Blog4NZ: A Local Tells You Why You Should Visit New Zealand

Julie Crisford is a native New Zealander and a good friend of mine. I asked her to help me write a blog for Blog4NZ, a worldwide blogging event to help raise awareness and promote tourism to New Zealand despite the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. 

Here is why Julie thinks you should come visit New Zealand!

First thing: Do come visit us. We love visitors. And we need them. New Zealand's economy is small with a population of only 4 million people and tourism is a major part of New Zealand's economy. With the earthquake in Christchurch and a tsunami in Japan – where a lot of our tourists come from – New Zealand needs people to come visit and help spur the economy. 99% of the country is still open for business and we’d love to see you!

Now, I’ve traveled the world, but I’m always drawn to my home in New Zealand. There’s so many things I could tell you about New Zealand. About how we’re bigger than the UK, but have 15 times less people, so we have SPACE. About our mountains, our glaciers, the volcanos you can ski on, our beaches. But, instead, I thought I’d just show you some of my favorite photos from places I have traveled in the last three years since I’ve been home in New Zealand.

Fifteen minutes driving from the South Coast of Wellington, where I live, you can walk around the rocks to a place where seals come to play in the winter. Wellington weather is quite mild, and on a sunny day in winter it can get up about 12-15°C (54-60°F). Don’t get me wrong, in winter it can be horrible even without snow, but when it’s nice, it’s nice.

Summer in the top of the South Island near Abel Tasman National Park is just about perfect. My good friend from high school got married and the day after his wedding, a group of us went to the beach. A beautiful summer day to chill out after a gorgeous wedding.

 
New Zealand is, along with Ireland, one of the two places in the world that doesn’t have snakes. We also don’t have any native mammals, so our birds have evolved mostly without predators until people started showing up 500 years ago. Settlers bought predators which eat bird eggs, thus endangering New Zealand's native aviary population. Pukaha, Mt Bruce, 2 hours from South Wellingon, is a wildlife sanctuary where they have many programs to protect New Zealand’s endangered birds.

A view of my hometown, Wellington, from near my mum’s house. You can see the harbour, the wooden houses nestled in the hills and how we’re surrounded by trees. In the bottom right hand corner is the business district, but it spreads right along the waterfront.

So there you have it, my thoughts and photos of New Zealand. I’m pretty bad at taking photos actually, so if you want to know more about New Zealand visit Tourism New Zealand.

If you do come visit New Zealand, and are a friend of Connie’s, please do come say hi!

Finally, if you want to help, but can’t quite plan your vacation yet; please give to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

Thanks Julie, you know I'm planning on going to New Zealand as soon as I can. READERS, has Julie persuaded YOU to visit New Zealand?

© Connie Hum 2011