Wonder-Land of the Long White Cloud...

‘Kia ora’ and 'haere mai' (or ‘hello’ and 'welcome' in maori)!

If you would like to visit New Zealand, be prepared to discover a country which combines in a single small area wonders from around the world - Norway’s fjords, waterfalls and hiking trails; Iceland’s glaciers, geysers and mud pools; Japan’s hot springs and ski slopes; France’s fresh produce and delicious cheese and wine; and Tasmania’s endless golden beaches.

In a range of less than a hundred kilometres, you will drive across tropical forests, glacier lakes, thermal pools, high mountains and white-sand beaches.

Add to this some adrenaline-boosting sports, friendly seals sunbathing on the rocks, beautiful Victorian architecture, Maori haka dances, volcano magma underneath a stunning beach, vintage cars on the road, a restaurant on a tramway built in 1927 and some fireworks, and you will have it all in one place!

Another thing which makes New Zealand exceptional is that it was the first country in the world to grant suffrage (i.e. the right to vote in political elections) to women in 1893! Hats off for Kate Sheppard - the woman appearing on New Zealand's ten-dollar note to whom we owe this historical event. Another famous New Zealander, appearing on the five-dollar note, is Edmund Hillary who, together with a Nepalese fellow mountaineer, became the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.

Aotearoa, which is the maori name of New Zealand and literally means the Land of the Long White Cloud (as from the sky it looks like it is entirely covered by a giant cloud), is so ‘sweet as’!!!

‘Sweet as’ means ‘awesome’ and is one of the most common terms used by the New Zealanders, but let us drop the formalities at once and call them simply Kiwis!

If you want to stay alive until the end of your journey, do not ever dare mixing up a Kiwi (an amazing guy living in one of the most beautiful countries in the world) with a kiwi (the cute national bird that cannot fly and is threatened by the Australian opossum - the subject of a serious argument between Aussies and Kiwis) or a kiwifruit (one of the most delicious fruits in the world).

New Zealand comprises two main islands - the North one and the South one, separated by the wild and chilling but so stunningly beautiful Cook Strait, where the wind seems to be leading an epic battle with the sea and your huge ferry will look like a tiny, fragile and shaking as hell shell!

Do not let yourself be misled by the names. As everything is reversed in this part of the world (we are in the Southern Hemisphere where it is summer in December and winter in August - weird, I know!), the North Island is the warmer one where you can find beaches, geothermal activity and the unique Maori culture.

The capital Wellington and the largest city Auckland are also located on the North Island.

The South Island is colder but also more pristine with its fjords, mountains and glaciers - a real paradise for hikes-lovers!

If you want to explore New Zealand properly, you need a caravan, a campervan or a motorhome. The difference between these is that the motorhome and the campervan do not need a car to pull them forward as compared to a caravan, and a motor home is bigger with its own bathroom as compared to a campervan. You will come across any shape, size and brand of these amazing moving homes on New Zealand's roads. Some of them have buggies, bicycles, canoes or even boats attached to them.

Ours was a Kea motorhome named after the curious native olive-green and orange bird, which is the world’s only alpine parrot and makes the weird screech ‘keeeea’!

Travelling around so much natural beauty and being able to stop for lunch or stay overnight at deserted spots, waking up with stunning views or the trumpet sound of sea lions, is just magic!

Reaching the geothermal area of Rotorua on the North Island, after driving from Auckland through some cute small towns with lots of art, is the first surprise of the journey.

You will notice the smell of old socks coming from the sulphur before you have even spotted any steam but do not worry - you will get used to it surprisingly quickly.

The place looks more and more surreal as you walk around geysers, bubbling mud pools, Mars-coloured lakes, hot springs, silica terraces and smoking grounds.

With the kaleidoscopic colours of the Artist’s Palette thermal pool and the boiling Champagne Pool, Mother Nature would have earned, without any doubt, the most precious art prize!

There are also many geysers in Rotorua. The Lady Knox Geyser, discovered accidentally by prisoners and named after the daughter of a New Zealand governor, is spectacular with its jet reaching up to 20 metres.

Finally, you can relax while soaking in a hidden hot (almost 40°C) mineral-rich river in the middle of the forest, away from the tourist spots. It is simply heaven!

Part of the Rotorua experience is a Maori meal of chicken and potatoes called 'hangi', cooked in a traditional way on heated stones buried in an earth oven, accompanied with some Maori haka dances and rites outside a rugby stadium.

You will also learn more about these once ferocious local tribes who do not seem to differ a lot from the mythical Vikings.

You can also go around some natural rainbow-coloured springs looking for kiwis in the evening (as they are night birds) and spot a couple of them, as well as an amazing tuatara (a native lizard) and a very talkative and social kea, who seemed to hate being alone and therefore showed us in a particularly noisy way her unhappiness when we left the springs...!

After the bubbles, steam and jets, a second surprise on the North Island was the stunning Coromandel Peninsula, surrounded by the blue of the South Pacific Ocean. Two of the most amazing places you will ever see in your life are located there - Cathedral Cove Beach and Hot Water Beach, but you will have to work out hard to enjoy each of them!

It will take you an hour of a not-so-easy walk through the cool forest to reach the beautiful white-sand beach of Cathedral Cove with its natural gigantic boulders and tunnels under the rocks. The view of the surrounding bay on the way down is stunning!

Hot Water Beach is extraordinary as well! A beach and some volcano magma at the same place? Impossible and still here it is!

For two hours either side of low tide, you can enjoy sitting in your personal spa pool on the beach, while watching the waves coming closer and closer! Do not forget the spade (and you will need a big one!) as first you will have to dig your own hole in the sand, which will  be immediately filled with hot water coming out from beneath the ground, after having been heated by the magma under the beach!

On the way from Hot Water Beach to Wellington in order to cross the Cook Strait to the South Island, you can stay overnight at the shores of many beautiful lakes including New Zealand’s largest lake - the 622-sq-km Lake Taupo, sitting in the caldera of a volcano.

Preparing your own meals in the motorhome and waking up surrounded by beauty and serenity were amongst our most amazing experiences ever!

Crossing the Cook Strait and passing from one gorgeous fjord to another is the preamble of what you will see on the South Island - a big WOW!!!