Category: New Zealand

Tips for Packing Light

25 Tips to Travel Light Packing light isn’t easy, but if done properly it can bring unheard benefits to your travels. By streamlining your packing down to hand luggage only, you can save a great deal of money on check-in fees, reduce your carbon footprint as a lighter plane uses less fuel, and skip those […]

Responsible Travel Tips

35 Tips for the Responsible Traveller The tourism industry is one of the world’s most powerful, accounting for around 10% of the world’s jobs and GDP, and with nearly 1.2 billion people a year taking international flights. Travelling in a responsible and sustainable manner thus has the potential to reap extensive benefits. Unfortunately, though, many […]

Curiosities of Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand, isolated geographically from the rest of the world, have developed their own distinctive natural world quite unlike anywhere else on earth. To the rest of the world, some of these natural phenomena are interesting, some a little quirky, and others just downright weird. From frogs with pouches, to carnivorous snails, fruit-shaped rocks, and gigantic meteor craters, read on to discover the Australia and New Zealands’ top ten curious animals and landforms.

Creating New Zealand: Transformations in the Early Years of the Colony

Transformations of the Colony of New Zealand By Marco Stojanovik British colonists proclaimed sovereignty over New Zealand in May 1840, initially as part of the Colony of New South Wales before its establishment as a Crown colony the following year. The claim to British Sovereignty was based on Captain James Cook’s 1769 “first discovery” in […]

What to pack for holidays

What to Pack for a small group tour holiday can be a challenge. Checked luggage fees, tight airline bins and potentially long waits at the luggage carousel are just a few reasons it pays to pack light with just hand luggage if you can. However, packing for an overseas trip remains a challenge and a […]

Face masks for travel

Joining a small group tour, then face masks for travel should form part of your luggage when begining to pack. Collectively being a responsible traveller goes beyond considerations of your carbon footprint choices and the challenges of over-tourism. Being aware and having empathy on the mask requirement, social distancing and travel restrictions in place or required to avoid the risk of mandatory quarantine when travelling are part Odyssey’s and your responsibilities to your fellow travellers.

New Zealand: Hawke’s Bay

The Hawke’s Bay region is situated on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It includes the hilly coastal land around the northern and central bay, the floodplains of the Wairoa River in the north, the wide fertile Heretaunga Plains in the south.

New Zealand Wildlife

Having split from the continent of Australia roughly 80 million years ago, New Zealand’s islands have developed their own unique, and distinct ecosystem quite unlike anywhere else on earth. The most notable feature of New Zealand’s native wildlife is the near complete lack of mammalian life, save that which humans brought with them, or that which comes by sea.

The McLean Family, shaping New Zealand landscapes

the fascinating story of the McLean family and their estate, particularly the Morven Hills and Waikakahi runs and the houses “The Valley” and “Holly Lea” (“McLeans Mansion”).

Founding Dunedin – Gold Rush

explores the history of gold mining during the late 19th century rush era in Otago, a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island.

Alpine Fault at Gaunt Creek, New Zealand

This article explores the nature of the Alpine Fault, its appearance at Gaunt Creek, and the estimated extent of a looming large earthquake caused by a slip in the fault.

The Nelson Railway to Nowhere, New Zealand

Since the 1860s, Nelsonians – the locals of Nelson, a city in the West Coast Tasman district of New Zealand – have had but one dream: to have trains connect them to the rest of the South Island.

New Zealand Wine – a Story

New Zealand Wine – a story for small group tours By Marco Stojanovik In just over 40 years modern New Zealand wine has been catapulted to international acclaim, largely due to its famed Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and more recently its bright and pink fruit-driven Pinot Noir. Today the country is recognised for its premium nature […]

The Bay of Plenty

The Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand is situated around the bight of the same name on the northern coast of the North Island. About 260km long, the bight extends from the Coromandel Peninsular in the west to Cape Runaway in the east.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand Located on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, Christchurch is one of New Zealand’s major cities, being the largest on the South Island with a population of roughly 390,000, and the second most populous city in the country after Auckland. Christchurch is situated in New Zealand’s Canterbury region, lying at […]

The Aurora Australis

The Aurora Australis When it comes to the dazzling light displays of the Aurora, many will be more familiar with the well-known Northern Lights, or ‘Aurora Borealis‘. The aurora, however, is a phenomenon that is not unique to the northern hemisphere, with the lights occurring around both of Earth‘s geomagnetic poles. The Aurora Australis is […]

The Wairarapa

The Wairarapa By Marco Stojanovik The Wairarapa, known by Māori as the “Land of Glistening Waters”, is a region in New Zealand’s North Island filled with a spectacular landscape of rugged coastlines, wide valleys, lush forested mountains, and quaint colonial townships. Located about an hour’s drive or train ride from the capital Wellington, it is […]

Napier

Napier By Marco Stojanovik Napier city and port is the centre of the Hawke’s Bay region on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. With a well-established Maori history spanning centuries, Europeans began settling here in the mid-19th century. After the city was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, its streets were beautiful […]

The Maori, New Zealand

The Maori People New Zealand‘s Maori people are the original inhabitants of the island nation, with a history that predates European colonization by centuries. The Maori are a people of Polynesian descent, sharing some cultural and linguistic similarities with other Polynesian peoples such as those found in Hawaii, Tahiti or the Cook Islands. Maori culture […]

The Arrival of Europeans in New Zealand

Learn more about the history of early European settlement in New Zealand, and the origins of the Maori people.

Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

Fiordland National Park Fiordland national park lies in the southwest of New Zealand, covering an area of approximately 12,000 km across New Zealand’s South Island. The park is one of four in the larger Te Wahipounamu world heritage area, which includes Mt Cook, Mt Aspiring, Westland National Park, and Fiordland. The name ‘Te Wahipounamu’ is […]