New Zealand travel books: Get some beauty therapy

Beauty is all around us in our own country. Photo / Brett Phibbs

These books may provide the impetus to get out and see some good-looking Kiwi sights.

Flying back to New Zealand the other day I had a powerful reminder of just how much beauty we have on our own back doorstep.

As the plane soared across the Hauraki Gulf, then circled the Manukau Harbour, glorious vistas of sea and surf, bush and mountain, river and plain, wafted past the aircraft windows.

Foreign tourists chattered excitedly, pointing delightedly at a yacht sailing past the brooding silhouette of Rangitoto, a silver thread of water plummeting down a rock face into the harbour, a long golden beach fringed by bush and washed by waves that from this height looked comfortingly small.

Those eager foreigners were obviously planning to get out and explore this magical country they had flown thousands of miles to see. Yet many who live here seem to take its beauty for granted, rarely venturing outside the cities where most of us live, knowing little of the magnificent experiences which await anyone who goes looking for adventure.

Back in my office were more reminders what I had seen from the plane in the shape of a stack of books offering help, encouragement and in some cases inspiration to see more of New Zealand.

One that definitely falls into the inspirational category is New Zealand National Parks, photographs by David Muench, edited by Kennedy Warne (David Bateman, $49.99)which consists of essays in pictures and words about our 14 national parks which come close to capturing their magnificent wild loveliness.

For a coffee-table-type book the quality of some of the photos and/or the printing is a little patchy but several are simply glorious and the essays provide a clarion call to go and see for yourself.

A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls by Johnny T. Cheng (Story Nature Press, $39.99) is a mix of the inspirational and the practical. There are plenty of photos of lovely waterfalls accompanied by helpful maps and track notes advising how to get to them. The small format means the photos lose a bit of impact but on the positive side it means this is a great book to take with you on a trip to a new part of the country so you can spend any spare time checking out the local waterfalls.

When On Cook's Trail: a holiday history of Captain Cook in New Zealand, by John Darkin (Reed, $19.99) arrived I was enthusiastic about the concept of a guide putting together the places and stories associated with his exploration of our coastline.

Sadly I found the storyline too simplistic to inspire and the practical information too scanty - not to mention the absence of maps - to meet my hopes. But I'm sure it would make a useful introduction to the great navigator if you were taking the kids on a trip round the country.

101 things to do in Christchurch, by Claire Le Couteur and Bruce King (Hazard Press, $24.99) must be good because after flicking through the pages I almost found myself inspired to visit the Canterbury capital again.

Even if you think you know Christchurch you're sure to find new ideas in this book for things to do and for any Jafas thinking of making a foray south it would be an excellent companion. But be sure to take a book of maps with you as well because those provided in this book don't do the job.

If you've ever dreamed of cycling the length of the country then Bike New Zealand: cycling from Cape Reinga to Bluff, by Paul Salter (Epic Guides, $34.95) is the book for you.

This is one in a series of such guides - Salter has also written on cycling from Land's End to John O'Groat's in Britain and from Perth to Sydney in Australia - offering information on what to take, when to try it, where to stop along the way and pretty much anything else you might ever have wanted to know.

The journey is broken down into bite-sized chunks with reasonable maps, good route descriptions and detailed local information.

If you do decide to hit the road, a helpful companion is the latest edition of the New Zealand Road Atlas (Hema Maps, $27.95). It has most of the information you'd expect, including good touring maps, a list of tourist attractions, reasonable maps of the towns and cities - though I wasn't impressed to see the street where I live in Devonport has mysteriously vanished. It's also in a spiral binder so the pages lie flat. There's a table of Department of Conservation campsites, but if you're interested in camping there's a much more thorough compilation in Camping New Zealand, by Peter Mitchell (Hema Maps, $19.95).