Books, films and podcasts to get you in the mood for New Zealand

The scenery here is easy to enjoy on sight. The stories behind it take a little more effort, and they make the trip far richer. A few hours of reading or watching before you fly will change how you see half the places you visit.

Fiction worth packing

New Zealand punches above its weight in literary fiction, and two of our novelists have won the Booker Prize. Look for goldfields historical novels set on the West Coast, contemporary crime and literary fiction set in Auckland and the South Island high country, and the coming-of-age story about a Whangara girl and a whale that later became a much-loved film. For lighter reading, our comic rural-yarn tradition is a genre of its own.

Non-fiction and history

• A single-volume general history of New Zealand is the best possible preparation for visiting Waitangi or any Maori cultural experience.
• Shipwreck and survival accounts from the subantarctic islands are extraordinary, and explain a lot about our maritime memorial sites.
• Books on native trees, birds and fungi turn a bush walk into something you can actually read.
• Backcountry hut guides are worth a browse even if you never sleep in one.

Films shot here

The fantasy trilogies are the obvious ones and they genuinely do drive itineraries — the film-set farm in Waikato, the beech forests near Queenstown and the volcanic plateau all appear on screen. Beyond those, look for the deadpan comedies set in rural Waikato and the Urewera, the piano-on-the-beach drama filmed on Auckland's west coast, the family drama set in South Auckland, the Bluff-to-Invercargill motorcycle story, and the classic road-trip caper that runs the length of the country.

Television

Small-town murder mysteries, a supernatural comedy set in Wellington, a long-running series about rural life, a coastal history documentary series and a food-and-farming travel show will all give you a decent feel for how the country actually looks and sounds away from the postcard spots.

Podcasts for the drive

Several excellent series cover the history of Aotearoa from Polynesian settlement onward, and others dig into forgotten historical figures and crimes. Download episodes before you leave a city — mobile coverage disappears on some of the best drives, including stretches of the West Coast, the Catlins and the road to Milford.