Just came back from a wonderful 7 weeks trip in New Zealand! Restart your normal life is allows traumatic but the work has been worth eve though I spent there almost all my 2001 holiday!!! Definitely I can say that NZ is synonyms of NP (National Park) because all the country is a NP!

My trip allowed me to travel 4 weeks in the South Island where I could visit the great Abel Tasman NP, lakes district, the Franz Joseph glacier (a glacier located a few kms from the sea!), the Fiordland, some nice cities like Dunedin and Christchurch. Dunedin (that mean Edinburgh in Gaelic) is a city settled by Scotland while Christchurch reminded me my city (Milan in Italy) because the cathedral in the central main square (actually the Duomo in Milan is larger than the cathedral in CC). There, in Christchurch, I had a great gtg with Richard and his wife who cooked for me a typical NZ lunch and we had the time to talk about the travelzine and about our future travelling plans. Thanks Richard.

During my trip in the South Island, just 2 things disappointed me: the wet weather :( (but if NZ is so grean must be a reason) and the lose of my prescription glasses that I lost somewhere in Dunedin :((( but it was a my fault.

After that, I spent 3 weeks in the North Island visiting the volcanic area of Rotorua, East Cape, the Coromandel peninsula and Bay of Islands. The East Cape is a region not touristy at all and is mainly a Maori region. In Napier, a lovely town not too far from Rotorua, I had my second gtg in NZ with Erica that was so kindly to take me around the town and showed me the town and the harbour from the top of a well located hill just out the town. I regret I had to escape away from Napier the day after because the bad weather :(( Sorry Erica!

Anyway I enjoyed over all the Catlins region, a region South of Dunedin. This region is really wild, the road is not completely sealed and there aren't any public transport in the region except a little coach that run once a day. There I saw dolphins, sealeons (big seals), penguins and, obviously, a lot of sheep :)) especially in the farm where I stayed overnight (I had to help the owner to get to gether the sheep for cutting their wool :))

About accommodation, I found real nice hostels and Backpackers all around the country. they was clean, cheap, and with many facilities. For sure the best backpackers I have ever been!

At the end, I have to say that, despite many people thinks it is possible walk from Australia to NZ during the low tidy and spend a couple of days there, it is a lovely country with lovely inhabits and definitely a place to visit at least once on during yours life.

Now I could start to think about my next trip: a short trip in central Italy during this spring and a trip in Meddle East, Saudi Arabia (?) or Arabs Emirates (?).

Kia Ora Ziners (it is the Maori greeting for Hello/Goodbye) and thanks Richard and Erica.

Marco in Milan (Italy).