Free Travel Newsletter : October 2010
Written by Steph Kendall
Brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Guide www.tourism.net.nz.
Lucky Subscriber
Congratulations to Sean Wiltshire from the UK, this month's lucky Free Travel Newsletter subscriber, winning "The Ultimate New Zealand DVD".
New Zealand is a wonderful destination just for its amazing array of landscapes and scenery, but it also offers visitors a huge array of activities to enjoy. This month we've highlighted just a few of these to whet your appetite for kiwi adventure and experience including garden tours and glowworm caves, sheep and rabbit shearing, horse trekking and blackwater rafting...
Find out about:
- Taranaki Rhododendron & Garden Festival, 29th Oct - 7th Nov
- Canterbury A&P Show, 10th - 12th November
- Off the Beaten Track to... Waitomo
- Horse Trekking in New Zealand
- New Zealand Fast Facts
Taranaki Rhododendron & Garden Festival, 29th Oct - 7th Nov
This garden festival is one of the longest-running garden festivals in New Zealand and opens gates throughout Taranaki for its 23rd year between 29th October and 7th November. Forty-nine gardens are open to visitors including private and public gardens, special interest gardens and vegetable gardens. Jazz and wine parties, guided walks, guest speakers and steam train travel...(more)
Canterbury A&P Show, 10th - 12th November
The Canterbury A&P show is a great way to see what happens at a major agricultural show in New Zealand and also to rub shoulders with farming communities and urbanites. The show includes sheep-shearing and wood cutting competitions, horse and pony trials, stalls, live entertainment and even a world-record attempt at the largest simultaneous Leap Frogging and much more...(more)
Waitomo, Waikato
Photographer: Absolute Adventure
(www.absoluteadventure.co.nz)
Photographer: Mark Smith
(mrmrsmith@clear.net.nz)
Off the Beaten Track to... Waitomo
Make a detour through the King Country of the Waikato region on New Zealand's North Island and head for Waitomo. This little village is known for its beautiful limestone caves which host stunning stalagmites and stalactites and colonies of glowworms unique to New Zealand. Blackwater rafting tour operators also offer visitors an exhilarating underground ride...(more)
Horse Trekking in New Zealand
You can enjoy some of New Zealand's most beautiful countryside at a very leisurely pace when you saddle up for a horse trek whether it be across the volcanic plateau in the central North Island, along the sandy beaches of Pakiri, through the grasslands of the South Island's high country or around old gold mining settlements of the Otago mountain basins. Most New Zealand horse trek operators cater for riders with a range of abilities and provide all the equipment needed (including quieter horses for novice riders). Find out more about horse treks in New Zealand.
New Zealand Fast Facts
Hallowe-en (or All-Hallows Eve) on the 31st October dates back almost 2,000 years when Irish Celts marked the end of their summer and the harvest and the start of a long, cold winter. This may explain why Hallowe'en is only slowly gaining popularity in New Zealand because at this time of year we're looking forward to a long, warm summer. However, dress-up (dressing up or fancy dress) is very popular with New Zealanders (both with the big and little kids), so don't be surprised to see costumed-characters 'trick or treating'.
