Often referred to as New Zealand’s third island,lonesome Stewart Island is a place where humanity is in the minority. About 85 per cent of the island is protected inside New Zealand’s newest national park,Rakiura,while brown kiwis outnumber Stewart Island’s 400 human Kiwis by about 50 to one. It’s the surest place in the country to nab a kiwi sighting,with nightly tours setting out from Oban,the island’s only settlement,to a secluded spit where kiwis appear most nights. Even the kiwi scenes for David Attenborough’sLife of Birdswere filmed here.
With just 20 kilometres of sealed roads,Stewart Island is more a place for hiking than road tripping. The 32-kilometre,three-day Rakiura Track,looping out from Oban,is one of New Zealand’s 10 Great Walks,while even hardier souls brave the notorious mud on a 10-day circuit of the island’s north,taking in long Mason Bay and one of the southern hemisphere’s most extensive dune systems. For a shorter taste of the trails,take a day hike along the start of the Rakiura Track to Port William,returning by water taxi to Oban in the wide-winged company of albatrosses. Seestewartisland.co.nz
Waiheke Island
Just a 40-minute ferry ride from central Auckland,local favourite Waiheke is all about water and wine. Clipped around its edges are radiant white-sand beaches such as Oneroa,Onetangi (Waiheke’s longest beach,almost two kilometres in length) and Palm Beach,but the more familiar image of this island of almost 10,000 residents is of vineyards,of which there are about 30. Plantings began in the late 1970s,with French red varieties mostly filling Waiheke wine glasses.
The largest vineyard on the island,Man O’War is also its only beachfront cellar door,allowing you to step straight from the bar to the beach on the namesake Man O’War Bay. Other cellar doors worth seeking out include Tantalus Estate,which is home also to a craft brewery,and Wild on Waiheke,where you can break up the tastings with a spot of archery and a laser claybird shoot.
Away from the vines,there’s zip lining,kayak tours,two mountain bike trail networks and 100 kilometres of walking trails. You can hike across the island in three hours on the Coast to Coast trail,or spend up to five days lapping Waiheke on Te Ara Hura.