Manawatu is a region renowned for its dyed-in-the-wool rugby fanaticism and farming prowess. It is home to craggy hills and flat plains and the sometimes wild west coast beaches.

Sparsely populated, Tararua is a farming community inhabited by a plethora of flora and fauna. Take a tour through the famous Tui beer brewery at Mangatainoka; delight in quaint Scandinavian-inspired towns of Norsewood and Dannevirke. Get back to nature at its most basic and stalk a deer in the Ruahine Ranges.

Rangitikei is slowly, but surely, becoming known for its hair-raising adventure tourism attractions such as its heart-pumping white-water rafting, bladder loosening bungy-jumping and nail-biting jet boating!

Horowhenua is known for its arts, crafts, wildlife and, thanks to its rich, alluvial soil, market gardens. Add to that its penchant for producing niche market goods, and you get the feel for a region that is set up to cater for those wanting that something special to take away with them. Horowhenua has it in spades. more