Last week I was on a road trip through the Canterbury and Wanaka regions of New Zealand’s South Island as a guest of Tourism NZ and Air NZ, along with other journalists from Fairfax, Yahoo7! and News Ltd. The aim of the trip was to report on progress for plans to rebuild and repair Christchurch after the late 2010/2011 earthquakes as well as writing about tourist attractions in the surrounding region.

As the Mayor of Christchurch Bob Parker said during his interview (watch below): “the part of Christchurch which is damaged is 0.1% of the South Island’s land area”.

Tourists can still land at the totally safe undamaged Christchurch airport and head from there to the nearby mountains, lakes, forests or the coastal town of Akaroa, without even knowing there had been any Earthquakes in Christchurch recently.

Unfortunately the number of Tourists to NZ’s South Island has fallen after the late 2010/2011 earthquakes, especially around Christchurch in the Canterbury region. This has led to many job losses and unless the number of incoming tourists increases a lot many more Kiwis will lose their jobs as Tourism, Accommodation and other related businesses go broke.

Photo & Video Highlights

Siberia Experience – Helicopter Flight, Bush Walk, Jetboat Ride – Wanaka New Zealand

Tiger Moth Aerobatic Joyflight – Classic Flights Wanaka

Air Safaris Grand Traverse scenic flight – Lake Tekapo, Glaciers and Mount Cook

Giants House – Akaroa, New Zealand – quirky art, terraced garden with sculptures and mosaics

Overall Trip Highlights Video

Below is a photo highlights slideshow of the road trip: Christchurch, Akaroa, Lake Tekapo, the Southern Alps, west coast Glaciers, Wanaka, Siberia Valley, Arrowtown and Christchurch.

DISCLAIMER: Almost all expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism New Zealand, regional NZ tourism bodies and Air New Zealand. I choose what topics I want to write about on this trip and what I say about them, Tourism NZ has no editorial control.

Visiting New Zealand’s South Island for a holiday is one of the best ways you can help the kiwi people and their economy recover from the series of disastrous Christchurch Earthquakes in late 2010/early 2011.

According to Statistics NZ Tourism plays a significant role in the New Zealand economy in terms of the production of goods and services and the creation of employment opportunities.

The tourism industry directly employs about 5% of the New Zealand workforce and there are an even greater number of people employed in service industry jobs that indirectly benefit from tourism expenditure.

Photos of what Christchurch looked like after the quake can be seen on Flickr.

I’ve visited New Zealand’s South Island three times previously for personal holidays and work trips and thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of landscapes and wildlife that I saw and photographed. The photo slideshow below is from my 2009 trip to Christchurch, Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook.

This week I’ll be going on a 5 day trip in the Canterbury and Wanaka regions of New Zealand’s South Island as a guest of Tourism NZ and Air NZ, along with other journalists from Fairfax, Yahoo7! and News Ltd.

The two main aims are to go to the cordoned off area of Christchurch CBD and report on progress for plans to rebuild the city as well as writing about tourist attractions in the surrounding region for YHA Backpacker Essentials Magazine, taking photos/videos to publish on this site and writing 2 travel technology stories for GEARE Magazine.

DISCLAIMER: Almost all expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism New Zealand, regional NZ tourism bodies and Air New Zealand which flies daily to Christchurch from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. At the moment return Air NZ flights Sydney to Christchurch are a touch over $400. I choose what topics I want to write about on this trip and what I say about them, Tourism NZ has no editorial control.

Queenstown is well known as the home of adventure and thrill seeking activities in the Asia Pacific region and paragliding from Coronet Peak is one of them. I suggest spiraling down because while you get less time in the air it gives more of a rush than simply gliding down slowly.

I was in New Zealand in 2010 on a photo/video shoot expedition for Tourism New Zealand and had a spare day at the end so Destination Queenstown arranged three adventurous activities for me to review.

Elevation Paragliding – Spiral Descent Video

You can choose to glide down peacefully but going down in a spiral descent is a lot more fun, watch the video to see what I mean

Elevation Paragliding – Photos Waiting for Cloud Cover To Disperse, Runoff and from Paraglider

Running off the edge of Coronet Peak to lift off was almost as much fun as the spiral descent!

Shai Lanuel and his business partners have run this business for 10 years. They fly from the highest 2 points on Coronet Peak compared to the other paragliding companies in Queenstown. Flights are for at least 10 minutes but upto 30 minutes with good winds.

Hanging around waiting for cloud to lift is “para-waiting”. The weather is unpredictable in New Zealand and more so in the mountains. Spring and autumn have more unstable weather compared to summer and winter. Paragliders are picked up from town and driven to Coronet. If you don’t fly, you don’t have to pay.

Safety is their utmost concern so the first time we drove up all we did was stand around and stare at the thick cloud cover wishing it would go away. Shai drove us all back to our accommodation and those who wanted to try again were contacted later in the day and flew when the sun had come out and burnt enough of the cloud away and provided updrafts to help the flights last longer.

Elevation Paragliding can be contacted within New Zealand by calling 1800 FLY HIGH.

Queenstown is well known as the home of adventure and thrill seeking activities in the Asia Pacific region and Shotover Canyon Swing is one of the highlights.

I was in New Zealand earlier this year on a photo/video shoot expedition for Tourism New Zealand and had a spare day at the end so Destination Queenstown arranged three adventurous activities for me to review.

The first activity was Shotover Canyon Swing (As seen on Channel 9’s Footy Show and Getaway) which involves choosing a jump style and swinging down Shotover canyon from a clifftop platform 109 metres above the river below.

Neerav Bhatt Backwards Jump Shotover Canyon Swing – Queenstown, New Zealand South Island

It’s a great choice for people who want to experience a safe but still exhilarating NZ jumping experience for less money than skydiving and more creative jumping possibilities than a bungee which just drops straight down.

The cost of one go at Shotover Canyon Swing is $NZ 199 ($AUD 162 at time of writing). Spectators can be brought along on the bus for $NZ 20 each if you want to show off your daring jumps to friends or family.

As the shuttle bus left the Shotover Street pickup point on the way to the jump platform I could feel my heart beat accelerate and adrenalin start to flow.

Given the choice of over 10 suggested jumping styles of varying scariness I opted for a backwards solo jump which is rated 5/5 for scariness. Jumping backwards is also better because the Canyon Swing camera can take a photo of your face as you plummet down

I tried an extra jump (these cost $NZ 39 extra each) with Gavin, a backpacker from Britain who was willing to try out Shotover Canyon Swing’s new Tandem jump style which worked well as we timed the jump perfectly.

If you want to do a tandem jump with a friend/family member I’d strongly recommend you both do your own individual jumps in different styles first for the sense of achievement and then the tandem when you know the other person has the confidence to jump. Note because you’re harnessed together the Tandem style is only available in forwards position.

If you don’t have friends/family members taking photos of your jump from the spectator area you can buy a record of your experience: $NZ 70 for a DVD video, digital photos and 1 printed photo. $NZ 90 for a DVD video, digital photos and 2 printed photos. Tshirts, hoodies and caps also available.

I strongly recommend that you don’t eat a big meal within 2 hours before your jump for obvious reasons. Also make sure you use the mens/ladies toilets at the carpark before walking to the jump platform to avoid the chance of an “accident” caused by your reaction to the jump.

Stewart Island is New Zealand’s little known southern-most island and the closest southern landmass you can travel to be close to Antarctica besides the lower southern part of South America. Stewart Island can be accessed via a short fixed wing flight from the larger South Island town of Invercargill or a longer, but more economical ferry ride from Bluff.

View Larger Map of Stewart Island Relative to South America & New Antarctica

Team Landing on Stewart Island

Furhana Ahmad from Stewart Island’s Ruggedy Range guided tours

The primary goal of our Tourism NZ/Canon Video/Photo crew was to spot an elusive Kiwi bird with the assistance of Furhana Ahmad from Stewart Island’s Ruggedy Range guided tours and record the event, however only 2 of our crew saw a Kiwi and it was after midnight while walking outside so there was barely enough time to move out of the way while it ran down a path and disappeared into vegetation.

Wind Swept Beach Panorama

We were not dismayed by the lack of kiwi sightings as Stewart Island offered plenty of opportunities for outdoor adventure lovers to admire including wind swept beaches with waving grass on dunes that fascinated our resident TV travel journalist Jules Lund, bush walks through a variety of vegetation and sand dunes and a sense of being far away from the noise and maddening crowds of city life.

Stewart Island video

Sombre Atmospheric Weather on Stewart Island

Jules Lund Taking the Road less Travelled on Stewart island

Clive Copeman photographing Stewart island sand dunes

Make Sure You Wear Appropriate Wet Weather Gear from Shoes to a Beanie or Hood and the rest of your body in between

Kiwi Roadsign

The following videos and photos are highlights from a whirlwind week long photo/video shoot of New Zealand’s lower South Island via Dunedin I was recently invited to join by Tourism New Zealand and Canon Australia.

Great Fun During Wairaurahiri Jetboat Trip photo credit: Jules Lund

Photos – New Zealand, Southern South Island Highlights (view Gallery)

Video – New Zealand, Southern South Island Highlights

Tourism NZ has released 5 video webisodes from the New Zealand lower South Island “Jules Lund” video/photoshoot I was invited to join during March in my role as a photographer/blogger/travel writer.

View Playlist of all 5 episodes on Youtube

DISCLAIMER: I am not being paid for this trip and have sole control over what I write and say about it. As usual I will be completely honest about whether I feel a particular location/experience is good quality and value for money.

All expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism New Zealand and regional subsidiaries. Camera gear was loaned by Canon (except for my own personally owned Canon S90 camera). Some clothing was sponsored by Goretex