| New Zealand comes with a reputation as
a unique land packed with magnificent, raw scenery: craggy
coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests, snow-capped alpine
mountains, bubbling volcanic pools, fast-flowing rivers and
glacier-fed lakes, all beneath a brilliant blue sky. Even Kiwis
themselves – named after the endearing, if decidedly odd,
flightless bird that has become the national emblem – seem to be
filled with astonishment at the stupendous vistas of what they like
to think of as "Godzone" (God's own country).
All of this provides a canvas for boundless diversions, from
strolls along windswept beaches and multi-day tramps over alpine
passes to the adrenalin-charged adventure activities of bungy
jumping and whitewater rafting; in fact, some visitors take on New
Zealand as a kind of large-scale assault course, aiming to tackle as
many adventures as possible in the time available. The one-time
albatross of isolation – even Australia is fifteen hundred
kilometres away – has become a boon, bolstering New Zealand's
clean, green image, which is, in truth, more an accident of
geography than the result of past government policy.
To a large extent New Zealand lives up to these expectations, and
remains unfettered by the crowds you'd find elsewhere. What's more,
everything is easily accessible, packed into a land area little
larger than Britain but with a population of just 3.8 million, over
half of it tucked away in the three largest cities: Auckland, the
capital Wellington, and the South Island's Christchurch. Elsewhere,
you can travel miles through steep-hilled farmland and rarely see a
soul, and there are even remote spots which, it's reliably
contended, no human has ever visited.
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