Hotels in and around Christchurch are starting to re-open. Between the Airport and the central city there are currently 15 hotels open, including the five-star The George Hotel, which boasts two top class
restaurants. There are also 105 motels open in the city. While the so-called red zone remains offlimits, in the western suburbs life has already largely returned to normal. The city’s two biggest shopping malls are open and suburban bars and restaurants are doing a roaring trade as they cater to both visitors and locals. There is talk too of constructing a temporary entertainment hub in Christchurch for the many bars and restaurants that have been forced out of the central city by quake damage.

Key visitor attractions like Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, Orana Wildlife Park, the International Antarctic Centre, Wigram Airforce Museum, and the TranzAlpine train service are operating as usual and visitors are continuing to use Christchurch as the gateway to the South Island.

The Christchurch City Council has pledged to push ahead with its annual New Zealand Cup and Show Week Festival in November, and the recently announced BMW New Zealand Golf Open is also going ahead in December as planned, at Clearwater Resort.

Source: Travel Memo

Following the devastating earthquake in Christchurch on February 22 this year, New Zealand has been in shock. It’s going to take a lot of love and a lot of cash to help rebuild the city. Tourism makes up approximately 10% of New Zealand’s GDP and it is essential for the world to know that New Zealand is open for business, and that it doesn’t look like a war zone.

Who’s behind Blog4NZ?

Blog4NZ is being organised by a small group of travel bloggers in collaboration with key tourism groups in New Zealand. Most organisation is being done by:

• Jim McIntosh from Holes in My Soles
• John Reese from the French Way Travel Blog
• Craig Martin from the Indie Travel Podcast
• Dan Roberts from Travel Generation

Sign up

Want to take part? Want to blog, promote or publish other people’s posts? Sign up now.

Read Some Exisiting Blogs by visiting the official blog4NZ facebook page.

“The Hobbit” is set in Middle-earth 60 years before Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

The two films, with screenplays by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson, will be shot consecutively in digital 3D using the latest camera and stereo technology. Filming will take place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.

The Hobbiton set has been fully rebuilt outside Matamata and will remain intact as a tourist attraction after filming ends. It is expected to annually pull in excess of the 364,000 visitors it recorded in 2004, during the peak LOTR years.

The first instalment of The Hobbit is expected in December 2012, while the second will be released in 2013.

The same day as production starts, the official Hobbit blog has also gone live.

Relaxing Journeys are receiving constant updates from affected tourism businesses, operators and accommodation providers, so we can ensure alternative amendments to your itineraries are put in place if it’s likely you will be affected by the quakes aftermath. We will contact you personally if this is the case.

The good news is the airport is open and the vast majority of hotels and accommodation providers are operating as normal. Parts of the city are cordoned off and this affects pickup points in some cases, but as mentioned above we’ll let you know if this affects you, and will be in contact.

The clean up will take sometime, and we’ll keep you all briefed here if there is a fundamental change in access to the region.

If you’d like more information on what’s happening on the ground, you can follow the latest developments on the link below:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10671666

Update 7th September 2010

All coach tours, self drives and activities are currently running as per normal including those starting and finishing and travelling through Christchurch. The media is enjoying this opportunity to increase their advertising revenues, but the reality is, all hotels in Christchurch are open (with 1 exception) and operating as per normal. The same can be said with regards to tourism activities operating in the region. There are a couple of exceptions however we will let you know of any changes to your itineraries if you are travelling through the region over the next few days. The airport is also fully functional and operating as per normal.

Update 10th September 2010

Tourism New Zealand and Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism are encouraging international visitors not to put off travel plans, through daily updates on Tourism NZ’s website. They are stressing that only a small part of the region has been affected by the quake and inviting travellers to experience Christchurch, gateway to the beautiful South island.

Update 24th September 2010

Christchurch is returning to normal after a serious earthquake hit the City on 4 September. The state of local emergency in the Christchurch region was lifted a week ago. Visitors are being welcomed back to the City and a travel advisory against non-essential travel was lifted on the 10th September. Only a few isolated areas of the central City, and some buildings, remain cordoned off for safety reasons. All tourism operators are operating as normal.

My eyes quickly scan the blue horizon as I search for this majestic beast. I am so busy looking as far as the eye can see that I don’t realise what is right in front of my eyes. The beautiful whale is only a few metres in front of the boat, immediately my body is covered in goose bumps. There is something about seeing these gentle giants in their own playground that makes me stand still and gasp, the gentle sway of the boat starts to put me into a trance and I stare in wonder.

No wonder is it that the Whale Watch Kaikoura has been named the Supreme Winner at this year’s Responsible Tourism Awards in London. The international accolades are awarded annually and recognise tourism ventures operating in a way that respects and benefits both the destination and the local people.

It is a true sign that with community support and a good old ‘Can-Do Kiwi’ attitude you can bring a declining economy that it was in the late 1980′s to a thriving successful tourism hot spot that highlights the true hospitality that the people of Kaikoura and the Ngati Kuri tribe possess.

The Whale watch is owned and operated by Ngati Kuri, a hapu (sub tribe) of the South Island’s Ngai Tahu tribe. It is because of their forward thinking that they pulled many locals out of unemployment by realising the potential of the area’s sperm whale population that the area could be turned into a spectacular tourism venture for the thousands of people who visit Kaikoura every year.

It has been going for 22 years and counting as they introduce their sixth vessel to their fleet and last year invested $5m in a joint venture with Sea World on the Australia’s Gold Coast to provide their whale watching.

Clients of Relaxing Journeys have the opportunity of experiencing this intriguing excursion on a number of our self-drive tours as well as including them onto any independent coach tour that passes through Kaikoura. There are no excuses to miss out on this opportunity.

After experiencing this adventure first hand I could really feel and see the deep respect that the Ngati Kuri tribe has for the environment and their responsibility for the protection and nurturing of our natural resources.

No wonder they walked away with this well deserved prestigious award…..if only I could walk away on my sea legs!

We took our time to drive up from Auckland that day, normally a 3 1/2 hr drive but we took the coastal roads and spent most of the day driving slowly enjoying the scenery and stopping off in various beachside spots for coffee and ice creams and a stroll on the beach. The beaches up there are unlike anywhere else. We drove out to the coast from Warkworth an hour north of Auckland to Tauwharanui which is in a regional park. The beach is stunning, surf, white sand, a huge pohutakawa tree with its branches stretching out over the sand making a cool, shady spot for us. We had fun scrambling round the rocky headland and caves and rockpools at the end of the beach where we found another beach on the eastern side of this peninsular, just as large, ringed with pohutakawas and interesting tracks to walk.

But we pressed on and suppressed the temptation to stop at the surf beach of Mangawahai Heads.  There is a long sand dune island along one end of the beach which is a wildlife refuge no go area to save the endangered banded dotterels, fairy tern and Caspian tern that nest there.   They lay their eggs on the beach and it’s very easy to stand on them without seeing them.  This island makes a calm inlet on the other side where children can play in the shallows.  Very pretty.   We had a stopover at Langs Beach a little further on to poke around the rockpools looking for crabs and limpets and tiny fish.  It was lunchtime by now so we stopped at Waipu Cove at a cute roadside cafe and had a lunch of  fish and chips on the verandah.  Waipu Cove is renowned for its surf and it looked marvellous that day. 

The road turned westward for a while and we drove into Whangarei, the only city in Northland, population 70,000.  It’s also a nice place to stop for lunch.  You can go to the harbour and walk along the wharf and see yachts from all over the world moored there.  This is where they make for when they arrive in New Zealand from the Pacific Islands.   A pleasant area for eating or that cup of coffee.

We drove east out of Whangarei through rural landscapes of  farms with dry stone walls out to the coast to Tutakaka, start point of deep sea fishing and diving charters, and on to Matapouri Beach.  When you arrive at the beach you can’t see it until you jump out of the car and walk up a tiny mound and there is the beach  shaped like  a perfect half round basin.  Looking out through the two headlands you can make out the Poor Knights Islands 24 kms off the coast, a marine reserve and a mecca for scuba divers around the world renowned for its clear water and diversity of marine life.  Jacques Cousteau rated it as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world.

Matapouri Beach has shady pohutakawas hanging over the beach and large rock outcrops jutting out of the sand and little grass worn tracks over the hill to the next cove, steep sided black rock with deep green  water surging and swirling around the inlet.  I saw a couple of divers just ready to plunge in.  Matapouri beach is the most beautiful  I have ever seen.  For now there are only small old baches, one store, and a few quiet roads.  I only hope it stays that way.  We had a glorious swim there.

We were now 2 1/2 hours drive north from Auckland.  We got back on the main road and drove on up to Opua just south of Paihia.  We had planned to see Russell, New Zealand’s first European settlement built back in the early 1800′s, and in Opua you can drive on to the car ferry and make for Russell that way.  A pleasant little ride over the inlet with the green hills reflected in the water and yachts and launches of all ages moored about.  It would have been nice to spend a couple of days in this area as I love to paint and there were so many pictures to make.  I love the colours of the clay cliffs in Northland,  from ochre to sienna. The water is very deep at Opua and in the summer cruise liners sometimes berth there.

Just a few kilometres to Russell which is surrounded by bush clad hills.  We walked around the little village.  The first church built in New Zealand is there, still with its bullet holes from the 1845 battle with Hone Heke  of the Ngapuhi people of Northland.  A feeling of discontent had grown about land deals and gradually grew until it erupted into the sacking of Kororareka (Russell) and the Europeans had to flee to Auckland for safety.  The three churches in Russell were the only buildings saved due to Hone Heke putting a “tapu” over them.  Such a pretty village looking out over a pebble beach to the islands in the  Bay of Islands and to Paihia on the western side.  Ferries run between the two spots several times a day.  Its worth driving for a couple of minutes over the hill from Russell to Long Beach, with its single line of houses across the road from the sand.  A beautiful spot to while away an afternoon with a good book and the occasional dip in the water.

We drove back to the car ferry landing and ferried back over to Opua and on to Paihia to make a booking for the following day to go out on Fullers “Cream Trip” a day cruise which takes you around the Bay of Islands.  We drove for a few minutes  from there to Kerikeri, where New Zealand’s oldest house was built in 1822 (Kemp House).  This area is known for its citrus fruit and is very pretty.  We stayed in a “B & B” there called “William and Marys”  which is a separate, quite large, two bedroom house built on a few acres and looking out over a golf course.  Nothing has been forgotten in the accoutrements in this house.  Very comfortable.   A beautiful spot.  We arrived around 6:0pm and had booked dinner for our arrival.  Mary had prepared a scrumptious dinner for us.  We put our bags in our bedrooms , opened a bottle of wine and sat out on the deck and ate our dinner and watched the sun go down.

Next morning we found a parking lot close to the foreshore and boarded the catamaran for our day out on the Bay.  A large comfortable boat probably taking about 70 people.   Some had brought their bathers for a planned “swim with the dolphins” option you can take.  We brought our lunch with us but you can buy food on board.  We took on a few more people in Russell and then set out for the islands.  The captain gave us an interesting commentary all the way, telling us about the history of certain bays and islands.  

The northernmost point was Cape Brett, the “Hole in the Rock” which we went through with hardly any room to spare.  Very clever steering.  It was great.   We were on the look out for dolphins all the way and the captain had the call from another boat that a pod had been sighted so we took off for that area.  The dolphins swam around the boat ducking and diving having a marvellous time.  Our swimmers jumped into a net that had been let down the side of the boat for them.  They hung on to it until the dolphins came close and then swam among them.  When they were all back on board we made for Urupukapuka Island where we walked to the top of one of the hills overlooking a beautiful bay and ate our lunch.  Some stayed on the beach where we berthed and ate at the cafe there and some had a swim.  We arrived back in Paihia at about 4:00pm.  A great day.

The following day we drove north, first to Mangonui where we had heard of the famous fish and chip shop built out over the water on a wharf where the fresh fish came in daily.  Don’t miss this lovely little village when you go up north.  So picturesque (and the fish and chips were tasty).  It was still early in the day.  We drove up past Coopers Beach and Cable Bay both in Doubtless Bay and then on through Taipa to the Karikari Peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean.  After a while the sealed road ran out and we drove on the metal road past a large vineyard until we reached Matai Bay.  Only a couple of baches there and a pleasant looking camping ground.  This beach too is circular.  You sit on one side and look directly across at the other side of the same beach.  We set out our picinc lunch under a pohutakawa but I couldn’t resist a swim first in the clear waters of the bay.  We spent the rest of the afternoon slowly walking the beach and finding the best shells and just relaxing.  Then a glass of wine at the vineyard we had passed before driving back to Kerikeri where we found a delightful little restaurant there for dinner to finish our day.

We decided to head back down to Auckland on the west coast and planned the drive to coincide with the northern side of the Hokianga Harbour at Kohukohu so we could take another car ferry ride to Rawene on the southern side.  We could have taken a route that came out on the southern side.  Kohukkohu is a very old town which would be interesting to paint and I took some photos there but I wouldn’t call it a pretty town.

We enjoyed our ferry ride and when we arrived on the other side we drove on to Opononi and had a picnic lunch there.  You look across the huge sand dunes on the mouth of the Hokianga Harbour.  I had imagined the sand would be black as it is further down the west coast at Muriwai and Piha but these sand dunes are golden.  We wended our way down through hauntingly beautiful Waipoua Forest  and stopped at a little cutting in the forest to to walk in to see Tane Mahuta, the largest kauri tree in New Zealand.  It only takes 2 minutes walk to get there.  It is at least 1250 years old and has a girth of 13.77m (45ft ).   Further south is the Matakohe Kauri Museum which is an amazing place and well worth a visit.  Interactive displays, recreations of a kauri house, there is a school built in the 1800′s, church, machinery, fabulous kauri objects, carvings, bowls, that you can buy, etc.  Not long after that we rejoined State Highway 1 and travelled back to Auckland an hour an a half or so to the south.

Let Relaxing Journeys plan your next summer self drive trip to the north of New Zealand.

New Zealand has between 10,000 and 15,000 earthquakes every year, so locals are used to feeling the earth move. This particular undersea quake was located about 160 kilometres west of the city of Invercargill, at a depth of about 35 kilometres. Residents hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre reported items falling off shelves, but said there were no casualties or serious damage.

But last night’s tremors did rattle the nerves of South Islanders as the tremors lasted for several minutes.  Simon Wilson lives in the city of Invercargill and says the quake was unnerving.

“It went for a long time. It was sort of a rolling one, but it was quite a large motion that everything was moving,” he said.

Group co-ordinator Neil Cruickshank said that while there had been no reports of significant damage overnight, checks of bridges and roads would be undertaken this morning.

“While there has been disruption to electricity supplies, power companies reported no major problems, and the rail network is reported to be undamaged. Telephone services are operational,” he said.

New Zealanders live in a beautiful but demanding land – the challenges of coping with its rugged mountains, powerful rivers and extremes of weather have helped forge the national character. These natural forces that create the country’s stunning scenery do present  hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, storms, floods and landslides.  However very few people have been killed in earthquakes in New Zealand.

Kiakoura on the east coast of the South Island is also a great whale watching region.  Accessible by the TranzCoastal train or by day tour from Christchurch, the magnificent Sperm Whale and the migratory Humpback Whales are best seen in June & July, and Orca from November to February. New Zealand’s own tiny Hectors dolphin and the high spirited displays of the Dusky dolphins are visible mostly all year round. Pilot whales and the occasional Blue Whale are also among species that surface in Kaikoura here.

Day Tours to the Bay of Islands & Kaikoura for dolphin and whalewatching experiences:

• Kaikoura Whale Watch (Kaikoura ex Christchurch)
• Swim With The Dolphins (Bay of Islands ex Auckland)
• Discover The Bay & Cape Brett (Bay of Islands ex Auckland)

Orca (Killer) Whales in Auckland Harbour

Last week  about 200 onlookers gathered on Auckland’s Tamaki Drive to watch a pod of Orca Whales hunting close to the shore.  New Zealand Orcas are the only known Orca group that eat stingrays as a staple food, often hunting them into shallow water and sometimes beaching themselves.  Five or six killer whales have chased stingrays within 5-10 metres of the shore. Onlookers saw 2 adult and  3 juvenile orcas throw stingrays into the air and eat them.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Moko the bottlenosed dolphin swims playfully with humans most days at a Wellington beach. Recently Moko assisted rescue workers to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, back out to sea after they were stranded.

Bottlenose dolphins have a relatively short beak and a high, hooked and prominent dorsal fin. Colour is dark or light grey on the back grading to white on the undersides. The average length of an Adult is 1.9-3.9 m. There are estimated to be around 450 individuals that live in the Bay of Islands area.  Those living close to the shore feed primarily on a variety of inshore bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrate species. Their dives rarely last longer than 3-4 minutes inshore, but may be longer offshore. Females breed every 3-5 years and calves suckle for around 2-3 years. Calving peaks are known to occur for most populations between spring and summer/autumn. Female bottlenose dolphins can live up to more than 50 years of age, and males can reach as old as 40-45 years.

Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)

Common dolphins may form enormous schools of several thousand individuals. They are also known to associate with schools of pilot whales and other dolphin species such as dusky dolphins. This species is abundant but precise population estimates are largely unknown. Common dolphins feed on a variety of prey, including surface schooling fish species and small mid-water fish and squids. They are known to dive to depths of 280 metres in search of prey and hunt cooperatively within schools. Dives can last up to 8 minutes but are usually between 10 seconds and 2 minutes.

Orca (Killer) Whale (Orcinus orca)

The Orca whale is the most widely distributed mammal on earth with the exception of humans. Females and males differ in that males are longer and bulkier than females and females have smaller, more curved dorsal fins, and smaller flippers. Orca whales are typically encountered in family groups or pods. Pods are usually formed for life and can result in the development of unique dialects. Orcas have a diverse diet but in Auckland they feed solely on stingrays. Orca whales hunt cooperatively and are even known to intentionally strand themselves on beaches temporarily, in order to catch seals.

Females give birth to their first calf between 11 and 16 years of age and tend to do so every five years for their 25-year reproductive life span. The gestation period is 15-18 months and calves are nursed for at least one year. Females are known to live up to 80 or 90 years. Males reach physical maturity at about 21 years of age and live for a maximum of 50-60 years.

New Zealand Fur Seal (Kekeno)

The Fur Seal coat is dark grey-brown on the back, and lighter below; when wet look almost black.  There are estimated to be some 50 – 60,000, Kekeno Fur Seals in New Zealand. They feed mainly on squid and small mid-water fish but also take larger species such as conger eels, barracuda, jack mackerel and hoki mostly off the continental shelf in depths greater than 22 m. The New Zealand fur seal dives deeper and longer than any other fur seal.

The breeding season is from mid-November to Mid-January. Pups are suckled for about 300 days, though some will continue to suckle into their second year. Females alternate foraging trips to feed, with attendance periods, where they are at the rookery to suckle the pup. Pups start to feed on solid food before weaning, and spend a large proportion of time playing with other pups and objects such as seaweed and reef fish. Males are sexually mature at 5 – 6 years, but are unlikely to be socially mature (able to hold a territory) for at least another 3 years. Males may hold territories for more than 5 years. Fur seals are polygamous breeders; this means that a male may mate with many females in a single breeding season.

You can drive 45kms north to Punakaiki from there to view the famous pancake rocks with their spewing blowholes or visit the Paparoa National Park nearby.  There is some good walking to do there too from a 10 minute beach walk to an overnight trip.  But we  turned south from Greymouth and drove on down to Hokitika (38km) where we watched men carving pounamu – New Zealand greenstone, (jade) creating pieces of art.   Pounamu is mined in this area.  Hokitika was also founded on gold mining in the 1860′s but now has only a small population of 3000. 

Replenished with flat whites and long blacks we continued on down the West Coast through the ancient podocarp forests which boast a lineage that stretches back to the time when New Zealand was part of the super continent of Gondwana. They belong to a coniferous family known as Podocarpaceae of which there are 17 species.  In its natural state, a podocarp forest can be luxuriant with a dense undergrowth of shrubs, ferns and tree-ferns.   Threatening clouds were amassing and by the time we reached Franz Josef the rain came down.

The scene was set. We checked into one of the executive studios at Punga Lodge. The cosy ambience of our room was inviting. Sliders opened out to a private deck with native bush growing right up to its edge. You felt like you were the only ones in a huge forest.

But we couldn’t wait to see the glacier so we all climbed back into the coach and Craig took us to a viewing area only minutes away. It was nearing the end of the day. I just loved it. It was all that I imagined. The mist was swirling around, the bush was dripping, and there it was – magnicificent. I just stood there transfixed. This huge river looked like it had been frozen in an instant. It remains in my mind. I can still see it now.

Forget recession, and head to the snow. If the snow is good, skiers and snow boarders will head to the slopes regardless – the word from those in the know is that the 2009 New Zealand ski season is going to be another record breaker.

After a bumper 2008 ski season – with plenty of snow and international tourists boosting visitor numbers to record levels, New Zealand’s ski tourism industry is in a positive frame for the 2009 winter season.

Most ski areas are on New Zealand’s ‘backbone’ – the spectacular Southern Alps which run the length of the South Island offering a series of ski resorts that are easily accessed from a variety of destinations.

North Island visitors can ski on Mt Ruapehu, one of a cluster of active volcanoes sited on the New Zealand segment of the ‘Pacific Rim of Fire’.

New Zealand ski areas offer a variety of terrain with conditions suited to beginners through to advanced and off-piste skiers. There have also been significant developments with terrain parks offering riders extra thrills and spills.

The 2009 ski season has now begun, officially 1 June to 31 August! However, most ski fields will open to the public on the 20th June, with Coronet Peak opening on the 6th June!