Nya Zeeland

Nya Zeeland är en favorit för såväl naturälskare som backpackers. Vandra mellan gyllene stränder i Golden Bay, landets hippie-tätaste område.

About 10km northeast of Takaka is pint-sized Pohara, a beachy village with a population that quadruples over summer. It has more flash holiday homes than other parts of Golden Bay, but an agreeable air persists nonetheless, aided by decent food and lodging, and a beach that at low tide is as big as Heathrow's runway.

The Nelson region is centred upon Tasman Bay. It stretches north to Golden Bay and Farewell Spit, and south to Nelson Lakes. It's not hard to see why it's such a popular travel destination for international and domestic travellers alike: not only does it boast three national parks (Kahurangi, Nelson Lakes and Abel Tasman), it can also satisfy nearly every other whim, from food, wine and beer, art, craft and festivals, to that most precious of pastimes for which the region is well known: lazing about in the sunshine.

Vild västkust, bohemisk östkust och krokodiler i norr och Australiens röda inre. Upplev vingårdar och kängurur innan Nya Zeeland väntar med turkost vatten, vita stränder och utomjordiska landskap. Ta del av Vagabonds bästa tips på en långresa i Oceanien.

Few people come to Queenstown to wind down. The self-styled 'adventure capital of the world' is a place where visitors come to throw their inhibitions out the window…and throw themselves out of planes and off mountain tops and bridges.

The rich farming region of Manawatu embraces the districts of Rangitikei to the north and Horowhenua to the south. The hub of it all, on the banks of the Manawatu River, is Palmerston North. Massey University, New Zealand’s largest, informs the town’s cultural and social structures and as a result ‘Palmy’ has an open-minded, rurally bookish vibe.

Here’s your chance to get off the beaten track, even if that sometimes means onto unsealed roads. The far-flung Far North always plays second fiddle to the Bay of Islands for attention and funding, yet the subtropical tip of the North Island has more breathtaking coastline per square kilometre than anywhere apart from the offshore islands. While the ‘winterless north’ may be a popular misnomer, summers here are long and leisurely. Note that parts of the Far North are noticeably economically depressed and in places could best be described as gritty.

Welcome to a vibrant city in transition, coping creatively with the aftermath of NZ’s second-worst natural disaster. Traditionally the most English of NZ cities, Christchurch's heritage heart was all but hollowed out following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes that left 186 people dead.

For many New Zealanders, the phrase ‘up north’ conjures up sepia-toned images of family fun in the sun, pohutukawa in bloom and dolphins frolicking in pretty bays. From school playgrounds to work cafeterias, owning a bach (holiday house) here is a passport to popularity.

Franz Josef's cloak of ice once flowed from the mountains right to the sea. Following millennia of gradual retreat, the glacier is now 19km inland and accessible only by helicopter. Swarms of small aircraft from Franz Josef Glacier village, 5km north, lift visitors to views of sparkling ice and toothy mountains. Many land on the glacier to lead groups to blue-tinged caves and crevasses. A glacier experience is the crowning moment for thousands of annual visitors, but walking trails, hot pools, and adventure sports from quad biking to clay target shooting keep adrenaline pulsing.