Roadside Stories is a series of 140 audio guides that follow major road trips in New Zealand. The stories cover the places you’ll pass along the way – their people, their history, their cultural and natural significance.
Roadside Stories was produced by Manatū Taonga in 2010 to provide place-based information about New Zealand for visitors to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The individual stories are available on YouTube and as downloadable mp3 files. They were uploaded to iTunes (now Apple Music). A Google Map gives the location of each of the Roadside Story sites and links to the related YouTube video.
On YouTube
You can view all the Roadside Stories, with added photos, on YouTube. Each tour of a New Zealand route is grouped as a playlist, so you can watch the whole tour, one story after another - or just the stories that most interest you.
On Google Maps
Tour New Zealand with Roadside Stories on a Google map. The stories are arranged by location and route, so you can follow the tours around the country.
Download kml file to take the tours on Google Earth.
On Apple Music
Download the Roadside Stories iBook or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Music, then sync the stories to your mp3 player and take them on the road.
Download the MP3s
Roadside Stories a la carte. Download every story, a whole tour, or select individual stories.
Download all 140 MP3’s (ZIPP, 680mb)
Archival audio sourced from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Ngā Taonga
Auckland to Taupō
Download all 26 stops (ZIPP, 134.8mb)
- 1. Tales of the Auckland waterfront
- 2. Auckland Harbour Bridge
- 3. Reclaiming Bastion Point
- 4. Maungakiekie - One Tree Hill
- 5. Eden Park - from swamp to sports ground
- 6. Bombay to Bombay
- 7. Mercer WW1 memorial
- 8. Rangiriri pā
- 9. Coal and clay from Huntly
- 10. Turangawaewae - a place to stand
- 11. Rocky Horror in Hamilton
- 12. Waikato stadium - Hamilton's rugby wars
- 13. Equine stars of Cambridge
- 14. Lake Karapiro
- 15. Maungatautari
- 16. Tirau - corrugated iron capital
- 17. Luxury spa at Rotorua
- 18. Whakarewarewa cultural and thermal attractions
- 19. Island romance in Lake Rotorua
- 20. Eruption of Mt Tarawera
- 21. The big cheese of Lichfield
- 22. Tokoroa timber town
- 23. Hatupatu's Rock
- 24. Geothermal power at Wairākei
- 25. The rushing waters of Huka Falls
- 26. Volcanic Lake Taupō
Hamilton to New Plymouth
New Plymouth to Wellington
Download all 17 stops (ZIPP, 85.8mb)
- 1. Iconic Mt Taranaki
- 2. Stratford war hero
- 3. Chew Chong, Taranaki entrepreneur
- 4. Surf highway 45
- 5. Kings of Hāwera
- 6. Pātea Māori Club
- 7. World record at Cook's Gardens, Whanganui
- 8. Whanganui River
- 9. Incorrig-a-bull Bulls
- 10. Foxton and flax
- 11. Lake Papaitonga
- 12. Rangiātea church, Ōtaki
- 13. Kapiti Island, warriors, whales and wildlife
- 14. Paekākāriki
- 15. Wellywood
- 16. Wellington's 'Cake Tin'
- 17. Wellington Harbour's taniwha
Taupo to Napier
Taupo to Bulls
Napier to Wellington
Wellington to Nelson
Picton to Christchurch
Download all 11 stops (ZIPP, 56.6mb)
- 1. Picton and its ships
- 2. Trouble at Tuamarina
- 3. Wine success for Blenheim
- 4. First World War flyers at Ōmaka
- 5. Seddon and Ward, premier towns
- 6. Salt from Lake Grassmere
- 7. Marine life at Kaikōura
- 8. Subdividing Cheviot Hills
- 9. Amberley hero
- 10. The changing fortunes of Kaiapohia
- 11. Christchurch under seige
Christchurch to Invercargill
Download all 14 stops (ZIPP, 69.5mb)
- 1. The towering Southern Alps
- 2. Rakaia, salmon river
- 3. Timaru's heroes
- 4. The wallabies of Waimate
- 5. Ōamaru. whitestone city
- 6. The Moeraki boulders
- 7. Seacliff and Karitane
- 8. Dunedin - Edinburgh of the south
- 9. Dunedin and its scarfies
- 10. Dunedin's bards
- 11. Otago peninsula wildlife
- 12. Bridging the mighty Clutha
- 13. Monumental Gore
- 14. Invercargill's inventors
Auckland to Kerikeri and back
Download all 18 stops (ZIPP, 81mb)
- 1. Rangitoto, Auckland’s youngest volcano
- 2. Creating a sanctuary – Tiritiri Matangi
- 3. Pūhoi, up the boohai
- 4. Peacocks and zebras on Kawau Island
- 5. Chowing down on the Matakana coast
- 6. Waipū, a Scottish settlement
- 7. Underwater wonders of the Poor Knights Islands
- 8. Kawakawa’s colourful loos
- 9. Ruapekapeka, site of Kawiti's pā
- 10. Russell, former 'hellhole of the Pacfic'
- 11. Big game fishing in the Bay of Islands
- 12. Waitangi, home of the Treaty
- 13. Missionaries and muskets at Kerikeri
- 14. Kupe in the Hokianga
- 15. Opononi, home of Opo
- 16. Waipoua Forest, home of giant trees
- 17. Dargaville, from kauri gum to kūmara
- 18. Matakohe kauri
Nelson to Wānaka via West Coast
Download all 12 stops (ZIPP, 56mb)
- 1. Brunner on the Buller
- 2. Murchison and Īnangahua quakes
- 3. Conflict at Addisons Flat
- 4. Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks
- 5. The dangers of coal
- 6. Precious pounamu
- 7. Gold fever in Hokitika
- 8. Swampy landing at Harihari
- 9. Ōkarito, home of the kōtuku
- 10. Franz Josef and Fox glaciers
- 11. A long road over Haast Pass
- 12. Warbirds, Wallis and Wānaka
Updated on 29th August 2023