Travelsmartplanet

New Zealand has lots of trees to walk around in, and on top of. If you climb up here you can get a bird’s eye view of the lush landscape. 

It almost seems like every turn you take in New Zealand you see another green and lush vista.

Smoke from thermal pits were and are a feature of the terrain around Rotorua, New Zealand, especially in the indigenous Maori land. It made cooking pretty darn easy.

Situated around the center of the Northern Island of New Zealand is where you find remnants of the Maori lifestyle of hundreds of years. The area is lush with trees and waterways so it was easy for them to live here.

When your name is Stanley, it’s a bit of a thrill to have a street named after you…This one is in Auckland, New Zealand.

Rocky mountains and glacier lakes are always thrilling to see from the window of an airplane.

The Kauri trees are endangered so it’s really special when you can go into a forest and see quite of few very old ones. The Arataki Visitor Centre goes to great lengths to preserve and protect them. You can climb up a high trail and see then at the top reaching for the sky. The circular cluster is called The Cathedral.

In the trails outside the Arataki Visitor Centre in Waitakere NZ, you can get lost in the sea of ferns.

0664

The silver fern has been a symbol of New Zealand since the 1880s. To Maori, the shape of the fronds stood for strength, resistance, and power. To other New Zealanders, it’s exemplifies their homeland as it grows throughout the country from the North Island down to the coast of the South Island. It is the most abundant of all ferns in New Zealand. You can find it on all kinds of souvenirs. We bought sports socks with ferns on them as a momento of New Zealanders who enjoy lots of physical activity. 

You can take quiet walks in Waitakere’s Arataki Visitor Centre. These steps lead up and up and up to the treetop Cathedral of ancient Kauri trees. Worth the walk.