Shandelle Battersby: In search of the sun

The beach is foremost in Kiwis' travel plans. Photo / Supplied

Our annual survey shows how much Kiwis love getting away — especially to the beach, writes Shandelle Battersby.

We Kiwis are an adventurous bunch and our hunger for travel seems to increase year on year. Over the past couple of weeks we've been asking you about your travel plans and bucket-list destinations, what kind of trips you prefer, where you've been lately, and places you'd recommend to others. Thanks to everyone for your responses, they make for great reading.

With today (finally) marking the start of summer, our focus has naturally swung towards making the most of the golden weather, and the good old Kiwi beach holiday came in at number one as the ideal family holiday experience. For something completely different, second place was a tropical beach holiday. Yep, we sure love our sun and sand in this part of the world, even if we have to travel somewhere else to enjoy it.

That somewhere is likely to be the Cook Islands which came out tops as the Pacific destination most on our radar - Jetstar's new service starting in March should boost Rarotonga's appeal - with Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia all hovering around the early teens and even the Solomon Islands piquing a few people's interest.

Exploring a big city is still the favourite type of holiday for 68 per cent of Kiwi travellers, but hitting the highway is not far behind at 63 per cent. In fact, a roadtrip with your partner came in at a resounding 41 per cent as the type of holiday you're most likely to take in the next year, maybe to the Bay of Islands, Wellington or the Coromandel which ranked as the top three destinations in the North Island you'd most like to visit.

No surprises that Queenstown came in as the No 1 favoured destination in the South Island, though I'd also recommend the rugged expanse of the Catlins in Southland if you want to do an off-the-beaten-track kind of roadie.

I was excited to read that Tasmania is the second-most popular place in Australia you want to visit after perennial favourite Queensland - I drove around the beautiful "Apple Isle" with a friend a few years ago and can highly recommend it for its glorious scenery and nature, its friendly people, its fascinating past and its great food.

Your travel tales underlined that intrepid streak, with more than one reader citing Africa as their favourite place to visit: "We camped in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique. Stunning scenery, animals, beaches, and lovely people." Another nominated Iran as theirs: "Wonderfully hospitable people, culturally fascinating, and historically amazing."

It was no surprise that New York was the overwhelming top choice for anyone interested in visiting the US, though one reader raved about Hawaii's Big Island: "The sheer variety of landscapes is breathtaking and because of its size it is easy to get away from people; that is on the few occasions you want to get away from the friendly and relaxed 'Big Islanders'." Another said the Grand Canyon was "a visual spectacle everyone needs to visit ... the roadtrip there from Las Vegas was fabulous".

Japan is our preferred Asian destination, but I predict as the buzz starts to grow around Air New Zealand's direct flights to Ho Chi Minh City from July that Vietnam will start making its way onto Kiwis' bucket-lists.

We might be at the bottom of the world but to our credit, we've never let it stop us.