Worst Reasons to Visit New Zealand

* Castles - there is one (1). Built in 1871, my guidebook calls it "an overgrown folly."
* Churches - the oldest is a small wooden building built in 1836.
* Museums - try Europe instead. There are a few, especially Te Papa in Wellington, that are worth visiting, but only if you are already in NZ.
* Shopping - combine a small consumer base, an isolated land mass, and an unfavorable exchange rate, and you get really overpriced shopping. Wool is the exception.
* Dining - this was an English colony. 'Nough said.
* Partying - you can have fun, but it is not like Ibiza or the Gold Coast.