23 MONTHS TO WORK AND PLAY

Working Holiday Visa applications on the up

Tourism New Zealand unveils its top new Gap Year Experiences

With a 12.8% rise in Working Holiday Visa applications year on year*, New Zealand remains a dream Gap Year destination boasting the coolest festivals, most adrenalin-tastic experiences and world-class ‘silver screen’ locations, as well as stunning natural beauty and wildlife.

Accommodation is great value and plentiful with high-quality, friendly and good valued hostels, farm stays and camping throughout the country. For independent travellers, an array of campervan hire is available to create a personalised road trip with companies such as Wicked Campers or Jucy Car & Campervans. Or, for the chance to meet fellow backpackers, hop-on-hop-off tour buses such as The Kiwi Experience, Stray or Flying Kiwi takes travellers to both the ‘must do’ and off the beaten track locations.

To help backpackers tailor-make the perfect itinerary, Tourism New Zealand’s Epic Trip-O-Meter app allows users to create and share their ultimate trip based on their preferences.

New Gap Year Experiences…

Zip lining adventures

Those unsure (or who have ticked off the bungee) can practice their superman techniques through the trees with ziplines popping up over New Zealand. The Rotorua canopy tours opened last year, combines flying through the trees dangling from a zip line with a serious eco message, with a percentage of profits going towards ensuring the preservation of native bird life in the stunning forests.

Packrafting

New Zealand’s first commercial packrafting tour launched in Queenstown - Expedition X has launched New Zealand’s first commercial packrafting tour in Queenstown. The packcraft – a light inflatable boat that is carried into remote areas in a backpack – opens up previously hard to reach or inaccessible places with participants able to walk into some of New Zealand's most stunning outdoor areas with a guide, inflate their boat and paddle across a lake, stream, or sound, or travel back downriver to civilisation.

The Christchurch rebuild bike tour

Off limits for more than two years, the centre of Christchurch is back on track with the CBD opening up to tourism once again. To showcase the ever-changing city, the Christchurch Rebuild Bike Tour offers a personal guided bike tour of the CBD with a passionate local.

From September 2013, Rabbit Ridge Bike resort in Gibbston Valley, Queenstown will be open to the general public with day passes, weekend passes, week and season passes available to experience 30km of new mountain bike trails catering for beginner and intermediate riders, as well as a bike trail linking the resort with Gibbston Valley winery.

Festivals

For those looking to extend their European summer festival season in the southern hemisphere, New Zealand has a vibrant festival scene – from music festivals like Gisbourne’s New Year extravaganza Rhythm and Vines with headliners Rudimental and Shapeshifter, to Auckland's Laneway Festival held in January and attracting a big name line up (this year's highlights included Alt-J and Jessie Ware)

Notes to Editors
*Immigration New Zealand figures from January-May 2013 show a 12.8 per cent rise in applications for Working Holiday Visas from the UK, compared to the same period in 2012 with more than 4,400 applicants granted a working holiday visa in the first five months of 2013. The visa allows unlimited numbers of UK residents between the ages of 18-30 the chance to work and travel for up to twenty-three months. www.newzealandnow.govt.nz

From hospitality and office jobs to agriculture and conservation, New Zealand offers a variety of job opportunities. Popular options range from ski and summer tourism work; gaining hands-on farm experience with Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and conservation jobs as varied as being a hut warden in one of New Zealand's National Parks to helping protect the country's beaches. The forthcoming Cricket World Cup in 2015 will also see a boost in hospitality jobs as the country prepares.