Lonely Planet places Raglan at number 5

The 15th update of the Lonely Planet’s New Zealand travel guide is now out.  The number five recommeded travel spot for New Zealand goes to Raglan. This puts Raglan ahead of the Tongariro National Park and Rotorua.

In the new edition famous Kiwis have chipped in to help paint a picture of their country for prospective tourists, by exposing their favourite haunts in the latest edition of Lonely Planet.

It’s the first time the guide book has included comments from prominent locals, and an eight page section of the 15th edition of Lonely Planet New Zealand has been devoted to personal highlights from 14 well-known New Zealanders.

Singer Hayley Westenra, comedian Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords), film director Jane Campion (The Piano), cartoonist Murray Ball, chef Peter Gordon, cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee, Peter Hillary (son of Sir Edmund), and All Black Tana Umaga are among the group of well-known New Zealanders who’ve revealed an intimate insight into their home country.

Personal favourites
Some list isolated hideaways such as writer Keri Hulme’s windswept Colac Bay at the bottom of the South Island, and others pick famous spots like Waiheke Island – favourite of Hollywood stuntwoman Zoe Bell.

Bell says the beautiful weather remains the same as do the “phenomenal vistas, lush bush and native birds … Waiheke was and remains like nowhere else on the planet”.

Rhys Darby chooses Golden Bay in Tasman, at the northern tip of the South Island. He warns of being chased by wild seals at the area’s dramatic Wharariki Beach, and recommends a hearty meal of wild boar pie at the Naked Possum Cafe.

Mountaineer Peter Hillary picks the Hillary Trail in the Waitakere Ranges, west of Auckland, named after his father, Sir Edmund Hillary – and a favourite family haunt. He says his family has walked, explored and lived out there for nearly a century.

Jane Campion chooses Rees Valley, near Queenstown, and says “everyone who has visited me there is infected by the ready magic of the landscape and the sensation of worldly troubles dissolving”.

Warmth of New Zealanders
The new NZ Guide released today (16.09.2010) salutes the welcoming warmth of New Zealanders – even in the face of economic and sporting challenges.

“Despite the country’s growing profile on the international stage, there’s one dimension of a trip to NZ that you probably haven’t counted on: the extent to which the average Kiwi will genuinely want you to have a really, really good time,” says the guide book.

In typical frankness, the news is not all positive and the book concedes that not everyone “wanders around with Prozac grins, hugging trees. A short drive on Auckland’s motorways will quickly dispel that notion.”

The new edition also recognises the country’s less-than-festive economic situation: “New Zealanders, like the rest of the world, are still struggling to shrug off the gloom of the global economic crisis, which pushed the economy into recession and sent unemployment soaring.”

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