6 Best Sights in North Island's West Coast, New Zealand

For a look at an authentic New Zealand farming town visit Feilding, 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Palmerston North. The Feilding Saleyards Guided Tour is a classic experience. One of the largest livestock sale yards in the southern hemisphere, nearly 30,000 sheep and cattle are sold here every week. Every Friday at 11, a retired farmer will guide you (NZ$10, bookings essential) through the sheep pens and computerized cattle auction pavilion, and explain the secrets of a long-time New Zealand farming tradition. After the tour, visit the rustic Saleyards Café, where farmers meet for pie and chips or a toasted steak sandwich. Other local attractions in the Edwardian-style town square include the Friday morning farmers' market and the Coach House Museum that displays restored vehicles from the pioneering era (NZ$12). You could also putter about the town’s bookshops, art galleries, and boutique movie theater, and café. From Feilding, Kimbolton Road passes through prime sheep-farming country to Kimbolton Village, 28 km (17 miles) away. Within a few minutes' drive of it are two outstanding gardens with rhododendrons and myriad other plants: Cross Hills ( crosshills.co.nz; NZ$10; daily Sept.–May) and Heritage Park Garden ( heritagepark.co.nz; NZ$7; daily year-round).

A 14-acre horticultural haven 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Stratford, Hollard Gardens encompasses native and exotic trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, and perennials. The 1920s vision of farmers Bernie and Rose Hollard, the gardens are now managed by the local council for all to enjoy. For families, there is a children's playground and a picnic area. Self-contained campervans can stay overnight.

Established by the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust, these 900 acres of lush, native rain forest are surrounded by farmland. The Pukeiti (poo-ke-ee-tee) collection of 2,500 varieties of rhododendrons is the largest in New Zealand. Many were first grown here, such as the giant winter-blooming R. protistum var. giganteum, collected from seed in 1953 and now standing 15 feet tall, and the delightful Lemon Lodge and Spring Honey hybrids, which bloom in spring. Kyawi, a large red "rhodo," is the last to bloom, in April (autumn). Rhododendrons aside, there are many other rare and special plants here. All winter long the Himalayan daphnes fragrance the pathways. Spring-to-summer-growing candelabra primroses reach up to 4 feet; and, for a month around Christmas, spectacular 8-foot Himalayan cardiocrinum lilies bear heavenly scented, 12-inch, white trumpet flowers. There’s a classy café on site and a self-guided Kids Treehouse Trail. Located 20 km (12½ miles) southwest of New Plymouth's center, Pukeiti is also a wonderful bird habitat.

The most "genteel" and perhaps famous of all the caves here was first officially explored in 1887 by local Chief Tane Tinorau and surveyor Fred Mace. They floated on a raft of flax stems, with candles for light, into the cave where the stream goes underground. Now visitors enter via a gentle pathway, explore the limestone cathedral (and, like opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa, are invited to test the amazing acoustics), then board a boat for a magical cruise beneath the "starry" glowworm-lit ceiling, floating out of the cave on the Waitomo River. Tours last 45 minutes and start at the Waitomo Glowworm Cave Visitor Centre.

This museum offers a superb overview of the region's history and one of the country's best collections of Māori artifacts. It contains taonga (Māori ancestral treasures) of the river people and re-creates 19th-century pioneer-town Whanganui. There's also Te Pataka Whakaahua (the Lindauer Gallery), featuring 19th-century paintings of Māori leaders by respected artist Gottfried Lindauer. Entry is free, but the museum offers guided tours for an extra charge if you want to gain more insight into the exhibits.