The Beauty Of New Zealand
The view of the Mitre Peak
During my stay in the Nordic countries, ignorant of the
rest of the world, I was proud and quietly satisfied when
told that the Nordic countries had, in its landscapes, a
little of the best of all other countries. Especially
when I was in the Lofoten, which is situated in the North
of Norway, I believed that no landscapes would be more
than a match for those of Lofoten (though I still believe
that the Lofoten is one of the most beautiful place in the
world...).
Later I was forced to acknowledge that there were mountain
ranges grander than Norway's, forests as verdant as the
Lapland's. I came to believe that the sounds in New
Zealand were a match for Norway's fiords, the mountains
in New Zealand for Switzerland's alps; that I visited
countryside as beautiful as any part of the rural Sweden;
that the plains were as open and dramatic as those of the
Austrian Salzkammergut region. What other country has both
thermal regions and glaciers ?
New Zealand has greater variety in its landscapes than
almost any other country and, perhaps more importantly,
quite differnt landscapes and environments are remarkably
close together and easily accessible from the country's
largest cities. I can leave the city in the morning and
by lunchtime be walking in the native forest as beautiful
and profoundly peaceful as the forest in Lapland....
New Zealand may not be quite the unique country; but it
is a special place, of great variety and beauty.Discover
these islands with me....
