R for Rotorua

Most famous of the pungent sulphur smell, but you will stop noticing it after a while. With so many exciting things to see and do, from facial at Hell’s Gates geothermal spa to zorbing, from quadbiking in paddock to taking a luge down a hill. The last thing in your head is the smell.

S for Sounds

Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound are actually Fjords. NZ most photographed location is the famous Mitre Peak at Milford Sound. Yes, it is that gorgeous to see it by foot, bus, cruise and flight. They probably miss out the fact that this place is also full of sand flies and insect repellent is a necessity.

T for Taupo

The town is famous for extreme sports in North Island, while the lake is the largest in New Zealand. It is only slightly smaller than Singapore in surface area, Lake Taupo is 616 sq km and Singapore is 700 sq km. Strategically located along State Highway 1, it is one of my fave stopover point.

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I for Intercity

What are we going to do without the InterCity buses in New Zealand? Yes, there is Naked bus, but I love InterCity buses. Simply because they usually have multiple good timings daily, decent pricing, comfy chairs and cool stopping points. Great for both long and short distance from cities to towns.

J for Jobs

There are heaps of jobs in NZ, especially nature-related ones. There are even more of such jobs during summer – from fruit picking and gardener. Pay might not be fantastic, but with somewhat a minimal wage policy, it is definitely sufficient to live and play in NZ with a summer job.

K for Kaikoura

Whale-watching, not common everywhere but is located here. Plus get to see dolphins and seals along the way. Sounds all spectacular, but all we see was a floating dark patch, which suddenly flipped and the tail stuck up (photo opportunity) and disappeared into the water. That’s the gist.

L for LOTR

No visit to NZ is completed without checking out at least 1 film site of Lord of the Rings. My personal favourite is Kaitoke Regional Park which is the set for Rivendell. The place looks magical in lighter shade of green, even without any computer effects. Gotta see it in real life to feel it.

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Have been inspired by many A to Z posts online, and I decided to come up with an A to Z list for New Zealand too. This is just my honest opinion on what I thought was the highlight of each alphabet. It was quite hard to pick only one thing for some of the alphabets.

A for Auckland

Everyone knows about Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, also known as City of Sails. The part I love most about Auckland is that although it is very city-ish in terms of convenience, the suburbs still retain some of its countryside qualities (e.g. good community of people and home gardens).

B for Beaches

Ninety mile beach is so endless that it amazes me even though it is only 55 miles. And the first time I saw black sand was at Himatangi Beach. For a first impression, it was not all that inviting. But it kinda grows on you, and I look forward to see more volcanic sand beaches in the future.

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