Food festivals and unspoilt beaches in Auckland

New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, is famous for being a major rugby centre as well as a major maritime location.

As well as taking in the numerous boats across the city's two harbours and the extensive Maritime Museum, visitors to Auckland in March and April will also get a chance to sample the foods and wines of the surrounding region.

From March 31st to April 1st 2007 the Auckland Wine and Food Festival will be combining two days of musical entertainment with a celebration of gourmet food and drink and cooking demonstrations across restaurants and delis in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour area.

There will be an emphasis on cheeses, thanks to festival being timed with New Zealand's cheese awards, as well as on European and local wines and foods.

Entry costs $NZ20 (around £7) and includes a tasting glass, as well as a chance to taste plenty of free samples from the exhibitors.

For more information about the festival see www.aucklandwineandfoodfestival.com

Whether you make it to the food festival or not, if you are planning to visit Auckland then the newly opened Whakanewha Regional Park is an ideal place to go to experience New Zealand's famously beautiful landscapes.

Unspoilt beaches, bays ideal for swimming in and scenic walks were opened to the public for the first time last month, and the park also contains Waiheke Island's only public campsite.

Around 60 minutes from downtown Auckland by ferry, the 270-hectare park is mostly covered in forest, and has a half-moon shaped beach.

At high tide the bay is great for families to go swimming as it has shallow and warm waters. There are also picnic areas close by.

There are also a number of walking tracks to explore, which offer panoramic views over the island, with some also passing by a series of cascading waterfalls.

Local wildlife can be seen in the park's wetlands, where bird varieties include bitterns, banded rails, spotless crakes and the New Zealand dotterel.

For hundreds of years the flat areas of the park were cultivated by Maori, and visitors can delve into the early history of the island by exploring the remains of a fortified village (a pa), above the beach. Also of historical importance are the remains of 19th century settler's cottage, which is located close to the Poukaraka wetland.

For more information about Whakanewha park see www.arc.govt.nz

For more information on visiting Auckland, including information on accommodation, see www.aucklandnz.com