Hard men and Feijoa Vodka

I went home on Tuesday night.  To New Zealand.

Though my trip wasn’t 24 hours nor did I pass through LA or Changi – airports I know so well – and neither did I get my passport stamped.

I went to a little bit of Kiwi at New Zealand House, bang smack in the middle of London, just off Trafalgar Square. I was invited along with other travel gurus and bloggers to go to NZ for the night and perhaps even win an Air New Zealand flight home.

I had to think about the invitation for a while.

About three seconds.

I arrived a little early at NZ House still damp from Britain’s ‘liquid sunshine’, the default setting for ‘summer’ over here, and loitered outside.  After all, it was my country on show, and despite having nothing to do with the organisation of the event I felt self-conscious about how it would come across.

Would Air New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand mention all the best bits? One part of me wished they would, the other wished they’d stay schtum and leave it for us Kiwis. Would my fellow bloggers think New Zealand was ‘a bit boring’ in comparison to exciting places like Israel, or Malta where bloggers have recently been sent by the respective Tourism boards?

Of course if you know anything at all about Kiwis, it’s that we’re crippled with an adolescent cringe. Everyone else’s country is better, more interesting, more exciting. We ship most of our young people overseas on their OE (overseas experience) when they finish school so that they will come back, buffed up by the finishing school of life in real places, like Europe, or America.

And though I’ve not come across many Kiwi expats who don’t want to eventually return home, we still believe that every other country in the world is better. So how can we effectively publicise New Zealand’s attractions?

With naked men. Hard men playing rugby. And lots of alcohol. That’s how.

Previous NZ tourism campaigns, like the stunning 100% Pure campaign (see below) have focussed on New Zealand as a scenic destination, which is frankly a little boring for anyone younger than 65. Next came the ‘Youngest Country on Earth’ campaign which was  pretty but didn’t say much.  The latest campaign goes a step further, personalising the Pure New Zealand campaign by adding ‘You’ in the headline. The idea is that it’s not so much what you see in NZ but what you can do.

Which is? I climbed the stairs to NZ House’s Penthouse with anticipation.

The Penthouse was set up with regional ‘stalls’ each one highlighting the region’s specialities, and caterers wandered around with NZ foodie delicacies – green-lipped mussel fritters and fejoia savouries and OMG Bluff oysters (albeit cooked!) I thought I’d died and gone to New Zealand heaven. The tone of the evening was set by the wine festival styled wine glass on a lanyard which we were encouraged to take to each stall.

Yeah, New Zealand has some great wine as Knackered Mutha will tell you, but have you heard about the Feijoa Vodka? Created in a Wellington garage by arch enthusiasts, 42 Below (a reference to the latitude NZ sits across which accounts for its roaring weather!) feijoa vodka is really special and somewhat potent. My Englishman thinks it tastes like medical salve but I prefer to think of it as a salve for the sorry soul.

We were offered the special 42 Below cocktail – The Falling Water which is now served in the premium cabins on Air New Zealand, whilst the representative from Wellington told us about the ‘coolest little capital in the world’. If you want the recipe for the very refreshing Falling Water cocktail head on over to Vegemitevix’s Facebook page! You can even ‘like’ us whilst you’re there.

Wellington features excellent cafes, restaurants, bars and it’s very own boutique wine region (Martinborough) within 90 minutes drive of the city. Lonely Planet named Wellington number four on it’s 2011 Best in Travel Top 10 cities to visit in 2011.

The next regional stall focussed on Nelson and Tasman, at the golden tip of the South Island which boasts the sunniest spot in New Zealand. It talked about the tramping (bush-walking, not street-walking!) and mountain biking and eating (beautiful Regal salmon and green lipped mussels) and wine. And of course Nelson’s position as the Brewery Capital of NZ.

The next few regions are areas I know well – Auckland, the Southern lakes (Queenstown, Wanaka etc) and Bay of Plenty and Coromandel. Funnily enough they had wine on their stalls too.  Rotorua and the Thermal Highway followed, along with Dunedin (my old University town). They didn’t have wine on their stalls, but they did have the fantatic Jaffa Race which sees 50,000 Cadbury Giant Jaffas raced down Dunedin’s Baldwin St (the world’s steepest street) as part of the Cadbury Chocolate Festival in July.

And of course, Nude Rugby. Nude Rugby has grown to become the unofficial curtain raiser to All Black rugby test matches in Dunedin. The Dunedin-based Nude Blacks (mainly Otago University students) take on keen backpackers, wearing only strips of body paint to distinguish the two sides. I’ve not seen Nude Rugby, but I can only imagine how bracing it must be to be in the middle of  a scrum in the snow. My mind boggles about the ‘hows’ and ‘wherefores’.

I loved my trip to NZ for the night and as I muttered about losing out on the trip home care of Air New Zealand – who even threw in a snuggle-couch package – I wondered what the other non-Kiwis thought about New Zealand as a destination after the show-n-tell.

@IamWitWitWoo said -

Thought it looked exciting and laid back all in one! Lots to do, great for kids and sports enthusiasts alike. #kiwisocial

whilst

@MediocreMum said

I’m biased having lived in NZ, but it reminds me of Canada, with all the geography but within a short distance… #kiwisocial

@annieqpr said

I thought it was lovely, a lot smaller than I thought it was, so could achieve a lot in the one holiday, #kiwisocial

But perhaps Isabelle from @IsabellesTravel summed it up best -

NZ=mini rtwtrip: mountains like Switzerland, rainforest/palmtrees like DR, green like Scotland & lots of exploring! #kiwisocial

It may be a hell of a long haul from Europe or the US but New Zealand is an amalgamation of all the best bits of those places. Where else can you get skiing and surfing within a four hours’ drive? Where else can you get hard men, nude rugby, and feijoa vodka? So pack your sunscreen, your wine tasting palette, your give-it-a-go attitude, bundle with a fantastic sense of humour and spoon on down to New Zealand with Air New Zealand’s new ‘cuddle class’.

More info about NZ:

http://www.42below.com/

http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk

Tagged as: funny, humour, New Zealand tourism