Bollywood star Sidharth Malhotra tweeted images of him skydiving in NZ. Photo / Twitter
A Bollywood heartthrob has tweeted images of Northland to his millions of followers around the world as he played tourist in the region.
Sidharth Malhotra, a New Zealand tourism ambassador for India, spent the weekend up north.
The former model has 2.42 million Twitter followers and over the weekend posted a picture from a sunny diving trip.
"Experienced an amazing dive at poor knights islands @DiveTutukaka great marine reserve with caves #SidNZ #NZMustDo," he wrote.
As well as diving, Malhotra body-boarded on sand dunes, learned to do the haka at the Waitangi treaty grounds, visited Cape Reinga and Tane Mahuta and cooked seafood.
He also appears to be an All Blacks convert, tweeting "good luck to NZ for today's match v France" ahead of Sunday's quarter final.
"I have seen the haka before during the All Blacks rugby matches. It gives strength and power to the players before their games. It is highly inspiring and I am glad I got to try my hands at it," Malhotra said.
He was moved by his visit to see giant kauri tree Tane Mahuta.
"As soon as you set foot in the forest you know that you are in a special place with a lot of history and culture," Malhotra said.
"To top it all, the pounamu given tome was absolutely beautiful. I know how much this stone means to the Maori people, I will treasure and cherish it forever."
Northland Inc general manager welcomed the "superstar", whose latest film Brothers grossed $87m during its first week at the boxoffice, to the region.
"The Indian market is small, but a growing market for Northland at the higher end, with emphasis being put on the honeymoon and family group sectors."
The number of Indian victors to New Zealand is growing, with number sup 24.9 per cent to 43,329 in the year to August.
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