One of the Most Beautiful Places in the World

By Stuart J. Faber

Part One

Downtown Queenstown. (Stuart J. Faber)For the past 40-plus years, my life as a travel and culinary journalist has taken me to more than 100 countries and every state in the Union. One might assume that I have grown weary and jaded with travel – quite the contrary.  Each time I board a plane, be it my own or one operated by a commercial carrier, a wave of excitement overcomes me.  As I step off the plane for the first touch of the foreign soil, the excitement intensifies – just as if it were my first time away from home.

It has been more than 30 years since my last visit to New Zealand.  Although I have a love affair with many foreign and domestic destinations, I have always cradled a special yearning to return to these South Pacific islands.  As soon as I stepped on the tarmac of Queenstown (the airport has no jet ways), I knew why. It seemed as if nothing had changed.