Who needs New Zealand when we’ve got… Wales?
Kerry Walker reveals how you can experience almost everything the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’ has to offer without travelling across the planet
We’ve spent months gazing at the desk globe gathering dust, lusting after distant shores that are still off limits. And shores don’t come much more distant than those of New Zealand. Ranked as the best country for seven years on the trot in the Telegraph Travel Awards, the “Land of the Long White Cloud” has pulling power like nowhere else on Earth. But for now its borders remain resolutely closed.
Some would argue that the country’s piercing blue fjords, sky-high peaks and glaciers, smouldering volcanoes, and beaches have no substitute. But if you visualise the country on a human scale and take a small leap of imagination (for this year, at least), you’ll note its similarity to a land closer to home: Wales.
And here’s the good news: Mark Drakeford’s recent announcement on the easing of lockdown has brought a wave of optimism. Providing Covid numbers keep falling, people living in Wales will be able to book self- contained accommodation in time for Easter, with tourism reopening to others by the summer if the situation continues to improve.
In many ways, Wales is a shrinkwrapped version of New Zealand, with the same rolling green, drizzle-drenched hills. There are dark, foreboding mountains with more than a dash of Middle Earth and dragon lore about them. Plus both countries have the same narrow, winding roads that involve plenty of gear crunching and sweary, ranty reversing.
The cultural connections between the two countries run deeper than rugby, too. Both are defined by the water, their cities gazing wistfully out to sea. Both love a fish and chip supper and roast lamb for Sunday lunch. Both have unwieldy, impossible- to- pronounce place names. And both were forged by their mining heritage – gold in New Zealand, slate and coal in Wales.
In both nations, post-industrial mining towns have been given their mojo back as adventure sports centres, with Snowdonia holding its own against the likes of Queenstown, offering almost every extreme pursuit, from caving to rock climbing, kayaking to ziplining.
Much of Wales has that same off-grid remoteness, despite its dinky size. You can drive for miles and see only a passing sheep. You can tiptoe off the map and be utterly alone; on the cliff-flanked coast; in misty, mythical mountains; in lichendraped woods of primordial beauty; and in valleys so quiet, you can hear your own heartbeat. But, unlike New Zealand, it’s all just a Severn Bridge away.
ADVENTURE CENTRAL
If you want to take a run and bungee jump, Queenstown is the place. But Snowdonia in Wales has just as many ways to scare yourself silly. At the top of the pulse-quickening pile is Bethesda in Snowdonia. With a rich mining heritage to match that of Queenstown, the Penrhyn Quarry has been born again as Zip World ( zipworld. co. uk). Once the world’s largest slate quarry, its big draw now is Velocity 2, the world’s fastest zipline, where you can pick up speeds of 100mph as you breeze across a quarry lake, the shattered landscape a blur far below. Bookmark it for summer when attractions should, with luck, reopen. Stay: Tucked away in the wooded, waterfall-laced and sublimely pretty Ogwen Valley, Ogwen Bank (ogwenbank.co.uk) is a five-minute drive from Zip World. Here you’ll find camping pods with hot tubs, riverside studio pods and more luxurious family-sized lodges. From £150pn for two
RAISING THE BAA
New Zealand and Wales are wet, woolly countries where sheep outnumber people ( by five and three to one, respectively). But nowhere offers more intimate sheep encounters than Jacob Sheep Trekking (sheeptrekking.co.uk), in a beautiful sweep of forest and mountains in Brecon Beacons National Park. When restrictions lift, you will be able to take dreadlocked Valais Blacknose and docile Jacob sheep for a walk or, season depending, give lambing and sheep shearing a go. On cloudless days, the views of the fin-shaped, 886m-high peak of Pen y Fan are quite something. Stay: The working organic farm has two pet-friendly self-catering cottages (abercottages.com) sleeping up to six. There’s all you need for a back-to-nature stay, with spring water running from taps, farm eggs for breakfast and starry night skies. From £408 for two nights
ROAD TRIPPING
Seabirds cry, the ocean roars and wind rips across the Atlantic on the Coastal Way (visitwales.com), a 180-mile drive that takes Cardigan Bay in its stride. As you cruise, the views are redolent of New Zealand’s Great Coast Road, with ragged rock formations and cliffs nosediving into turquoise-blue sea. From cathedral- topped St Davids, Britain’s smallest city, the Coastal Way leads past heather- flecked headlands, Iron Age forts, dune-backed beaches and tuckedaway coves that, with luck, you will have to yourself. The route ends in Aberdaron, where Snowdonia’s dark peaks rumple the horizon.
Stay: Glamping gurus Fforest (coldatnight.co.uk) offer back-to-nature coastal stays at Manorafon, just a stone’s throw from the National Trust beach of Penbryn. Rustic-chic cabins with campfires sleep four to six, while coast domes, sleeping four, offer bay windows commanding big views. From £490 for a three-night stay
REACH NEW HEIGHTS
Mount Cook has the height edge at 3,724m, but New Zealand’s glaciercapped peak is off limits to all but intrepid climbers. Topping out at 1,085m, Snowdon, the UK’s highest mountain south of Scotland, is delightfully accessible by comparison. On cloudless days the view holds hikers in its thrall, with bare gold- green crags rippling away to the not-so-distant sea, and cwms (valleys) swooping down to ink-blue lakes bearing the scars of the last Ice Age. If you want to dodge the crowds, opt for the quiet-but-steep Pyg Track or tougher-still Rhyd Ddu path to the top (allow six to seven hours). If the weather misbehaves, there’s always the train (snowdonrailway.co.uk).
Stay: In peaceful woodland at the foot of Snowdon, Bryn Dinas Camping Pods
(bryndinascampingpods.co.uk) let you get a head start on hoofing up the mountain. Camping pods, snug log cabins and family-sized lodges and cottages are all in the mix. Two nights from £275 for two
THE ORIGINAL MIDDLE EARTH
New Zealand’s dramatic backdrops are the stuff of Lord of the Rings legend, but Wales stole Tolkien’s heart long before anyone had even dreamed of making a movie. The land of dragons and castles par excellence, Wales had a profound effect on the author over the years. He went on holidays to the wild Llŷn Peninsula as a boy, and the moody mountainscapes of the Brecon Beacons ( breconbeacons. org ) inspired his writings. So much so, in fact, that he named the Hobbit settlement of Crickhollow after the pretty riverside village of Crickhowell. Tolkien was also proficient in Welsh, which strongly influenced one of his Elvish languages, Sindarin.
Stay: Drive a few minutes west of Crickhowell and you’ll come across Glanusk Caravan Park at the heart of the Glanusk Estate (glanuskestate.com). There’s terrific walking in the national park and Black Mountains, and picnic hampers ( from £40) full of locally sourced goodies can be arranged. Camping from £30pn; cottages from £100pn; camping pods from £450 for three nights
TONGUE TWISTERS
In New Zealand, an unassuming hill in Hawke’s Bay on the North Island’s east coast has a remarkable claim to fame: its 85-letter Maori name holds the Guinness record for being the world’s longest. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaunghoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu means “where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as ‘landeater’, played his flute to his loved one”. Wales loves a good tongue-twister, too. On Anglesey, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a mouthful. It means “The church of St Mary Llanfair of the pool of the white hazels near the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave”.
Stay: Boltholes & Hideaways (bolthole
sandhideaways.co.uk) offers one-of-akind self-catering stays on Anglesey. One option for couples is the stone-built, art-slung Hideaway Cottage in the beautiful castle-topped town of Beaumaris. Two nights from £276
WILD ABOUT WALES
Whale watching is a New Zealand experiences everyone raves about, and Kaikoura on the South Island is at the heart of the action. But Wales has marine and birdlife too. Cliff-rimmed Skomer off Pembrokeshire is a puffin fest of an island, home to 24,000 burrowing birds which can be observed at close quarters. It’s also a safe haven for the world’s largest population of Manx shearwaters (120,000 breeding pairs), while Atlantic grey seals, porpoises, dolphins and, yes, even the odd whale can be sighted offshore (welshwildlife.org).
Stay: Pitch a sea-view tent at West Hook Farm Camping (westhookfarm-camping.co.uk). Pitches from £18. Or head to nearby Sandy Haven to hunker down at inn-turned-coastal-cottage the Sloop (airbnb.co.uk). From £95 per night
STRAP ON YOUR BOOTS
New Zealand’s Abel Tasman National Park on the northern cusp of the South Island looks as though it was created by a divine hand, with native beech forests unfurling to sweeps of creamy sand and startlingly jade-green water. The 60km coast track that leads through it is a wonder. But for just as lovely coastlines and perhaps more of a challenge, hike the 180-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path (visitpembrokeshire.com), where cliffs fan into one remote, Atlantic-lashed beach and prehistoric site after another. The hike is epic, but for more action, tag on a day for water-based fun in the form of coasteering and sea kayaking.
Stay: Quality Cottages (qualitycottages. co.uk) offers a range of self-catering options in Pembrokeshire. One of the best is Penmynydd Uchaf. Just a mile away from Dinas Island, it has rustic charm, stirring coastal views and a hot tub. From £1,001 per week; sleeps six
A HINT OF THE VOLCANIC
Mount Tongariro is the cherry on top of the Taupo Volcanic Zone of New Zealand’s North Island. Dipping right into the thick of the smouldering action, the 19.4km Tongariro Alpine Crossing is feted as the country’s best single- day trek. Wales might not have volcanoes, but it has a mountain that looks like one: the 596m-high Sugar Loaf in the Black Mountains. This sweep of a peak has hiking trails criss- crossing its heatherclad heights, with fine views across the Brecon Beacons and over the border into England (nationaltrust.org.uk). Stay: At the foot of Sugar Loaf, Cherry Berry Lodges (cherryberrylodges.co.uk) has a get-away-from-it-all shepherd hut and lodge. Both are simply decorated and have patchwork quilts and wood burners. From £65pn for two
THE NEW ZEALAND NAMESAKE
You can almost picture the moment Capt John Grono washed ashore on New Zealand’s fjord-riven South Island in 1812. Salt-bedraggled and exhausted to the point of near hallucination, he glanced at its jagged peaks, rainforest and waterfalls and declared it reminded him of Milford Haven back home in Wales. While the resemblance to the industrial port stops there, the Pembrokeshire coast (visitpembrokeshire.com) has a gentle whisper of Milford Sound about it, with ancient woodland spilling down to the sea, waterfalls plunging over cliff faces, deep inlets and buckled, contorted rocks that have been around since dinosaurs walked the Earth. Stay: Milford Haven’s revamped waterfront is home to some special floatel cabins (qualityunearthed.co.uk), with private balconies and floor-toceiling windows making the most of the marina views. From £80pn for two
STARRY, STARRY NIGHTS
In July 2020, New Zealand finally got its first Dark Sky Park – the Wai-iti Recreation Reserve near Nelson on South Island – to show off its star-spangled skies. Wales, too, has a new string to its cosmic bow with the recent launch of the Cambrian Mountains Astro Trail ( thecambrianmountains.co.uk). Dipping into a wild swathe of hills and moors so remote, it is nicknamed bola
buwch (as dark as the belly of a cow), the 50- mile, self- guided route strings together nine locations awarded Milky Way- Class Dark Sky Discovery Site status. Among them are the Arch near Devil’s Bridge in Ceredigion and Llyn Brianne Reservoir in Carmarthenshire. Stay: Abergwesyn Common is remote, and here you will find eco-friendly Welsh Glamping (welshglamping.com) offering log cabins, bell tents and cottages perfect for long rambles, wild swims and stargazing. Four nights cost from £350
Travel within the UK is currently subject to restrictions. See Page 2.