Tourism 2004

Single $1.50 'Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown' gummed stamp.

For the purest, bluest waters in the world, you can't go past Lake Wakatipu - mountain water at its superb best. On its shores is Queenstown, New Zealand's premier alpine and lake resort offering superb visitor experiences all year round. Named because "it was fit for Queen Victoria", Queenstown continues to live up to its regal status, with world-class adventure and leisure activities.

Single $1.50 'Mitre Peak, Milford Sound' gummed stamp.

Milford Sound is the most famous and road-accessible of Fiordland's magnificent glacier-carved fiords - and Mitre Peak soars an almost vertical 1,500 metres from its waters. Māori attribute the fiords' creation to Tū Te Rakiwhānoa, who legend says hewed their steep-sided valleys with keen-edged adzes. Milford Sound is a spectacular natural environment of deep waters, cascading waterfalls, sheer cliffs, dense rainforest, towering mountains and fascinating wildlife.

Single $1.50 'Kaikoura' gummed stamp.

Located halfway between Christchurch and Picton on the South Island's east coast, the settlement of Kaikoura nestles between snow-capped majestic mountains and the awesome forces of the Pacific Ocean. This unique environmental combination has led to a host of eco-tourism activities such as whale watching and dolphin and seal swimming at sea, and bird watching, four-wheel motor biking, horse trekking and hunting on land.

Single $1.50 'The Bath House, Rotorua' gummed stamp.

Travel to Rotorua and you'll hit thermal springs country - and The Bath House, opened in 1908 as a spa offering therapeutic bathing, mud and massage treatments to people 'taking the cure'. International visitors of the era included Crown Princess Louise of Sweden, George Bernard Shaw, Prime Minister Stephen Ward, Clive Hulme VC and the Duke of Bedford. Today, the Bath House is home to the Rotorua Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa.

Single $1.50 'Pōhutu Geyser, Rotorua' gummed stamp.

Rotorua is renowned for its distinctively sulphuric geothermal hotspots, with their spouting geysers, bubbling and boiling mud pools and multi-coloured ponds. None, though, matches Pōhotu Geyser - the most spectacular at Whakarewarewa Thermal Village. Pōhutu (the Māori word for 'big splash' or 'explosion') erupts every hour, shooting hot water about 20 metres into the air.

Single $1.50 'Hawke's Bay' gummed stamp.

If you're looking for a Mediterranean climate, a landscape that spans dramatic sea cliffs and golden sand beaches, fertile plains and crystal-clear rivers, and a food, wine and lifestyle experience second to none, you'll find it in Hawke's Bay. This holiday destination, where the sun seems to forever shine, also hosts a number of icon events through the year, including Napier's Art Deco Weekend and the annual wine festival, Harvest Hawke's Bay.