Moon New Zealand

Moon Travel Guides: Your World, Your Way

New Zealand's lush, rugged landscape will charm you as much as the local Kiwis. Explore this beautiful country with Moon New Zealand. Inside you'll find:

• Strategic itineraries including the two-week best of New Zealand, and suggestions for eco-tourists, Lord of the Rings fans, adrenaline junkies, and more
  
• Activities and ideas for every traveler: Stroll barefoot down black and white sand beaches, or relax at a stunning resort. Sample local vintages, craft beer, and cheeses, or taste fresh seafood. Travel to Tolkien's Middle Earth and visit the Shire, or learn about Maori culture and history. Hike the Milford Track in Fiordland, spot unique wildlife like the famed kiwi bird, or kayak along the seashore
• The best spots for sports and recreation, including hiking, mountain biking, surfing, scuba diving, caving, whitewater rafting, and even skydiving
• Expert insight from expat and Auckland local Jamie Desplaces, who shares a world traveler's perspective of his adopted country
• Honest advice on when to go, how to get around, and where to stay
• Detailed maps and full-color photos throughout
• Thorough information on the landscape, climate, wildlife, history, and culture
• Full coverage of Auckland, Bay of Islands, Geothermal Center, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson, Kaikoura, Queenstown, and Fiordland

With Moon New Zealand's expert advice, myriad activities, and local insight, you can plan your trip your way.

Expanding your trip? Check out Moon Sydney & the Great Barrier Reef or Moon Vietnam.

Having spent four years between Asia and Australia and with no inclination to return back home to the UK, Jamie Desplaces opted to give New Zealand a try. Six years later, he's still there.

Just a few weeks after arriving, he secured an assignment to write about the country's fracking industry, a two-month investigation that was hailed by environmental and political organizations, and won a feature of the year award. Jamie quickly discovered the sacred connection between Kiwis and their land, a connection that he now feels. Having explored all corners of New Zealand, the great outdoors has become his obsession. Few weekends pass without camping in the Coromandel, wandering the Waitakere Ranges, or biking the lush green lands of the Waikato.

It's also somewhat poetic that Jamie, having attended the same school as J.R.R. Tolkien, whose tomes of Middle-Earth tales inspired the movies that have so promoted the majesty of New Zealand, now also has the opportunity to share its legend with others.

Jamie's work has been published in Beats, Escape, Massive, and on USAToday.com. He has published a novel and is head writer at Verve magazine in Auckland, where he lives with his partner, Heather.