New Zealand's Best Autumn Walks (COPY)

On a ridge overlooking the kauri forest, Waipoua Lodge offers luxury accommodation in an original kauri homestead. As well as award-winning hospitality in its four suites, it's a place to experience the forest, hear the birds, surrounded by 3000-year-old trees and enhanced with a century of pioneering and logging history.

Inside the West Auckland rainforest, only 30 minutes from Downtown Auckland, is Waitakere Resort & Spa (previously Waitakere Estate). Built by retired airline pilot Captain Joseph Nevill-Jackson, the boutique hotel has remained in family hands for more than 80 years. These days, as well as the hotel, apartments and villa, you'll find a restaurant, day spa, wellness retreat, conference centre, wedding venue, views of the Hauraki Gulf – and a whole lot of serenity.

Wairua Lodge Rainforest and River Retreat is a large, forested property just south of Whitianga, where the owners are committed to preserving biodiversity and reducing their ecological footprint. The Coromandel haven boasts four rooms and a Kiwi apartment, forest walk, outdoor bath, trickling stream and forest trails - and, in the evening, a firepit where guests mingle and listen to the forest reawakening.

Rimu Heights is a new property on the Maungatautari bushline, overlooking the vista from the Waikato Plains to the Kaimai Ranges. Its Tawa Tent is an off-grid, eco-living, glamping experience, set in a natural clearing surrounded by tawa, ponga and ferns, home to many native species which can be constantly heard, seen and felt. 

Just outside Rotorua, Treetops Lodge shares its secluded 1012ha estate with trees, plants and myriad animals. Much of the facility was built using the property's deadwood — logs milled onsite – and 70,000 more trees were planted to protect the ecosystem. There are 12 guest rooms and eight villas, on-estate activities including kayaking, archery, mountain biking, fishing, horse riding, more than 70km of walking tracks, a forest spa and wild food experiences.

Puketui Forest Escape is another luxury property hidden in a private native forest 12 minutes from both Taupo and Kinloch. The environmentally conscious, luxuriously appointed couples' escape is fully off-grid: guests stay in handcrafted adjoining pod houses - one for sleeping, the other for relaxing.

Ponte Luiz I. A cast iron bridge in the middle of Porto's old town. Look familiar? It was designed by a disciple of Gustave Eiffel.

Eastwoodhill has a variety of accommodations for those who want to stay inside the arboretum near Gisborne, enjoying the trees, perhaps creating an environment for art and craft groups or for friends to spend quality time. Rooms are tidy and have access to common bathroom amenities, kitchen, living spaces and laundry. Tip: you'll have to BYO supplies or ask management to get them in. The nearest food store is 30km away.

Amid Hawke's Bay's vines and orchards, Meadowood House boutique hotel has added "Glamping in the Trees" - dome tents located in a secluded setting among mature trees and twittering birdlife. There are flushing toilets and a shower in the trees, or his & hers baths under the stars, the BYO or honesty Speakeasy Bar with games, books and a large projector screen. Two of the tents, appropriately tagged Syrah and Merlot, sleep three; Chardonnay and Pinot Gris sleep two.

At the halfway point of the Timber Trail, deep in the Central North Island, the Timber Trail Lodge is set in the middle of the renowned Pureora Forest conservation park, its huge podocarp trees and rare birds. The five-year-old lodge is completely off-grid and offers a relaxing atmosphere, bar and meals, cycle shuttles and support.

Right on the edge of Mt Taranaki National Park are Pouakai Cabins, 20 minutes from New Plymouth at the base of the Pouakai Ranges. The private bush cabin is five minutes' walk through native bush, an adults-only retreat built from recycled and environmentally friendly products and running on solar power. All windows look to the surrounding bush – including the bathroom. No worries, you'll only be sharing the space with kererū and tūī.

Pohangina Valley in Manawatū is one of the country's better-kept secrets. More than unique forests full of birdlife, its rivers are actually swimmable. Some 450m above sea level, Pohangina Heights Resort is set on an old family farm, its gardens created around views and dreamy sunsets next to DoC's Pohangina Track in the Ruahine Forest Park. There are two self-contained cottages for couples – Hilliard's and The Musterer's, which was built around 1910 and is themed with old-fashioned games, Kiwi books and memorabilia.

Marlborough's On The Track Lodge is halfway along the two-day Nydia Track, a five-hour walk in each direction; you could also bike or boat to the peaceful spot on the shores of Pelorus Sound.

Ponte Luiz I. A cast iron bridge in the middle of Porto's old town. Look familiar? It was designed by a disciple of Gustave Eiffel.

Two hours from Nelson, Maruia River Retreat lies deep inside 200ha of untouched Aotearoa, on the river, surrounded by beech forest and protected from the east and west by mountains. The boutique lodge has seven riverside villas has a wellness ethos, including a day spa, yoga classes and a gourmet kitchen delivering fresh-from-the-garden food.

Franz Josef Rainforest Retreat's luxury treehouses are built on stilts to maximise their setting in lush native bush. Self-contained, they promise king beds, espresso machines and outdoor decks with private hot tubs to make the most of the dark skies on a chilly night (stargazing windows for those who feel the cold). There's also a holiday park in the trees with powered campervan sites, motel and dorm rooms and cottages. The onsite bar and restaurant serve pizzas and more.

On the east coast, Hāpuku Lodge + Tree Houses is a contemporary country hotel on a deer farm 12km north of Kaikōura. At the base of the Kaikōura Seaward Range, the five treehouses are nested 10m up in the canopy of a kānuka grove. The three 1-bedroom and two-family "apartments" are designed to bring the tree canopies into the bedroom.

Aoraki Mt Cook Alpine Lodge offers self-catering accommodation in the village, with most rooms featuring spectacular views of the cloud-piercer and its surrounding peaks and glaciers. It's set up to cater for all budgets.

Hereweka Garden Retreat, 30 minutes from Dunedin, lies on the Harbour Cone in the only remaining valley of native forest on Otago Peninsula, overlooking Hoopers Inlet. Settled into the eco-designed boutique accommodation, built with sustainable materials, guests can wander the garden and bush walks, sit quietly and watch for koromiko, kererū, titipounamu, kōtare and tūī; take the five-minute walk to the inlet and its wading birds; or meet other locals like penguins, sea lions, fur seals and albatross.

Milford Sound Lodge has rainforest campervan sites and secluded, stylish chalets among Fiordland's rainforest, below peaks, beside rivers, rainbows and waterfalls. It's not uncommon to share your breakfast with a kea or the resident weka trying to steal your croissant.

One way or another, you'll announce your arrival at Waitutu Forest Lodge, 40km from Tuatapere on Southland's south coast. With the lodge in the remote environment at the base of Fiordland National Park, you get there by an exhilarating jetboat ride from Lake Hauroko down the Wairaurahiri River rapids, a six-minute helicopter ride from Rarakau, home of the soon-to-be-famous Hump Ridge Track, or a two-day walk. Your choice but you'll probably want to book first to make sure there's a room waiting.