6 must-sees in New Zealand

With snow-capped mountains, craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches and unparalleled wildlife, New Zealand's magnificent scenery makes it a unique land.

Despite its immense popularity, New Zealand is one of the world's safest destinations and remains unfettered by the crowds you might find elsewhere.

With a population of roughly 4 million people, you can travel miles through verdant steep-hilled farmland rarely seeing a soul.

Whale watching

The Kaikoura Peninsula is situated 180km north of Christchurch. Offshore, the sea bed drops away rapidly to the Kaikoura Canyon "" 1000 metres deep "" a phenomenon that brings sea mammals in great and varied numbers.

For a truly magical experience, take a boat trip conducted by the Maori-owned and operated Whale Watch Kaikoura (www.whalewatch.co.nz; 2hr 30 min; $110) to see gigantic sperm whales, migratory humpback whales and orca all at relatively close quarters.

Hot Water Beach

Renowned for its natural hot-water springs bubbling beneath the sand, Hot Water Beach, is best reached from the town of Whitianga on the North Island. In summer, the springs area will be pockmarked by other visitors' diggings, otherwise you'll need to rent a spade from the cafe ($4 for two hours, plus $20 deposit).

Kiwi-spotting

Stewart Island "" New Zealand's third main island at the Southern tip of the country "" is visited by relatively few. Mason Bay on the west coast of the island offers your best chance of spotting a famous kiwi bird in the wild.

Flightless, dull brown in colour and not exactly beautiful, the kiwi is nonetheless New Zealand's national symbol and is much loved by the general populace. Sadly, there are probably fewer than 15,000 birds left, and numbers are declining rapidly.

Skydiving at Lake Taupo

True to its family-resort status, Taupo specialises in entertainment for kids and adventure activities for adults. New Zealand's largest lake and the country's sky diving capital, Lake Taupo is now one of the busiest skydiving drop zones anywhere in the world and it provides a spectacular setting toward which to plummet from a plane.

The scenery is certainly magnificent if you dare to look. Prices are around $200 for 12,000ft and $300 for 15,000ft.

Moeraki boulders

Situated on the east of the South Island, these large, almost perfectly spherical, naturally formed boulders lie partially submerged in a sandy beach at the tide line.

Once regarded as Maori baskets, some of the boulders are 2m in diameter and their smooth skins hide honeycomb centres. Access to this compelling phenomenum is by a 300m walk along the beach.

The glaciers

Franz Josef glacier and Fox glacier are two of the largest and most impressive of the 60-odd glaciers that creak off the South Island's western icy backbone.

The steep and dramatic glaciers are stunning viewed from a distance, but are even more impressive close up and there's a wide variety of plane and helicopter flights, guided glacier walks and ice climbing on offer from the nearby villages.

These travel tips are taken from The Rough Guide to New Zealand, published by Penguin, price Rs 810, www.roughguides.com