New Zealand

LIST OF TOURS IN NEW ZEALAND  (Without Airfare & Visa) North Island 3N/4D On Request South Island 4N/5D On Request North & South Combined 7N/8D On request New Zealand (Self Drive) 4N/5D On Request Standard Inclusions are: Accommodation with Breakfast […]

LIST OF TOURS IN NEW ZEALAND  (Without Airfare & Visa)

Standard Inclusions are:

Accommodation with Breakfast & Dinner

Return Airport Transfers

Standard Sight Places include:

    North: Auckland City Tour, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua City Tour, Thermal Wonderland Tour

    South: Queens Town Attractions, Milford Sound Cruise, Mt. Cook, Christ Church City Tour

New Zealand is a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean consisting of 2 main islands, both marked by volcanoes and glaciation. Capital Wellington, on the North Island, is home to Te Papa Tongarewa, the expansive national museum. Wellington’s dramatic Mt. Victoria, along with the South Island’s Fiordland and Southern Lakes, stood in for mythical Middle Earth in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films.

New Zealand music has been influenced by blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation. Māori developed traditional chants and songs from their ancient South-East Asian origins, and after centuries of isolation created a unique “monotonous” and “doleful” sound. Flutes and trumpets were used as musical instruments or as signalling devices during war or special occasions. Early settlers brought over their ethnic music, with brass bands and choral music being popular, and musicians began touring New Zealand in the 1860s. Pipe bands became widespread during the early 20th century.

Food and Drinking

The national cuisine has been described as Pacific Rim, drawing inspiration from Europe, Asia and Polynesia.Popular ingredients or dishes include lamb, salmon, crayfish (lobster), dredge oysters, whitebait, pāua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both are types of New Zealand shellfish), kumara (sweet potato), kiwifruit, tamarillo and pavlova (considered a national dish). A hāngi is a traditional Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven. After European colonisation, Māori began cooking with pots and ovens and the hāngi was used less frequently, although it is still used for formal occasions such as tangihanga.

Culture

The largely rural life in early New Zealand led to the image of New Zealanders being rugged, industrious problem solvers. Modesty was expected and enforced through the “tall poppy syndrome”, where high achievers received harsh criticism. At the time New Zealand was not known as an intellectual country. From the early 20th century until the late 1960s, Māori culture was suppressed by the attempted assimilation of Māori into British New Zealanders. In the 1960s, as tertiary education became more available and cities expanded urban culture began to dominate. However, rural imagery and themes have been pervasive in New Zealand’s art, literature and media.