If you seek extraordinary experiences when you travel, seek New Zealand. Yes, it’s a destination filled with spectacular landscapes and life-enriching experiences, but you gain much more than holiday snapshots when you embrace the true magic of Aotearoa.
When you seek more meaningful experiences in New Zealand – with the people, the land, and the food – you reveal authentic, deeper connections that settle into the soul long after your trip has ended.
For the manuhiri (visitors) who seek more in Aotearoa, the rewards are abundant. This is particularly true if you’re a gourmand, seeking new flavours!
If you seek new flavours
New Zealand does culinary feasts as well as it does spectacular landscapes. Not simply because the land is fertile, the ingredients fresh, and the creativity remarkable for such a small nation. It’s because the outstanding landscape complements every bite, creating a gourmet experience that feels immersive, almost like you’re gorging on the land.
New Zealand is forward-thinking when it comes to sustainability across their food and beverage operations, too. Across the board, more local, ethical, and environmentally friendly practices come into play, amplifying the experience of every flavour-seeking visitor.
If you seek new flavours, come with us as we reveal the best culinary experiences across Aotearoa.
If you seek immersive, sustainable flavour
Journeying past Otago’s incredible landscapes is one thing; it’s another to taste the land as you travel. Visit Central Otago’s Cloudy Bay Shed, and you can do just that. Over two hours, sample the best locally sourced produce and perfectly paired Cloudy Bay wines on their divine Epicurian Experience.
Cloudy Bay Shed’s handcrafted seasonal menus feature produce so fresh you probably saw the farmer harvest it on your Otago travels the day prior. Each sumptuous bite is thoughtfully complemented by a Cloudy Bay wine, including their world-famous Sauvignon Blanc. If you’d like more information about the wines and land, request a Cloudy Bay Ambassador to dine with your table.
Did you know New Zealand leads the way with their organic wine production? Twenty three percent of the famed Central Otago wine region follows organic or biodynamic practices. The rapidly growing craft beer industry is refining its processes, too, including adding uniquely Kiwi touches like the native kawakawa plant to create infused brews.
As a founding member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, Cloudy Bay follows holistic vineyard practices with guardianship of the land and sustainability a key focus for the business.
If you seek new heights (and new flavours)
For gourmand thrill seekers, there’s no better option than a scenic chopper ride from Queenstown across the Southern Alps to a remote West Coast beach. Especially as it’s followed by a delectable long lunch at Fiordland Lodge!
Aboard the Helicopter Line’s Fiordland Lodge Heli and Long Lunch private charter, you’ll enjoy a thrilling flight through some of Aotearoa’s most awe-inspiring mountain scenery. Delight in a glass of champers after landing at Lake Erskine while your host gathers your seafood lunch. Then soar over Milford Road and land at Te Anau’s Fiordland Lodge.
A leisurely gourmet lunch follows, showcasing the finest, freshest Fiordland and Central Otago produce and wine. All while overlooking gorgeous Lake Te Anau and out across Fiordland National Park.
Get a taste of this bucket list experience with this 15 second teaser:
If you seek a cold glass of New Zealand
Can you sip the flavour of a nation? Why don’t you head to Wellington on a Craft Beer Tour and be the judge? Experience three award-winning breweries on a guided tour around the craft beer capital of New Zealand.
On one of two urban foodie journeys (the wittingly titled Crafternoon Delight and Ex-Beerience the Capital), founder and guide Mike introduces you to the best of Wellington’s ales. Meet the craft beer makers, take a behind-the-scenes look at each brewery, sample some brews, and enjoy a delicious lunch to boot.
Each brewery on the tour is sustainability-focused, as is Craft Beer Tours itself, a credited carbon-friendly business. Even Mike’s stationery is made from the wheat that produces the grain for the beers on tour!
If you seek authentic local cuisine
For one of the best paddock-to-plate experiences on the South Island, don’t miss Hapuku Kitchen in Kaikōura. It’s not only a culinary feast but a culinary adventure, which connects you to the food on your plate in more meaningful ways.
Whether from the land or the sea, Hapuku Kitchen is on a mission to share the spoils of the land it resides on, with the wild Kaikōura landscape serving as inspiration. A visit to Hapuka Kitchen immerses you in the values of manaakitanga (a deep expression of hospitality and reciprocal understanding) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship and care for the environment).
Experience Hapuku Kitchen in several ways. If you consider yourself a whizz (or wannabee whizz) in the kitchen, their farm-to-table hands-on cooking experience is top-notch. The Supper Club evening feast not only connects you to the ingredients included in your three-course meal but also to the others joining you at the 12-seater dining table. Private cooking classes are also available.
If you seek old-meets-new
Did you know you can dine on a tramcar in New Zealand? It’s all aboard in Ōtautahi Christchurch for the country’s only restaurant tramcar, offering a unique vantage point of the inner city while you dine.
The 36-seater heritage dining car of the Christchurch Tramcar Restaurant blends the old, with its 1927 ex-Melbourne tram, with the new thanks to the fresh New Zealand produce used across your fine dining four-course meal.
With departure from Christchurch’s historic Cathedral Junction, you’ll witness the city’s evening vibes, with the attentive staff on hand to answer any questions about the scenery while you dine.
If you seek underground wine tasting
Church Road is one of Hawke’s Bay’s most well-known wineries. While it’s fabulous to dine or check out their cellar door, if you want to take it up a notch, book the TOM Experience.
This intimate introduction to the signature Church Road TOM is delivered from the depths of their atmospheric underground museum. Here, you’ll learn about the back and current vintage TOM wines and the philosophy of Tom McDonald, founder and Hawke’s Bay vintner innovator. All while sampling carefully paired delectable savoury bites!
Agents, seek this
If you’re ready to seek beyond the every day for your clients and learn more about Tourism New Zealand’s If You Seek campaign, click here.
To seek more knowledge on all things Kiwi, sign up for the free 100% Pure New Zealand Specialist Programme. For more marketing support, head over to the Tourism New Zealand Marketing Hub for social media tiles, flyers, images, videos and more.
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