Heather du Plessis-Allan: Forget Bali - home's fantastic

At Lake Taupo, the sun was out, the water was cold and the food was delicious ... it set a standard Bali couldn't match. Photo / Greg Bowker

It wasn't long after I arrived in Bali that I realised I'd made a mistake. I don't want to bag the place, but I think I'm going to. I should've stayed at home.

My regret started when I got sick. Everyone gets sick. Apparently it's the water. And, because your lettuce and toothbrush and cups are all washed with water, getting sick is pretty much unavoidable.

But if you're going to be sick for 12 days and 12 nights, what better place to shore up your strength than next to the beach?

The sea breeze, the lapping waves, and the miles and miles of washed-up rubbish. You'd probably remark on the goldenness of the sand if you could see it under the plastic bottles, broken polystyrene and lonely, pairless shoes.

Funnily, after about a week you get so used to the rubbish you think it can't be that bad to have a dip. Under the cool, salty waves you can almost imagine it's just like the cold Pacific back home. Then you surface with a piece of cling film stretched across your face.

We don't need to dwell on the stray dogs prowling at night, the stench from the street-side sewers or the overly aggressive merchants hocking Bintang Beer T-shirts.

If you said I'm spoiled, I'd accept that. But I'm spoiled only for the same reason you are. It's because of the country we live in.

Before I boarded the plane for Bali I'd spent a few days in Taupo. The sun was out, the lake was cold, the food was delicious. It set a high bar.

And you should've seen the Facebook snaps of my friends' holiday on the Milford track. Crisp waterfalls, emerald green insects and selfies of smiling faces on swing bridges.

My friends climbed up slopes, slept in DoC huts and posed, legs astride, on big rocks in front of mountains. They saw blue skies, golden grass and yellow flowers.

They explored a part of New Zealand I've never laid eyes on. Embarrassingly, thousands of foreigners also trump me. A report a few years ago counted only one Kiwi out of every 10 hikers on the Milford track.

We run the risk of the gap widening even more. The guys at the Tourism Industry Association told me we had more international visitors in December than in any other month. Plenty of them are coming from China. China loves us.

Forget the Cricket World Cup. There may be plenty of cricket fans around this month, but there will be a heck of a lot more Chinese visitors.

I reckon we could learn something from Bali, and that's not to take our tourism for granted. Let's keep our beaches tidy, lock the dogs in the backyard and filter the water. Let's show those visitors a good time so they'll tell their mates. It puts more money in all of our pockets.

And by the way, the Chinese tourists are here because it's Chinese New Year. And that means we get another resolution.

Mine is to see more of my own country. Forget lying by the beach in the tropics. I'm committing to slogging my guts out walking a track at home. At least my guts will be up to it.