Mark Tallentire discovers why New Zealand is everyone’s favourite foreign country.

NEW Zealand: nature’s playground at the end of the universe. So goes one marketing slogan and, having spent three weeks there in March, I can tell you, the spin has substance.

There are sights, sounds and – in the case of the geothermal valley around Rotorua – smells on these faroff islands, each of which could easily justify a two-week break in their own right.

But it is as much the contrasts between the courses as the feast itself which left me awestruck. In 90 minutes’ driving, my girlfriend, Sarah, and I went from rainforest-like fjordland to arid plains. The next day, we were traversing a glacier.

When I told anyone who would listen in advance of our trip that we were going to New Zealand, no one who had trodden the path before me had anything but praise for the sparsely-populated nation. It seemed to be everyone’s favourite foreign country. Well, now it’s mine, too.

Having spent many years languishing in the shadow of Australia, New Zealand has seen a growth in tourism in recent times, no doubt partially attributable to the phenomenally successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was filmed there. For the younger generation, it is also the home of Flight of the Conchords – whose music-based comedy show was a cult hit for the BBC.

But although New Zealand is a dream destination for gap year students, it offers something for all ages and tastes. I was surprised by the number of British pensioners who had made the 27-hour flight.

Those looking for a beach holiday will want to linger in Northland and on the shores of Lake Taupo – the destinations most regularly frequented by holidaying Kiwis. The jutting northern tip of the North Island basks in sub-tropical summer sun, with temperatures in Auckland, by far New Zealand’s largest city, regularly reaching the high 20s.

For the cultural connoisseur, Rotorua, 150 miles south-east of Auckland, offers Maori villages, craft outlets and performances. Sarah and I enjoyed being part of Te Po, an evening show at Te Puia (Our Heritage) which features traditional ceremonies, songs and dances, Hangi – a feast cooked in an earth oven – and a tour of the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley, complete with boiling mud pools and powerful geysers. Women can learn a Poi dance – which involves weaving and throwing a pom pomlike ball around the body, while men are challenged to join the Haka war dance – a familiar sight to followers of Rugby Union, through its adoption by the New Zealand All Blacks.

The Waitomo Caves, with their hauntingly beautiful glow-worms, are a must-see. A Maori guide takes visitors on a boat trip along an underground river before the glow worms appear, as a night sky only feet above you.

New Zealand also has a claim to be the adventure capital of the world.

The home of AJ Hackett, inventor of the bungy jump, it offers many interesting and varied heights from which visitors can hurl themselves.

Sarah and I opted, perhaps recklessly, for the jump which claimed to be the country’s cheapest in Taupo.

“What have they saved on?” I wondered.

After a step on the scales and all-too-brief safety talk, I was tumbling, particularly ungracefully, towards the Waikato River.

Sarah’s choice to follow was something of a surprise. But perhaps she was still running on adrenalin from the previous day, when we had both embraced New Zealand’s other great plunge – sky diving.

Dressed in overalls and strapped to instructors who seemed to have fallen out of a plane one time too many, we fell from 12,000ft, enjoying jawdroppingly beautiful views over Lake Taupo and its surrounding volcanoes.

ANOTHER adventure native to New Zealand is jetboating, where about a dozen people cram into a flat-bottomed boat and race down river rapids. Where we felt the need for speed – at Shotover Jet – the captains seem to get their kicks from getting close to the sheer rock faces which line the Shotover River.

Keep your legs and arms inside the jetboat is advice not to be sniffed at.

For those seeking a gentler experience, an increasingly popular option is to tour New Zealand’s growing wine regions. Sarah and I visited the Marlborough region, on the northern fringes of the South Island, and famed for its Sauvignon Blanc.

Nature lovers will find much to keep them occupied. Until Polynesian settlers arrived on the islands around the 13th Century, New Zealand had only four types of mammal – all bats.

The remoteness allowed for the development of an intriguing range of bird life, perhaps most stunningly demonstrated in the huge Moa, a flightless bird which grew to 3.7m and weighed about 230kg. Following Polynesian colonisation, they quickly became extinct. But many birds weird and wonderful to the eyes of Westerners remain.

The Kiwi bird, as well as being a national icon, is fascinating to watch as it pecks around in the undergrowth with its long, curved beak.

But perhaps New Zealand has most to offer to landscape lovers. You don’t have to be a fully-blown outdoors type to appreciate the peaceful Canterbury Plains, the idyllic Otago Peninsula with its stunning albatrosses – apparently the only mainland colony to be found anywhere in the world – or the chillingly powerful sounds of fjordland.

A cruise of one of the fjords – wrongly named sounds – is also a must. Sarah and I took a trip on Doubtful Sound, which included a cruise across the beautiful Lake Manapouri and an equally impressive coach trip through the rainforest, and followed it up with a half-day cruise on Milford Sound.

Milford is the more accessible and arguably the more impressive of the two, though the near-vertical hillsides rising out of the deep waters of both are overpowering, and the extra challenge of even reaching Doubtful Sound – so named by Captain Cook who doubted whether it was navigable – adds to its other-worldliness.

New Zealand is whatever holiday you want it to be. The only problem is choosing what not to see.

■ Mark and Sarah travelled on the Explore New Zealand international trade and media discount scheme.