KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders are fat and ugly and the country's cities are architectural disasters, according to a new book.
British author Duncan Fallowell's new book, Going As Far As I Can, which describes a three-month trip to New Zealand four years ago, is due to be released on March 7.
It paints a scathing picture of the country, with Fallowell calling Christchurch's Cathedral Square a "visual disaster zone", Auckland "not my idea of a town" and Wellington worse than Auckland, the Sunday Star Times reports.
He also attacks Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and the country's wine industry, describing a $20 bottle of rose as having no taste "with a faintly chlorine finish".
He wrote he was fed up with people being "fat and ugly and covered in tattoos.
"I'm fed up with unwashed hair and spotty complexions."
He said lots of women have lesbian haircuts and "they don't do cleavage".
However, Fallowell did have some praise.
He said he ate the best fish and chips of his life in Invercargill and Christchurch people had "spontaneity, madness and sexiness. They dress more smartly than other New Zealanders, too."
- NZPA
