You can click on the "Next" links at the bottom of each page and find your way through either trip from beginning to end.  Of course, the text link navigation to be found at the top of each page is always an excellent way to explore the JoeTourist website, especially if you want to jump around.

This map of New Zealand is included to illustrate just how little of New Zealand I managed to cover in these two trips.  The section of the North Island between Hamilton and the northern tip of the North Island (north of Opua) is the only area of New Zealand I have visited.  As I always say, leave some destinations for a future trip.

Thoughts on New Zealand

First off, what I saw of New Zealand and its people I liked very much.  To be honest, I was expecting a bit more culture shock after travelling so far, but it is obvious that New Zealand is very similar to Canada in many ways.  We share our mutual compulsiveness for automobiles, cellphones, good coffee, the Internet, and eating in restaurants.  New Zealanders tend to not greet each other on the street quite as often as Canadians do, but that's not to say they are unfriendly - they are just a bit more reserved.  Perhaps that is their stronger ties to England showing through.  We are both Commonwealth countries, so we share our British Monarchy roots in our governments, laws, and values.  Unfortunately, we also share our problems with land claims and poor treatment of our native populations, due no doubt to our shared British colonization heritage.

New Zealanders drink good quality beer - on par with our Canadian cottage brewery and local pub beers we have grown to appreciate.  New Zealand produces a great deal of wine, however I found much of it did not appeal to my palette.  I'm not a wine connoisseur, so perhaps my opinion doesn't count for much, but I prefer our VQA Okanagan wines from my home province of British Columbia to the (admittedly limited number of) wines I sampled in New Zealand.

New Zealanders have noticeably higher quality fresh food than North Americans are used to seeing in our food stores.  Our fresh meats and vegetables tend to come from high volume food factories, so we are used to mediocre quality food at low prices.  Our organic foods might be on par with New Zealand's food.

New Zealand Links