Mount Aspiring National Park: a first-timer’s guide

Wānaka’s biggest advantage as a South Island base is not just what you can do lakeside, but what sits within day-trip range. Mount Aspiring National Park begins on Wānaka’s western edge and quickly turns into a landscape of long river valleys, waterfalls, glaciers, and beech and podocarp forest. Conditions can change quickly here, so a […]

Wānaka: Your South Island base

On the shores of New Zealand’s fourth largest lake, surrounded by the Southern Alps and with a national park almost at the end of the street, Wānaka looks like a classic vacation town. In practice, it works far better as a base – somewhere you unpack once and then sprawl from the door into vineyards, […]

Spring in New Zealand’s South Island

New Zealand’s South Island provides an exceptional winter playground that rivals the world’s most exclusive alpine destinations. Spring in the Southern Hemisphere – from September through November – presents discerning travellers with an extraordinary opportunity to experience premier skiing and snowboarding in one of the globe’s most spectacular settings. The South Island’s dramatic tapestry of […]