A columnist at NZ Herald Travel has written a refreshingly honest take on the bucket list — and buried in the jokes is a genuinely useful mix of trip ideas, from a Manhattan rink to a Fiordland track most visitors never hear about.
His list starts with the classics. First up: ice skating at Rockefeller Centre at Christmas, despite not being able to skate. The seasonal rink beneath the famous tree is one of New York's most iconic winter rituals, and he's realistic about how it'll go — less cinematic glide, more clinging to the barrier while local kids breeze past backwards.
Next is the Northern Lights, which he wants to experience viscerally rather than scientifically — green curtains rippling overhead in some suitably frozen spot. It's a reminder that aurora chasing doesn't require expertise, just darkness, solar activity and warm layers.
Then the list turns homegrown with the Hollyford Track in Fiordland, arguably the most actionable item for anyone planning a New Zealand trip. It's a three-day walk from the Southern Alps down to the sea at Martins Bay on the West Coast, following the Hollyford River through old-growth forest, past lakes and waterfalls. Along the way: thousand-year-old trees, fur seals, dolphins that occasionally enter Lake McKerrow, and a real chance of spotting rare Fiordland crested penguins.
Antarctica also makes the cut, purely for the penguins, icebergs and silence — with a self-aware nod to the fact that travel there has improved markedly since the Scott era. He'd add a Formula 1 Grand Prix too, inspired by Bruce McLaren, the Auckland kid who built one of motorsport's most enduring teams.
The surprise entry, defended at length: Hamilton Gardens. Often overlooked by travellers rushing between Auckland and Rotorua, this free attraction in Hamilton arranges gardens as portals to other worlds — an Italian Renaissance courtyard, ancient Egypt, Tudor England, a Japanese garden — all walkable in a morning. The writer's soft spot is the New Zealand Garden, a wry nod to suburban backyards complete with washing line and cricket wickets.
His closing point is the one worth stealing: bucket lists skew towards expensive overseas icons while the genuinely world-class stuff — Great Walks, gardens, beaches, small towns — sits unvisited in our own backyards. For New Zealanders, that means booking that Fiordland walk. For international travellers, it means adding Hamilton and the Hollyford to a South Island itinerary instead of just Queenstown and Milford Sound. The penguins, presumably, can wait.