• Road trips

In small towns, places can close up for winter. I learnt the hard way

A post-revolution visit to the quirky NZ Republic of Whangamomona goes off the rails.

• Lee Mylne

• Adventure holidays

The hidden side to one of NZ’s most popular islands

Only a 40-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland, Waiheke Island receives an avalanche of visitors every summer. But it’s not hard to get away from them.

• Rob McFarland

• Opinion
• Adventure holidays

I went on my first big hike in my 40s. It changed the way I see travel

Thirty years ago, my mother hiked New Zealand’s Milford Track. My attempt to follow in her footsteps was an eye-opener.

• Bianca O'Neill

• Opinion
• Travel tips

No, I don’t want emails from the world’s most boring airport thanks

Everywhere travellers go these days, someone is demanding their email address – in return for free Wi-Fi or to be able to buy something. Here’s how I dodge it.

• Ben Groundwater

• Oceania

‘It breaks my heart’: Giant Gandalf sculpture in NZ airport to be removed

For more than a decade, passengers at Wellington Airport have boarded flights below the figures of two giant, hovering eagles from The Hobbit.

• Adventure holidays

Underrated region is the most magnificent landscape I’ve ever seen

I’m hesitant to reveal this, but the underrated mountains of New Zealand’s North Island, as opposed to the popular South, is where the real action is.

• Kerry van der Jagt

• Adventure holidays

No Lycra required: New NZ route is perfect for the unserious cyclist

This New Zealand cycleway will change the way you see biking forever.

• Kerry van der Jagt

• Opinion
• Oceania

Bloody hell, NZ’s come up with a tourism slogan worse than ours

Take a bow, New Zealand. Australia’s infamous “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign is no longer the worst to come out of this region.

• Robert Jackman

• Travel tips

The new bucket list for the Pacific and Australasia

The nations of Oceania are a captivating blend of pristine nature, cultural heritage and vibrant cities that even the most hardworking traveller will never exhaust.

• Julietta Jameson

• Luxury holidays

The 100-year-old grande dame of luxury lodges gets a $25m revamp

Huka Lodge, the luxury New Zealand lodge that inspired imitators around the world, has just reopened after a substantial renovation.

• Trudi Jenkins