New Zealand

New Zealand sits at the far edge of the map – far enough, it turns out, to pass for Middle-earth – but has the unselfconscious confidence of a place that has nothing to prove. Wellington even bills itself the coolest little capital in the world.

Aotearoa – Land of the Long White Cloud – carries 800 years of Māori history in its landscape: Auckland's volcanic cones were fortified pā before they were viewpoints, and the tramping tracks through Central Otago's schist gorges were Māori routes before gold fever arrived. That gold rush shaped the South Island profoundly: Queenstown was a fortune-seeker's camp before it became a thrill capital, Dunedin built its Victorian grandeur on Otago riches, and in the Waikaia Valley there's a town that literally moved itself for a better seam.

VoiceMap's 20 self-guided audio tours trace these threads from Auckland's volcanic ridgelines to the goldfields of Central Otago, with a local voice in your ear and no schedule but yours.

Put in your earbuds, if you're keen. We think you'll be good as gold.