About New Zealand

Visit sunny Nelson and you will be at the gateway to walking country with easy access to the Abel Tasman and Queen Charlotte walkways, and Nelson Lakes tramping tracks.

Visit the ‘Kauri Coast’ in the ‘Winterless North’ of the North Island and you will be entering the cradle of European civilization in New Zealand. Hokianga and the Bay of Islands are where the first mission stations and colonial settlements were established in the 1830’s.

Take a journey back through time to a golden era in New Zealand's history. Follow the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trail through golden brown tussock hills, and rock-studded ranges, discovering the relics of old mining sites.

Three extinct volcanos, now eroded into steep broken hills, form an impressive backdrop to the lush green farmlands of the Waikato basin. These volcanos are poor cousins to the three snow-capped giants of the Tongariro National Park. In past epochs they would have stood exceedingly tall.

Step into a primeval world dominated by one thousand-year-old podocarp trees, which is recognised as one of the finest rainforests in the world. The Pureora is a magnificent forest covering the Rangitoto and Hauhungaroa Ranges, west of Lake Taupo.

Come over to one of New Zealand’s most exciting tramping locations where the virgin Raukumara rainforests offer incredibly steep, broken terrain, tailor-made for the adventurous tramper.

This guide to New Zealand Forest Parks has been compiled by the New Zealand Information Network to assist outdoor enthusiasts.

Come and explore one of our least-known wilderness areas, hidden away in the southernmost part of the South Island. Here life is unhurried and moves in synch with nature. Catlins Forest Park is well off the beaten track, straddling the border between Otago and Southland. It is found the Southern Scenic Route, 50 km from Invercargill and 100 km from Dunedin.

As you tramp along these sharp-crested, tussock ridges, untracked forests fall away down misty spurs. You feel like you’re on top of the world. The Ruahine Forest Park lies south-west of Napier, running from the steep gorges of the Ngaruroro River, 100 km down a straight spine of rugged ridges to the Manawatu Gorge.

From Auckland, as you look across the Firth of Thames, you see a dramatic skyline of extinct volcanoes on the Coromandel Range. They’re worth a closer look. The Coromandel Forest Park sprawls over these ancient eroded landforms on the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula, only 1½ hours drive from the ‘City of Sails’.

Take a stroll in New Zealand’s oldest established forest park. The Tararua Forest Park provides tramping and hunting opportunities right at the back door of large urban communities. Wellingtonians have adopted the Tararuas as their favourite stamping ground and the country’s first tramping club was formed here in 1919.

A very prominent snow-capped mountain summit with views forever, towers above the West Coast highway near Porter’s Pass. Mt Enys (2,195 metres), in the Craigieburn Forest Park, has the singular honour of being the highest foothill summit accessible from a major highway in the South Island.

Experience the joy of findinglittle-known, hidden places, in the wilderness zone betweenReefton on the West Coast, and Lewis Pass in the Southern Alps.

Picture a family-oriented forest park where every conceivable adventure and recreation activity is conveniently at hand. Hanmer Forest Park has it all, with a unique complementary attraction that few resorts can offer holidaymakers - blissful relaxation in steaming therapeutic hot mineral pools at the end of each day.

The majestic trees are so ancient that the park has beendescribed as one of the best Mesozoic plant communities remainingon earth. The British botanist Dr David Bellamy has taken apersonal interest in the conservation of this forest.

Imagine a forest park where you can sit on the veranda of a tramping hut, gazing at sparkling rivers, and rolling foothills clothed in golden alpine tussock.