New Zealand is back – so book now!

For the first time in more than two years, British travellers will be able to explore the country’s dramatic landscapes – and Griff Rhys Jones, a regular visitor, can’t wait to be one of them

Entry requirements to New Zealand have never been easy – not since the days of Captain Cook, who had to resort to muskets in Poverty Bay. But Aotearoa (the Maori name for this wonderful country) is finally emerging from its Sleeping Beauty status. There are no guarantees in this long Covid game, but it looks as if the “hermit country” (a name that only makes it more alluring) is set to open its borders.

First, New Zealand opened for the poor “grounded Kiwis” – citizens of the place, trapped abroad, who hadn’t been able to get home for two years; then for much-needed migrant workers and bona fide foreign students. At last, at the slightly peculiar time of 11.59pm on May 1, tourists from Britain will be able to visit, too. We can start to dream again.

I was last in New Zealand, filming, in 2019. The year before that, I toured with a show. To me, being old, this seems like only yesterday. It was, in fact, a long time ago, but I keep getting Kiwi flashbacks: Milford Sound, the Remarkables, Mount Cook by helicopter, White Island, Lake Pukaki. They are not just on my Instagram, they are burnt into my memory. The Marlborough Sounds, the volcanoes, the extraordinary ranges of yellow hills and snowy mountains, the long, long beaches, the rushing, braided rivers… images keep rising up, unbidden.

New Zealand is a unique travel experience. It is not exactly glamorous, but a practical sort of place with comfortable hotels and boarding houses, sensible camper vans and delicious, foraged fresh food. Before I went there, I was expecting a waving-palms-and-sandybeach vibe in this much-advertised “semi-tropical paradise”. But it is, in fact, a rugged, temperate place, even in the far north. Semi-Scottish rawness butts in everywhere, along with Icelandic grandeur and Californian abundance. New Zealand is a bracing, unspoilt, outdoorsy country. So, ironically, if you do book your long-haul flight, plenty of ventilation awaits you.

When I first went to poor, quakeshaken Christchurch in the mid-1980s, it seemed as if the whole city rushed off to the mountains at the weekend. That outdoor culture remains. If you don’t go there to get out and take on the wilderness, you will miss the point.

The opportunities are legion. The Kiwis just go for it – jetboats skidding over stony shallows, helicopter rides, plane-hiking set-downs, farm restaurants, skiing trips, exploration treks, mountain biking, climbing and, yes, bungee jumps. And New Zealand manages all this without caravan parks on the coastal path, or too many car parks or lavatory facilities. The outdoors is phenomenally unspoilt.

There is urban excitement, too. The centre of Queenstown, for example, is busy enough, but only like a giant seething outdoor-pursuits marketplace. It seems to advertise hundreds of ways to get into the staggeringly untouched, wild and open wilderness.

All the trips I was lucky enough to take were unforgettable. I went gliding, sailing, fishing, tramping, biking, sliding and driving about, on regular commercially available jaunts. And always with guides and mentors who wanted to push me and themselves, or their vehicles, to the limit. It’s ironic that the ethos of the past two years has been so cautious, when the average New Zealander is so wonderfully reckless.

I am actually worried for all the charming people who made my own adventures possible. What have they been doing for the past two years? Where has their custom gone? How have they survived? Every astounding place, such as Wanaka or the Coromandel Peninsula or Christchurch, had a base waiting to help launch me into the landscape. I guess they will be waiting still.

Many of these enterprises were run by locals. The jetboat was originally invented so farmers could get to upriver pastures. Helicopters came into use for managing cattle and culling the intrusive deer population. A lot of the touristic delights developed after Britain abandoned Kiwi farming by entering the precursor to the European Union. We forced people back on their own invention and diversification. And they were incredibly resourceful and can-do – much to the visitor’s benefit.

I have no doubt at all that people like these will be ready to help us experience their wonderful country all over again, just as soon as we can get back there. Fingers crossed, eh?

Heli hike on ice

Most classic New Zealand itineraries incorporate the Franz Josef glacier. It’s impressive to look up at this long, sparkling tongue that slips from the Southern Alps – but skimming over it by chopper, landing high up on the ice and cramponing across the glacier’s constantly shifting surface is even better. Expert guides will lead you over new crevasses, into caves and through dazzling blue-ice tunnels. Ice wall climbing, with expert tuition, is possible too.

A 19-night Best of New Zealand selfdrive with Trailfinders (020 7084 6500; trailfinders.com) costs from £3,299pp including flights; a Franz Josef Helihike costs around £260pp. Heli ice climbs cost from £322 ( franzjosefglacier.com)

Feel the movie magic

New Zealand’s natural drama has famously attracted filmmakers – and will appeal to visitors, too. Fun tours of Hobbiton combine well with paddleboarding into glowworm caves, panning for gold, dolphin watching, fly-fishing and jet boating. Young film buffs will love a Weta Workshop, a creative studio in Wellington that was involved in making The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here you can go behind the scenes of the Wellywood industry – from make-up to special effects – before sculpting your own monster.

Weta Workshops cost from £26 (wetanz. com). A 20-day tailor-made Family New Zealand trip with Original Travel (020 3958 6120; originaltravel.co.uk), featuring Weta and Hobbiton tours, costs from £5,490pp including flights