Originally Posted by
Kanga
The climate here is generally nicer imo but there is a real absence of places to just wander. You can do a 3 day wilderness tramp or do a 20min boardwalk loopwalk but footpaths and access to countryside is very limited. Also, outside of the national parks the countryside is not very inspiring to walk in as it's a lot of unchanging sheep paddocks (though perhaps this is different outside of the Waikato and Hawkes Bay, which are both quite rural) and there is not the biodiversity you find in a wander along a green lane and through the beech woods in England.