Have a happy green holiday

A green holiday? That doesn’t sound very relaxing. It sounds too hard. Too expensive. Too… insert your difficulty here.

Yet, if you think about it, having a green holiday is simply an extension of the everyday good things that you do anyway: being energy efficient, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, and respecting and benefiting the local culture and economy – it just happens somewhere a bit more relaxing than home.

And thankfully the tourism industry – which let’s face it, doesn’t have a great record when it comes to spoiling beautiful places – is now catching on to the demands of eco-conscious travelers. So it’s now much easier to have a holiday that’s kind to the environment.

Read on and be inspired...

Voluntourism

If you want to have a glorious relaxing break, but do something more than just sit on the beach, you could try a voluntourism experience. Voluntourism is for people who want to broaden their horizons by contributing their skills to a project somewhere away from home.

In Rarotonga for example, the social enterprise Volunteer Raro (catch phrase “Earn karma in paradise. Volunteer today.”) can help you mix up your r’n’r with local community projects (like restoring an ancient site for culture and education purposes) or environmental work (fancy some coral reef gardening while diving in Aitutaki?), ensuring an island holiday break with a difference. Check out www.volunteerraro.com.

Closer to home you could start small with a simple 30-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland to Motuihe Island. Here, you can spend half a day planting, weeding and gardening with other conservation-minded people and the other half exploring and swimming. See www.motuihe.org.nz.

You can also get involved with bird counts, hut maintenance, and habitat restoration (among other things) by becoming a DOC volunteer. See www.doc.govt.nz.

Or you could take the concept to the next level by working in an orang-utan sanctuary in Indonesia or Malaysia, or by going on a trip with the Earthwatch Institute. The Institute is a worldwide scientific organisation that can match you with amazing conservation projects like tracking whales in the Arctic or conserving the pink river dolphins of the Amazon river.

Check out www.orangutan.org.au/volunteer and www.earthwatch.org/australia for some serious inspiration.

Offset before setting off

Taking a holiday often involves plane travel (exciting) and carbon emissions (not so much). For example, a return trip from Christchurch to Sydney will produce 983kg of CO₂ per passenger – the same amount as driving a medium-sized car between Auckland and Wellington six times!

The good news is we can do something about it via carbon offsetting where you pay cash to fund a project that balances out the global warming effect of the flight. Your payment, for example, might go towards CO₂-absorbing schemes like native forest regeneration in New Zealand, or funding solar panels in India so villagers can forgo their kerosene-fuel dependency.

These days it’s simple to offset your flight when booking online – and pretty cheap too. For instance, that return flight to Sydney mentioned above? If you were to fly Air New Zealand, offsetting your emissions would cost $13.30, and this money would buy Kyoto-compliant emission units from TrustPower’s Tararua III Windfarm Project. Qantas and Jetstar similarly fund various energy efficiency projects worldwide in conjunction with carbon offset provider Climate Friendly.

Carbon offsetting might all sound a bit like smoke and mirrors, but it has a real effect if it’s done through a legitimate scheme. To avoid cowboy outfits check that the scheme you use is independently verified and accredited to an international standard by a reputable group such as carboNZero Holdings, The Gold Standard or The Verified Carbon Standard. All you have to do is ask.

We heart NZ

Half the world dreams of a holiday in New Zealand – and we live here. Yay! So rather than flying somewhere else, why not step out the backdoor and see how spoiled we are for green holiday destinations right here.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) has 950 huts, more than 200 campsites and a network of tracks and walks covering 14,000km of New Zealand’s most scenic countryside. Choose your walking companions, decide your level of experience, then head to the excellent DOC website, www.doc.govt.nz, for all the information you need to plan your holiday in paradise.

To do any of the nine Great Walks, you’ll want to book online now at www.greatwalks.co.nz. Peak season is October to April, and kids sleep free while adults (18+) pay from $10 to $54 a night (season and walk dependent). Or if you’re staunch, head back-country to a basic remote hut. A 12-month backcountry hut pass for $122 makes it a cracker deal.

Of course, beyond bushwalks there are heaps of places in New Zealand to explore. The online guide I love you New Zealand: 101 Must-Do’s for Kiwis may sound like some kind of bucket list, but it’s full of activities and natural wonders to inspire exploration.

You can survey New Zealand’s ‘fruit bowl’ from the heights of Te Mata Peak, swim at New Chums beach in the Coromandel, cycle the Otago Rail Trail, or frog-leap across the otherworldly Moeraki Boulders… head online to www.aatravel.co.nz/101 and you’ll find activities categorised under Get Active, Explore, Eat and Drink, and Relax – so that’s everybody covered.

Resort to this

For an r’n’r holiday, you can sleep even more soundly by choosing a genuinely green establishment. Locally, The Resurgence in Nelson is a luxury lodge a stone’s throw from Kahurangi National Park and holds the Qualmark Enviro-Gold certification. While it was included in National Geographic Traveler’s World’s 25 best eco lodges list, the owners still have their feet firmly planted. They grow native trees to encourage birds and restore habitats to offset all carbon. They use solar plus on-demand gas for energy-efficient water heating and they donate used items to local schools or the Nelson Recycling Centre. See www.resurgence.co.nz.

For overseas resort options, how about China? You heard right: eco resorts and eco-conscious tourism are making noticeable inroads there. The Naked Stables Private Reserve is a 60-acre retreat two-and-a-half hours out of Shanghai. It features certified energy efficient tree-top villas and smaller single-bedroom mud earth huts set among bamboo forests, tea plantations and lush green mountains. No cars are permitted on the reserve and there are onsite activities for adults and children. See www.nakedretreats.cn.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is The Yangshuo Mountain Retreat – bigger on heart than on size. One hour from bustling urban tourist destination Guilin, you’re in picturesque, agricultural Chinese countryside. Explore traditional villages, go mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming or try a cooking class. Managed by locals who share in profits, and staffed by local villagers, this eco resort is big on community support as well as green initiatives including using agri-waste for fuel instead of coal. See www.yangshuomountainretreat.com for more.

Labels to look for

Qualmark Enviro Award

Qualmark is the government-backed quality assurance system for the New Zealand tourism industry. Any business displaying the standard Qualmark logo has been found to meet minimum requirements around protecting the environment and waste reduction. However, those displaying the Qualmark Enviro Award Bronze, Silver or Gold logos are considered stand-out performers.

To achieve a gold-level certification a business must make significant efforts on environmental harm reduction, make a significant contribution to at least one community and one conservation activity, and take a proactive role in responsible tourism.

Hotels with Qualmark Enviro-Gold status include the ground-breaking Great Ponsonby Art Hotel (www.greatpons.co.nz), and the five-star 409-room Langham in Auckland (www.auckland.langhamhotels.co.nz).

Extra for experts

If you want to know how much CO₂ your entire holiday will generate, the carboNZero Travel & Tourism calculator is a great online tool. It measures everything from your accommodation to how you want to travel, to what holiday activities you choose, then calculates your carbon offset in dollars. www.tinyurl.com/27tghkn

What are your tips for travelling greener? Share them below.