnificent geography, as well as its ever-evolving culture, on its own authentic terms.

Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet did not do their homework for this version
Just came back from a recent trip to New Zealand with the Lonely Planet in tow. My husband and I were very disappointed with the most recent version of the Lonely Planet. We found lots of errors - the LP recommended restaurants that no longer existed, recommended holiday parks that I wouldn't stick my big toe in, and were consistently wrong on pricing from the cable car in Wellington to ferry rides across the Cook Strait. I think you would be just as well off buying the old version. It seems to be the same. It seems the LP writers didn't do their homework this time around.

Highly recommended
I just went on a month-long trip from Auckland to Christchurch, and this book was very helpful. Apparently a new version is going to come out soon. Definitely get the new one as some of the information was starting to get old.

You don't absolutely have to get a travel guide before going to NZ (especially if you're on a tour like Kiwi Experience), but if you are going to get a travel guide, I couldn't imagine a better one than the Lonely Planet.

Decent Info but Don't Rely on the Prices
I've found this guide to be decent. It has tidbits of information, but I find myself wanting to know more about places outside the cities that just aren't covered. I know a new one is coming out in a few months, so I would wait to get that one or get a different brand guidebook if you can't wait. The prices in the the 2006 book are WAY off. I use my BBH hostel guide almost exclusively for finding accommodation. I also found a lot of the restaurants and nightlife listed in the book to be inaccurate or no longer operating. Still using it, but definitely supplementing with internet, BBH accommodation guide, and visits to iSites.