Learn New Zealand before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Te reo Māori, the Māori language. Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• After the formal welcome (pōwhiri) on a marae, visitors are invited to the dining hall (wharekai) to share a meal with their hosts. Sharing food completes the welcome.
• If a pōwhiri is held indoors, visitors take their shoes off before entering the meeting house (wharenui).
• A hāngī is usually made for a big gathering; the food is lifted from the ground after several hours and shared by everyone.
• Christmas falls in summer, so many families have a barbecue or a cold lunch of meats and seafood, often outdoors, with pavlova for dessert.
• A meat pie is a common quick lunch, bought at a bakery, dairy or petrol station and eaten from the hand.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Hāngī: A traditional Māori way of cooking food in a pit in the ground. Stones are heated in a large fire, baskets of meat and vegetables such as lamb, pork, chicken, potato, kūmara and pumpkin are placed on them, and everything is covered with cloths and earth for several hours. The food comes out tender, with a smoky, earthy taste.
• Boil-up: A hearty broth of pork bones or meat simmered with potatoes or kūmara and greens such as pūhā (sow thistle), watercress or cabbage, with flour dumplings called 'doughboys' cooked on top.
• Rēwena bread (Parāoa rēwena): A round sourdough loaf leavened with a fermented potato starter, often called the 'bug'. It has a slightly sweet and sour taste and is delicious with butter and golden syrup, or with a boil-up.
• Whitebait fritters: Tiny, almost see-through young fish bound with beaten egg and fried in butter into a thin golden pancake. They are often eaten between two slices of buttered white bread, with a squeeze of lemon.
• Green-lipped mussels (Kuku or kūtai): Large mussels with a bright green edge to the shell, found only in New Zealand. They are steamed with white wine or coconut milk, grilled on the half shell, or made into fritters and chowder.
• Bluff oysters: Plump, rich flat oysters dredged from the cold waters of Foveaux Strait at the bottom of the South Island. Most people eat them raw with lemon, or fried in batter. Raw shellfish is not advised for pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with weak immunity.
• Steak and cheese pie: A hand-sized pie of chunky beef steak in gravy, topped with melted cheese under a flaky pastry lid. Mince and cheese is just as popular.
• Pavlova: A large round of meringue, crisp outside and soft like marshmallow inside, topped with whipped cream and fruit such as kiwifruit, strawberries and passionfruit. It is the classic dessert of a summer Christmas.

Cities to see

• Wellington (capital): Parliament and the 'Beehive', its executive wing, Te Papa, the national museum, The red cable car up to the Botanic Garden.
• Auckland: The Sky Tower, Sailing, which gives it the nickname 'City of Sails', Volcanic cones such as Mount Eden.
• Christchurch: Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, The Avon River / Ōtākaro, The Cardboard Cathedral.
• Hamilton: Hamilton Gardens, The Waikato River, Day trips to Hobbiton and the Waitomo caves.
• Paihia: The Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Boat trips around the Bay of Islands, Dolphin watching.
• Rotorua: Pōhutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa, Māori cultural performances and hāngī dinners, Hot pools and mud pools.

Landmarks and the city map are on the New Zealand trip