Paihia is a good base for exploring the Bay of Islands. Photo: Jane Blair

The name says it all, really - some 150 largely untouched islands floating in a crystalline bay.

Located in the North Island's Northland region, the Bay of Islands is one of New Zealand's prime tourist attractions.

Escape downtown Auckland for the Hauraki Gulf islands.

Jumbled urban sprawl, an appalling public transport system and noisy flyovers that take a leaf out of Los Angeles, Auckland is not the best introduction to clean, green New Zealand.

The amazing spurting geysers of Rotorua.

Nested on the shores of Lake Rotorua, "Stinksville" or "Fartopolis" would be a more appropriate name for this city of sulphur.

Despite reeking perpetually of rotten eggs, tourists come to New Zealand's volcanic heartland in droves to soak in curative thermal springs and marvel at spurting geysers and boiling mud pools.

Christchurch embraces its English roots with punting on the Avon River.

If you're planning on hitting New Zealand's spectacular South Island, you'll most likely pass through its major city.

Centred around Cathderal Square and sprawled around the winding Avon River, Christchurch is New Zealand's most "English" city.

The Kaikoura area has some spectacular coastal walks.

The sleepy seaside town of Kaikoura is the best place in New Zealand to swim with dolphins.

Some 180km north of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, it is backed by the snow-capped Seaward Kaikoura mountains.

Nelson makes a good jumping off point for the Abel Tasman Coastal Track Photo: Jane Blair

Although it is located in New Zealand's damp South Island, Nelson enjoys the distinction of being the nation's sunniest city.

It is also an immensely handsome place, full of creative and New Age types and surrounded by kiwifruit orchards, wineries and pristine sandy beaches.

Plunge right in with a bungy jump in Queenstown

If you've come to Queenstown to relax, keep on truckin'.

Queenstown is the adrenalin capital of the Southern Hemisphere, a veritable Las Vegas for adventure junkies where daredevils gamble with their lives and lunches.

A cable car hauls people up to Wellington's Botanic Gardens

Photo: Christina Wood

This hilly, windy harbour city is New Zealand's cultural and political capital - a vibrant hub home to 400,000 or so caffeine-addicted residents.

Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks and blowholes

"The jewel of the West Coast", Punakaiki is a tiny settlement on New Zealand's South Island.

It is dramatically positioned indeed, with densely forested mountains dropping down to sweeping surf beaches.

Punakaiki's most visited site is its blowholes and layers of weathered limestone dubbed Pancake Rocks.