Just like the movies
Many movies and television series have been filmed in New Zealand. Some of the more notable examples are listed below:
Goodbye Pork Pie 1981 - road trip between Kaitaia in the far north to Invercargill in the deep south
River Queen 2006 - Wanganui
The Lord of the Rings trilogy 2001–03 - numerous locations throughout the country
Whale Rider 2003 - the North Island's East Coast
Boy 2010 - the highest grossing New Zealand film of all time set in the North Island's East Cape
The Last Samurai 2003 - Taranaki
Once Were Warriors 1994 - Auckland
The Piano 1993 - west coast of the Auckland region
Power Rangers television series since 2003- in and around Auckland
The Quiet Earth 1987 - Waikato University - Hamilton, Warkworth Transmitter Station
Xena television series - west Auckland region
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 2005 - alpine grassland and glaciers around Flock Hill Station in the Southern Alps near Christchurch, and other places.
King Kong 2005 - Wellington
The World's Fastest Indian 2005 - Invercargill
New Zealand scenery has long been a major tourist attraction, so spectacular it leaves many lost for words. You need to see it to understand, just describing it is not enough. Mind you, if you have seen some recent movies that were made in New Zealand, you probably have seen it and not realized. Those spectacular scenery in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is of New Zealand landscapes.
Selected highlights are:
Fiordland and Milford Sound - they built the road here, including a tunnel under the mountains, just for the tourists.
Queenstown on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and with the other Southern Lakes in easy reach.
Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers - in the Westland region.
Mount Cook - New Zealand's highest mountain, in the heart of the Southern Alps.
The Canterbury plains.
Mount Ruapehu and Lake Taupo - volcanoes with lakes in them.
White Island, one of New Zealand's more active volcanoes.
Bay of Islands, where the Waitangi treaty house can be found and the place where New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed. The copies are now held by the Archives New Zealand in Wellington.
Ninety Mile Beach
New Zealand Webcam (http://www.webcam.co.nz/)
itineraries
Nine days in New Zealand's North Island
Two weeks in New Zealand's South Island
Eighteen Day Small Group Tour Covering Both Islands