NEW ZEALAND

Milford Sound receives an average of 7 meters of rainfall per year — making it one of the wettest inhabited places on Earth and producing the waterfalls that cascade down its cliff faces after every rain. The boat cruise through the fiord passes Mitre Peak (rising 1,692 meters directly from the water), fur seal colonies on the rocks, and, on clear days, the Tasman Sea at the fiord mouth. The drive from Queenstown through the Homer Tunnel is itself one of the great alpine road journeys.

Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range and has built its identity on adventure tourism without sacrificing the food, wine, and accommodation that make it worth staying longer than a weekend. The Skyline gondola produces the view of the lake and mountains that defines the town. The Central Otago wineries — Amisfield, Rippon, Peregrine — are producing Pinot Noir that rivals Burgundy. The combination of adrenaline and good wine is the correct approach.

The West Coast between Greymouth and Fox Glacier is the most dramatic coastal drive in the country. The road runs between the Tasman Sea and the Southern Alps, passing blowholes, seal colonies, and the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers — both of which have retreated significantly from their historic extents but remain extraordinary to walk beside. The drive from Fox Glacier to Queenstown via the Haast Pass through Mount Aspiring National Park takes six hours and contains more than six hours worth of scenery.

The geothermal region in the center of the North Island produces the most alien landscape in New Zealand: boiling mud pools, geysers, sulfur-stained earth, and the Lady Knox Geyser that erupts daily at 10:15am. Te Puia is the cultural center for Māori arts and the best single introduction to Māori culture available in New Zealand. The Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland has the Artist's Palette — a landscape of yellow, orange, and green mineral deposits that looks like painting.