New Zealand Sport
A common perception of New Zealand is that it is a sport-mad country. To be fair, that's not far from the truth.
New Zealanders love sports and the outdoors. Well, most of us anyway. Here are some locations sports fans in New Zealand should visit.
Eden Park
Smack bang in the middle of Auckland, this 50,000 seater stadium is the largest in the country.
It has been host to many historical moments in Kiwi sports. It could be considered the All Blacks’ unofficial home stadium as it hosts many of their games. Two Rugby World Cup finals have been played at the stadium - the inaugural final in 1987 between the All Blacks and France and the 2011 final between the same two teams. Both finals were won by the host nation.
The final game of the controversial 1981 Springbok Tour was played at Eden Park, in which flour bombs were dropped from a low-flying cessna in protest against apartheid in South Africa.
Basin Reserve
Situated in the middle of a busy roundabout in Wellington, the Basin Reserve is New Zealand’s oldest cricket ground and thus has Historic Place status. While the stadium has been used for other sporting events, as well as concerts, it is now primarily used as a cricket ground.
The first event to take place was a cricket match between the Wellington Volunteers and the crew of the HMS Falcon.
In 2014 the stadium was host to one of the greatest innings by a batsman in Black Caps history as Brendon McCullum became the first New Zealander to score a triple century. The innings broke numerous records and solidified McCullum as one of the best Black Caps players of all time.
Lake Karapiro
New Zealand has historically been a leading nation in rowing, winning multiple world championship and olympic medals across the various disciplines within the sport. Located 30km southeast of Hamilton, Karapiro is considered one of the most picturesque rowing lakes in the world and has hosted two world championships, in 1978 and 2010. In the latter edition, the New Zealand team won the joint most amount of medals(9), tied with Great Britain. Many of the country’s top rowers train regularly here and tend to live in the nearby town of Cambridge.
Westpac Stadium
Affectionately nicknamed the “Cake Tin” due to its unique appearance, this stadium in Wellington is relatively young, first opening in 2000. It has hosted numerous events, both sporting and otherwise. The most historically significant is perhaps the 2010 Football World Cup qualifying match 2nd leg between the All Whites and Bahrain. The tense fixture was won by the All Whites in front of a record crowd of 35,000 raucous fans. The win meant New Zealand qualified for the FIFA World Cup for only the second time ever.
Queenstown
This one should really go without saying, but adrenaline junkies and fans of extreme sports have to visit Queenstown. It is a veritable mecca for action sport enthusiasts with potential activities including bungee jumping, jet boating, rafting, mountain biking, paragliding, canyon-swinging, skydiving, and much more. The town, and surrounding area, has become world famous and a must-visit place for anyone who loves travelling. It boasts some of the most spectacular views of mountains, lakes and canyons in the country, all of which can be viewed from any height and speed depending on which activities you choose to take part in.
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