Axis, the only really large city in New Zealand is Auckland. If you settle in another city, it would be moderately sized. Perhaps the capital Wellington would suit you. If you want to be warm, you would probably prefer the North Island to the South Island. Be prepared for both costs and incomes to be lower than you are used to in Massachusetts. I have been thinking about New Zealand a lot the past few weeks. Our trip was last January but I find the images of the landscape persist in my mind. I'm considering another trip in a couple of years. Perhaps we'll hike the Routeburn Track, since we hiked the Milford Track before. We are planning our next hiking in Slovenia but somehow I'm not committed to that idea. It seems silly to go back to NZ when there are so many places I have yet to see, but somehow I'm tempted. Paula

Ah to be in New Zealand again! Was there last October/November and really didn't want to come home. Such a beautiful country.

Hi Becca My wife and I honeymooned on the south island 5 years ago, and the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch is the place to start! You will really enjoy NZ, because they grow things there year around that would be an anual here, thus the size of the plants is huge compared to what you would see here. We traveled to Queenstown from Christchurch, and back to Picton thru Greymouth on the west coast. My wife says that you will not be allowed to bring back live plant material, but you can buy seeds and bring them back. If your looking for a place to stay in Christchurch I highly recommend Buckingham Palace Hotel. Its a mom and pop operation as most hotels are in NZ. A tip on driving in NZ, as they drive on the other side of the road from us, is to follow behind someone........then you won't get into trouble, and watch yourself while crossing the street as you will naturaly look the wrong way when stepping off the curb and you can get run over that way, as I nearly did! I was told on my first trip that while God was making the world, he saved a small peice of everywhere and put those pieces together to make NZ. If you are luck enough to get to travel NZ you will see that its true. NZ is a beautiful place and so are the people. Bill

I think the most famous arboretum type place is the Pukeiti (hope I spelt that right) Garden Trust which is somewhere around New Plymouth. Big collection of Rhododendrons. The native nikau palm grows luxuriantly in that district too. Apart from that New Zealand doesn't have many arboreta - but its very easy to see good specimens of the native trees in the bush. The trouble is identifying them, if you aren't familiar with our flora. J.T. Salmon's guide to the trees is a standard work with good photographs. That's what I used to learn the trees. As others have indicated, northland (the peninsula north of Auckland) is the best place to see kauris, (and also a number of other subtropical trees like Beilschmiedia taraire). Head for Waipoua Forest. A newly-tarmac-ed state highway runs through it with tall kauris on either side plus a wide diversity of other trees, cabbage trees and tree-ferns. Very photogenic, but often can be rainy. The Department of Conservation has lodges right in the forest you can stay in, something I would like to do. Also just on the western fringes of Auckland there is the Scenic Drive through the Waitakere Ranges. Visitors from overseas are often reluctant to do this trip, because they are convinced that you have to travel to remote corners of the country to see good native flora, but this isn't the case at all. The Waitakeres hold a diverse flora, including kauris, though not as big as the giants in Waipoua. If you go, its worth dropping in to Landsendt in Parker Road, Oratia, a subtropical nursery with good display grounds - mature Parajubaeas, Howeas, Archonotophoenix, Caryota gigas, gigantic pair of Ceroxylon alpinum, all manner of bananas and bromeliads. There's also a bamboo nursery nearby (could be in the same road) that is by appointment only; Isaachson's. I think they have some of the tropical Gigantochloas, Dendrocalamus and Bambusa species as well as the larger Phyllostachys species, if you are interested in bamboo. Auckland has a botanic garden right off Highway 1 south of the city centre, but its recently established and not that amazing, (yet, anyway).