Planning a family trip to New Zealand? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about New Zealand for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
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How the first people found Aotearoa
Long before maps or engines, Polynesian navigators crossed thousands of kilometres of open Pacific in double-hulled canoes called waka. They read stars, swells, clouds and birds the way you read a street sign. How do you steer for land you have never seen?
The Treaty of Waitangi and why 6 February matters
In 1840, Māori rangatira and representatives of the British Crown signed an agreement at Waitangi. It was written in two languages, and the wording did not match - something New Zealanders still talk about today. We unpack why one document can mean so much.
Meet the kiwi and its night-time neighbours
Imagine a bird the size of a chicken that snuffles about in the dark like a small badger. New Zealand's birds evolved with almost no land mammals around, so some stopped flying altogether. We meet the kiwi, the kākāpō and the cheeky kea.
Geysers, mud pools and sleeping volcanoes
In some towns, steam drifts out of gardens and the lakes smell like boiled eggs. New Zealand sits where two great plates of the Earth's crust grind together, which builds mountains and heats water underground. Find out why a geyser is really just a very impatient kettle.
Glaciers and the Southern Alps
Glaciers are enormous rivers of ice that flow downhill so slowly you cannot see them move - but move they do, carving whole valleys as they go. We follow the ice down from Aoraki towards the sea and listen for the creaks and cracks.
Fiordland, waterfalls and what swims below
In Fiordland, cliffs drop straight into black water and waterfalls appear out of nowhere after rain. Dolphins, fur seals and penguins all use these drowned valleys. Bring your raincoat - this is one of the wettest places in the country, and that is exactly the point.
The haka, and a country that loves rugby
A haka is a Māori performance of chant and movement, used to welcome, to honour and to show strength. You may know it from rugby matches, but it is far older than any sport. We listen to what the words are actually doing.
Why film crews keep coming to New Zealand
Green hills, jagged peaks, empty beaches and beech forest - all within a few hours' drive. That is why so many famous films have been shot here, including The Lord of the Rings. Hear how a sheep paddock became a village of round front doors.
What families really eat here
A hāngī cooks food slowly in a pit with hot stones, so everything tastes faintly of earth and smoke. Then there is the great pavlova argument with Australia over who invented it. We also explain why 'a scoop of chips' is the best value lunch in the country.
A beekeeper who reached the top of the world
Edmund Hillary grew up in New Zealand keeping bees and climbing the Southern Alps. In 1953, with Tenzing Norgay, he became one of the first two people to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. What he did afterwards may be the better story.
Aotearoa / Rarotonga / Tasmania
Auckland / Wellington / Christchurch / Dunedin
Seabirds / Snakes / Bats / Seals
The New Zealand podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: Sailing by Stars, Two Islands, One Story, The Bird That Gave Up Flying, Ground That Steams, Rivers Made of Ice, Deep Water, Steep Walls, Stamp, Chant, Stand Tall, Filmed Here, Hāngī, Pavlova and a Scoop of Chips and Sir Ed and the Big Climb.
111 (Emergency (all services)). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the New Zealand podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.