Falling in love

MENTION SHEEP OR hobbits to a Kiwi and you are likely to get a frosty reception. The usually laidback natives of New Zealand have had enough of being associated with woolly mammals, hirsute midgets and hairy fruit.

"There is so much more to New Zealand," says Jason Kerrigan, gesturing around him as much as is possible when you're wielding a full glass of Champagne in a tight throng.

We're at the hippest party in New Zealand tonight, the New Zealand Music Awards, at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. The equivalent of The Brits, the music awards ceremony saw Kerrigan and his band Opshop win the People's Choice award. Other winners included punk band the Mint Chicks and jazz singer Hollie Smith, New Zealand's equivalent of Amy Winehouse. Granted, two of the winners are openly Christian and Ms Smith does not appear to have passed out – yet – but the party is just as rocking as any Brits bash. The young Kiwis are a mixed, well-dressed crowd getting down to tunes they wrote, sang and produced themselves.

It's all very different from the current stereotype of the country. Tourists tend to think of sprawling sheep farms or the sweeping landscape seen in the Lord of the Rings films when they come here. However, this is to miss the unique and thriving cultural scene based in the country's largest city.

Auckland may only have 1.3 million inhabitants but, with the largest population of Polynesian peoples in the world, mixed with Asian, British and continental incomers, it has many influences. This cosmopolitan nature is reflected in the architecture, from the Victorian arcades to Chinese pagodas and Maori meeting houses or whare runanga. Rising above them all is the best place to start any tour of the city, the tallest man-made structure in the southern hemisphere, the Sky Tower.

This elegant concrete aerial was built a decade ago to show a grown-up side to New Zealand. Except, being Kiwis, the people could not resist also making it the highest jump in the country and every day people hurl themselves 630 feet to the ground in a controlled free fall, with a drop lasting around 16 seconds – unlike bungee jumping, you're not upside down, and there's no bouncing. If, unlike this writer, you are able to keep your eyes open on the way down, it is a great way to see the view. Otherwise you can simply catch a lift up and gaze out over a massive urban sprawl towards a turquoise blue coast.

Admittedly, most people come to New Zealand for an adrenaline rush and there is plenty to do to satisfy adventure tourists, from sailing a multi-million pound America's Cup yacht to walking over the harbour bridge or feeding stingrays at the aquarium. However, compared to the opportunities for adventure in the glaciers and rapids of the South Island it is all pretty tame. Auckland is the place to see the modern side of New Zealand. Most young people live in the capital and it is where you'll find cutting-edge culture and arts.

Despite its modern edge, however, any tour of Auckland should start with the indigenous Maori culture. Not the freeze-dried version found in museums, nor the cringe-inducing dances performed in hotel lobbies for tourists. Real Maori culture is a part of everyday life in Aotearoa, or Land of the Long White Cloud.

Melissa Crockett, director of the award-winning Potiki Adventures, wants to introduce tourists to "living, breathing" Maori culture. So, instead of taking them to see an organised dance, she goes to school competitions where children vie to perform the best traditional war dance, the haka, spontaneously rolling their eyes, stamping their feet and sticking out their tongues.

"It is providing people with real opportunities to engage," says Crockett. "It is fine to go to a tourist show but it is much better to watch school kids competing in the Kapa haka (national competitions]. At something like this you can see children feel their ihi and their wehi (their fire or passion]. This is what Maori culture is today."

On the "urban Maori experience", Crockett shows tourists the indigenous culture that thrives in the city. Because Maori culture traditionally looks to the past before examining the present, the tour starts by looking at the historic pa sites – originally, fortified Maori villages – around the city and the artefacts left in the Auckland museum. Pakeha (non-Maori) clients can be taken to vibrant early morning Polynesian markets, to pick traditional herbs on the wild west coast and meet Maori practising traditional art forms at workshops around the city.

"It is all about promoting the mana (integrity] of the Maori population," Crockett explains.

Maori culture today is perhaps best expressed in the arts. Giving visitors the traditional nose-to-nose hongi greeting, Blaine Te Rito, 47, a wood carver with full moku (facial tattoos), says there has never been a better time for Maori arts.

"My parents' generation had their Maori language and culture beaten out of them at school," he says. "It was outlawed so the language started to die. But during the last 30 years or so things have started to change. We are rebuilding our culture. It is regarded as something unique and a blessing rather than a waste of time."

Potiki Adventures introduces you to a number of young, modern artists practising today but to find your own, just go for a walk in the trendy K Road area. Karangahape Road, the former red light district, still has a smattering of sex shops but there are also up-and-coming galleries, vintage clothing shops and new bars.

At the end of the road is Ponsonby which, some out-of-towners say, is for the "poncy" Aucklanders who enjoy their "flat white" coffees and lattes, and a little designer shopping. Here you can browse in the many boutiques selling dresses made by New Zealand's burgeoning fashion industry. Kate Sylvester is one local designer being feted in New York and Paris. New Zealand arts and fashion are enjoying a renaissance, she says, because after years of looking to the European colonisers, the country is now finding its inspiration in the indigenous Maori culture, as well as Asian, British and Australian immigrants.

"We are not just this funny bunch of sheep farmers at the end of the world," she insists.

"We can be original. We do not have to look to Europe for inspiration any more. We are embracing being part of the Pacific, and inspired by the mix of cultures here."

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of food and wine. The ancient and very European art of wine making has long been appropriated by Antipodeans, but it is New Zealanders who are giving the French a run for their money in terms of quality. There are many vineyards around Auckland, with some of the most picturesque on the island of Waiheke. Just a half-hour ferry ride away, the island has become a haven for good-lifers and ravers alike.

Stephen White runs Stony Ridge, a quaint vineyard that looks as though it could be in a valley in France but very much embraces a modern approach to wine. The restaurant and bar are known for throwing all-night parties.

"New Zealand wine is perceived as very good but expensive and we are really quite happy with that," White says. "The Aussies created the wave and we are surfing it. Aussie wines are good value for money and have proved the New World can do it. New Zealand wines are even better."

At the other end of the island, you can savour the wine-tasting experience at Te Whau vineyard. Instead of dance parties, this winery is all about using time-consuming traditional methods to make the best wine and food possible. Indeed, one famous diner, Sir Sean Connery, allegedly remarked on tasting the Scots-style smoked salmon: "That's the best f****ing smoked salmon of my life and we invented the f****ing stuff."

New Zealand certainly has an advantage over Europe in its ingredients. Back on the mainland, ambitious young chefs at restaurants such as Partingtons at The Langham Hotel and Clooney in town are mixing the best of New Zealand produce with ancient French and Italian recipes.

The country may have a few geographical challenges but this is exactly what motivates its creativity. An example is 42 Below vodka, named because it was created on the 42nd parallel below the equator, by a Kiwi entrepreneur in his garage. It was assumed the company had no chance against the multinationals but a decade later, thanks to a combination of clear ingredients and cheeky marketing, he sold the brand to Bacardi for £50 million.

Jeremy Baker, of 42 Below, says it is an example of the Kiwi can-do attitude. "We realised we have to stop exporting milk and butter and start exporting Kiwi ingenuity," he says.

This Braveheart mentality is something New Zealand has in common with Scotland. Both countries have a beautiful though tricky geography and a proud population – indeed, many Kiwis are descended from Scots. And as Scotland constantly jousts with England, New Zealand struggles to make itself heard above the voice of a dominant neighbour "across the ditch" – Australia. As a consequence, it has many of the Scottish characteristics of inventiveness, chippiness and guts.

However, unlike Scotland, New Zealand is very young. It is only 160 years since the treaty of Waitangi established the country as we know it. As a consequence, they are still searching for an identity. Rugby is seen as one of the few sporting areas where the country performs on the world stage and when the All Blacks were knocked out of last year's Rugby World Cup it led to a near national breakdown.

"We do not have a huge history of our own but the history we do have is unique and we are proud of that," says Jason Kerrigan. "We are also aware that there is still room for us to make our own history."

He turns and melts into an eclectic crowd of Maori artists, punks, hip hop bands, entrepreneurs, original rock 'n' rollers and models. Plenty of Kiwis but not a sheep farmer or hobbit in sight. sm

Factfile auckland

How to get there

Air New Zealand flies from London to Auckland from £625 plus taxes, visit www.airnewzealand.co.uk

Where to stay

The Langham Hotel offers single rooms from £100 per night, visit www.langhamhotels.com

And there's more

To organise a sky jump (around £70), visit www.skyjump.co.nz

Potiki offers urban Maori tours from £50 per day, visit www.potikiadventures.com

Scotsman Reader Holidays offers various long-haul destinations, visit www.holidays.scotsman.com