Lake Taupo

Taupo, located in the North Island of New Zealand, is the large volcanic lake in the world. When you get there you can face this challenge...

New Zealand Prime Minister

John Key is our Prime Minister and also the Tourism Minister. He was in New York this week to the UN meeting and took some time to go to the 'Late show'. David Letterman is the host and the programme has an audience of about 4 million people/night! The idea was to promote New Zealand and we beleive taht he did a good job despite the fact that he was a bid nervous as you can see in the video.

NZBR Tours page on facebook

Hi guys,

NZBR Tours now have a page related to tourism in facebook. You are more than welcome to 'become a fan' , see the pictures of New zealand and post your comments!

Cheers!

South Island of New Zealand

The views you get while traveling in the South Island of New Zealand are simply breathtaking!! I took this when I was there last winter!

Kea

Have you guys seen a Kea before? It's an endemic bird found in the South Island of New Zealand.
It's the only parrot in the world which doesn't mind living in cold areas. You can find them walking on the snow during the cold winters that we have in the south!
If you rent a car and are heading to the magnificent Milford Sound, be careful!! That's how they spending their time: 'attacking' your car!

Tourism news

Despite the numbers of Asians coming to New Zealand have dropped a lot in the last couple of months, the Aussies are coming!! We had an increase of 9% of Australians coming to New Zealand!
When I have them on my tours they tell me that the flyght to NZ is really cheap at the moment and also the amount of advertising that the Ministery of Tourism is doing in Australia. It's huge! I guess it's working!

Sailing in Napier

Was having a coffee break with a French group (we were doing the whole country!) and took this nice picture in Napier, South Island of New Zealand. This was in February 2009.

updating..

About my last post...after watching the news:
The NZ government gives money to help ministers who don't have properties in Wellington (capital of New Zealand). But some of them are claiming this allowance despite the fact that they do own a property in the capital. They come up with different excuses...one of them has said that his 2 bedroom apartment is too small. So he's renting it out! He then gets the money from the rent PLUS the allowance.
The minister of finance(!) has a $1.2 million house and still gets NZ$900/week.
John Key, the prime minister, is defending his ministers but at the same time acknowledges that there are some inconsistencies in the system and has promised a review by the end of the week.
I hope so!

Bungy Jump!

Well...that's me having some fun! This was in Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand. This Bungy is not really high: "only" 43 meters high!

Moeraki Boulders

These spherical stones are huge! They are called 'The Moeraki Boulders' and are found along Koekohe Beach near Moeraki, on New Zealand's Otago coast. They were formed when the Otago Peninsula was under water some 60 million years ago. They are grey-coloured septarian concretions which have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mudstone coastal cliffs just by the beach.

The boulders weigh several tonnes and are up to three metres in diametre.

Maori legend tells that the boulders fell off into the water from the legendary canoe, the Araiteuru.

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Cathedral Cove

If you ever come to the North Island of New Zealand try to make some time to visit the Coromandel Peninsula. Once you are there it's a must to pay a visit to the fantastic Cathedral Cove. You would have to leave your car at the top of the mountain and then go for a 45-minute walk down hill. It's quite easy and well marked. That's the view you are going to get once you finish your walk. It's worth it, isn't it?!

Bay of Islands

No, that's not my boat! Bay of Islands has 144 islands and this is one of them.

Having a siesta...

That was about 1.00pm and I couldn't resist to catch this pigeon having a nice siesta! This picture was taken in Kaikoura, South Island of New Zealand.

Queenstown

You are seeing the adventure capital of the world! That's Queenstown, which in my opinion is the most beautiful town in New Zealand.

Gannets!

If you ask me which one is my favorite photo I would have to say that's this one here!

Zorb!

That's something not many people know about. It's called Zorb! You go in this huge plastic ball then you roll down hill! It's great fun and I do recommend it! Where to do it? Well..you would have to go to Rotorua, which is located 240 kms from Auckland, North Island of New Zealand.