Great Barrier Island

You can take one of the many footpaths through the unspoilt scrub, from brief strolls to the multi-day Aotea Track. Experience the local fauna of the island, with superb birdwatching, snorkeling and diving sites.

Sheltered forests, pristine water and animal protection have made it possible to develop. Swimming, surfing or kayaking on the island's beautiful sandy shores and coves, which include the breathtaking Medlands Beach. Hire a fisher or take part in a helicopter fisher to find the best places to fish on the island. Great Barrier Island (Aotea) is the ideal place for stargazers to enjoy the breathtaking views.

It has recently been named the International Dark Sky Sanctuary - with only two other places in the rest of the globe. Due to the island's isolation, safe state and dependence on generators and sun energy, you should review this important information before you leave. Learn more about Great Barrier Island.

The island is not guarded. Keep yourself safer - never go swimming or surfing alone. Learn about sandy patrols and security. See the top 10 why you should go to Great Barrier Island.

The Great Barrier Island - a special kind of island

The footpaths and footpaths provide stunning scenery and stunning vistas. Situated on 85 Hector Sanderson Road, Claris directly opposite.... Hosted On Barrier provides sight -seeing angling and scuba charter for a..... The Great Barrier Island is one of four Dark Sky Sanctuaries in the globe.....

New Zealand's Great Barrier Island Travel Guide

While we were on our way to my friend's big meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, when we found out that Great Barrier Island, just off the shore, had recently received the Dark Sky Sanctuary designation - a typical isolated area with an "exceptional or excellent night sky " - we thought it would be the ideal place to relax before our full itinerary.

It is the first and only island in the whole wide globe to do so ("together with the Chilean Gabriela Mistral, the Cosmic Campground in New Mexico and the Rainbow Bridge National Monument in Utah). When we saw the small twin-engine 10-seater that was supposed to take us the 90 km across the Hauraki Gulf to Great Barrier, our heart fell after a 28-hour trip with two infants suffering from illness.

The 950 inhabitants live there (albeit only half permanently) and depend on sun and windpower as well as on cylinder gases for the food. The island was explored about 700 years ago by Eastern Polynesians and its name is Aotea (canoe). Capt. Cook gave the island its name because it serves as a barrier between the Pacific and Hauraki Gulf.

Auckland' s sub-tropical weather is more windy and rough; a lovely wildlife with luxuriant woods, pristine unspoiled sand shores and many coves and some mountain areas, where there are good hiking trails between the wetland and canyons, among them the three-day Aotea Track. Birdwatching, snorkeling, surfing and kayaking.

Some of the best is on the east side of the island, where the waves are also better. There are many visitors who come here to visit the amazing places around the island - snappers, octopus, lure. As many other places in New Zealand there are also here dolphins and whales and you can see shovelheads.

Rarely do you find an island that really feels undetected - but that's it. "The natives are a laid-back and kind crowd - many of them said it was like Waiheke Island (now actually a outskirts of Auckland) in the 70' when it was a hippie community and full of performers and folks who wanted to get out of town.

Joke's Jaz Coleman is living on Great Barrier and Veronica Lake's daugther, the painter Anae Swan, alsoives there. She was especially taken with Hilde's retelling of the Maori legend of the Fishhook from M?ui to tell the form of Scorpius. The North Island of New Zealand (Te Ika-a-M?ui, thus the Fisch of M?ui) has pulled M?ui with its hooks from the bottom of the sea in the fairy tale.

He was the head cook at Langham in Auckland and so the supper, which was served at a giant round cauri plate (one of the oldest tables in the world), was just as delicious as one would have expected; fried mussels with a washabi peas mash and stewed legs of leg of lamb reduced with maples and wasabis.

A further high point was a one hours stroll to the kaitoke swimming pool in the center of the island, through wetland areas and a wood of Fribourg, where we discovered fernbirds and fan tails and sat for a good hours in the swimming pool, which was shadowed by tender umbrellas. Further highlights were the gnarled, very old snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped snow-capped peaks and a breathtaking panorama view of the Okiwi basin and Whangapoua-lake. This was just a 10-minute stroll through a canyon on the east side of the island.

It seems that the Island Board rejected Paul McCartney's request to buy a Great Barrier home because of the unwished interest he would have had. They can see why he wanted to come here; the island also knows exactly what kind of stars he likes. He and his wife and daughter lived on mountstpaulestate.co. nz, Great Barrier Island.

From Auckland to Great Barrier with flymysky.co. nz, from £40 on. Departure to Auckland in the business sector are from £1,024, cathaypacific.co. uk (0800 917 8260). Stargazing with goodheavens.co. nz begins at $50 for kids and $90 for grownups.