New Zealand is a food and wine lover’s paradise and is similar in many ways to Australian cuisine with influences from the Maori culture, South East Asian, East Asian and South Asian cuisines. Make sure that you taste traditional Maori dishes such as Kina (seaurchin), paua (abalone) and kumara (sweet potato). There’s a healthy contemporary food scene with influences from Pacific Rim fare modified with Mediterranean and Asian cooking techniques. One of the highlights of the New Zealand culinary scene though is New Zealand wine – head to Marlborough to sample its famed Sauvignon Blanc, Auckland’s Waiheke Island for the award winning Cabernet’s and to Martinborough for the pinot noir and pinot gris.