AAT Kings - Contrasts of Australia & New Zealand - Itinerary

On arrival you will be transferred to your hotel. This evening join your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner - it's a great opportunity to get to know everyone in a unique setting.

Included Meals: Welcome Reception - Dinner with Wine

Accommodation: Melbourne - 2 Nights (or similar)

Join your Travel Director for a city sights tour that includes a private walk through Melbourne's famous hidden laneways. You'll discover the city's eclectic little lanes, arcades, café society, and fascinating street art. There's time afterward to explore the city on your own, enjoy an optional experience or simply relax and watch the world go by.

Included Meals: Breakfast

This morning you will be transferred to Melbourne Airport for your flight to Cairns, Queensland. On arrival join a private wildlife journey at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Enjoy a boat cruise and encounter koalas, wallabies, birds, crocodiles and more! This evening is free for your to choose from the numerous restaurants that Cairns has to offer.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Cairns - 3 Nights (or similar)

Get ready for an experience of a lifetime - aboard a high-speed catamaran and cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. You can snorkel and view this natural living wonder up close (equipment provided) or stay dry and explore the stunning reef from the comfort of a semi-submersible craft, just one metre underwater. Enjoy a tropical buffet lunch before you return to Cairns.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today is a free day to do as you choose.

A great option is the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway to Kuranda, be amazed as you travel over and through the World Heritage rainforest, explore quaint Kuranda village, and later board the Kuranda Scenic Rail for this historic rail journey.

If you’d prefer to spend the day relaxing by your hotel pool or sitting back at a local café you can do that too!

In the evening rejoin your travelling companions for a Be My Guest dining experience at Tjapukai Cultural Park. Hear Dreamtime stories, witness a high impact dance performance and enjoy dinner with your localhost to the sounds of the didgeridoo.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Be My Guest Dinner

This morning you'll fly to Sydney!

On arrival, there's time to relax at your hotel or explore this exciting city before boarding a Magistic Dinner Cruise. Enjoy a contemporary two course a la carte meal and the mesmerizing views of Sydney at night. You'll pass magnificent waterfront homes, beaches and parklands, and all the main harbour attractions including the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Included Meals: Breakfast - Dinner with Wine

Accommodation: Sydney - 3 Nights

Discover the highlights of beautiful Sydney with a driving city tour.

If there was ever a place that slipped from the pages of a fairy-tale, Wendy’s Secret Garden at Lavender Bay is it. Overlooking Sydney Harbour, this pocket of floral paradise is explained by a local volunteer – did you know this was once unused wasteland? Your visit provides a contribution to the ongoing maintenance of the enchanting garden.

Explore Sydney’s inner west and enjoy a lunch with the locals at the pub. Then drive through Newtown to Batch Brewery where you will take part in a masterclass and learn how they combine creatively inspired limited release batches with sustainable practices.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today is free for you to do as you choose. Why not take a day trip to the spectacular Blue Mountains for fresh mountain air and stunning scenery. You’ll visit the charming village of Leura, see the famous Three Sisters rock formation and visit a Wildlife Park to get up close and personal to some of Australia’s cuddly native animals.

If you’ve always wanted to climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, today could be your chance on a thrilling ‘Bridge Climb’. Dinner tonight is beside Sydney Harbour. Because can you ever get enough?

Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner 

Haere Mai and Welcome to the 'City of Sails'

Fly across the Tasman Sea to Auckland, the City of Sails. The remainder of the day is yours to do as you please. There is plenty to see and do in Auckland. New Zealand’s largest city is located between two large harbours and 48 extinct volcanic cones scattered over the city are evidence of its volcanic past. They also provide a perfect location for viewing the city! A diversely cultural place, Auckland is a great location for marine adventures, wine tasting, forest walks, and urban sophistication. Meet your New Zealand Travel Director over dinner at your hotel this evening.
 

Some Activities and sightseeing options if you have time:

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with wine

Accommodation: Auckland - 2 nights

City Tour 

Embark on a city sightseeing tour this morning to Mission Bay. Keep your camera at the ready to capture spectacular panoramic views of the skyline, sprawling North Shore and Waitemata Harbour from Bastion Point and Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. Spend the afternoon as you wish.

Meals: Breakfast

Today, you’ll venture through the King Country region, which was at the centre of the New Zealand Wars in the 1860s.

On arrival in Rotorua, embark on an orientation of the area before visiting Rainbow Springs Nature Park. Discover native flora that grows around the crystal-clear mineral water springs and you might even spot a kiwi or two!

This evening, enjoy a traditional Hangi Highlight Dinner and cultural performance at the Tamaki Māori Village.

Meals: Breakfast and Highlights Dinner

Accommodation: Rotorua - 1 night

Spend time at leisure this morning or consider an optional experience. You could visit Te Puia to meet the local Māori community for an introduction to their gift from the gods – the bubbling geysers, mud pools and thermal springs of Rotorua. Later, you’ll fly to Queenstown

**(airfare is not included and must be booked in addition to this itinerary - please contact us to confirm the most up to date details).

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Queenstown - 3 nights

Journey over the Devil’s Staircase and along the shores of Lake Wakatipu to Te Anau and its lake, the largest in the South Island. Travel through the rainforest of World Heritage Fiordland National Park, sighting glaciers and mountain ranges. Drive through the hand-hewn Homer Tunnel to the numerous photo opportunities afforded by the Mirror Lake, Pop’s Lookout, Cleddau Valley and the Chasm, Mitre Peak and Bowen Falls before reaching Milford Sound. Enjoy lunch while you cruise on this wonder of nature. Return to Queenstown this evening.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Explore Queenstown your way! Go wild with a jet boat ride or white water rafting. For the less adventurous there is a wine and garden tour, play a round of golf, or just enjoy wandering through the town and botanic gardens. 

This evening join your Travel Director for dinner at The Boatshed, set in the historic Railway Shipping Office built-in 1936. Restored and relocated to its lakefront setting, The Boatshed with its spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, is the perfect venue for your Highlights dinner this evening.

Recommended Alternative Excursions are:

Meals: Breakfast and Highlights Dinner

Today you will leave the alpine wonderland of Queenstown behind, traveling through Central Otago to the Mackenzie region with time along the way to stop in Arrowtown then Cromwell, situated next to the pristine Lake Dunstan and taste delicious stone fruit at a local orchard. Continue over the dramatic Lindis Pass before reaching the Starlight Highway and Tekapo's world renowned UNESCO Aoraki McKenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. This afternoon enjoys the views of Mt Cook before heading to the iconic Church of the Good Shephard. This evening, see amazing constellations that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere, including the Southern Cross, to the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. Your local specialist expert astronomy guide will enhance your knowledge and understanding of our Southern Skies as you admire and ponder the possibilities through our powerful optical telescopes.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner 

Accommodation: Tekapo - 1 night

Enjoy a relaxed start before heading north through South Canterbury, visit the charming boutique village of Geraldine as you travel through to Christchurch.

New Zealand’s second-largest city and the gateway to the South Island, Christchurch sits on the very edge of the Canterbury Plains and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. 

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Christchurch - 2 nights

This morning see how Christchurch is rebuilding after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, and pop into the Transitional Cathedral in Latimer Square, the temporary home of the Christchurch Cathedral. It is the world’s only cathedral made substantially of cardboard!

After a Christchurch city sights tour, you’re invited to a Be My Guest morning tea at the home of Tim and Isabelle Weston, owners of Britten Stables. Formerly horse stables for nearby Mona Vale Gardens and following that, the birth place of the worldrecord- setting Britten V1000 motorcycle designed and built in the garage by Isabelle's late father, John Britten. The couple restored the original charm of The Britten Stables and transformed it into the exquisite home that it is today.

This evening join your Travel Director for a Farewell Dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Be My Guest Morning Tea, Farewell Dinner

Haere rā and Bon Voyage!

We are sure you will enjoy this tour and our promise is to make your travels through New Zealand as hassle-free and hospitable as possible - ensuring that today you leave with a memory card full of photos, and huge smiles on your faces when recalling your time in New Zealand! Have a great homeward journey, farewell and hope to see you again soon in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Meals: Breakfast

Included Highlights 

• Snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef
• Colonial Tramcar Restaurant in Melbourne
• Be introduced to some native Australian animals at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures
• Tjapukai ‘Be My Guest’ Dinner with local host, welcome to country ceremony/creation story, indigenous dance and sounds of the didgeridoo
• Take a walk beneath the famous sails of Sydney Opera House
• Meet a Bondi Life Saver for an insight into Australian beach culture join them for a traditional Aussie lunch.
• Explore Auckland’s city sights
• Experience Maori culture at Tamaki Family Marae
• Spot a kiwi bird in Rotorua
• Discover spectacular Milford Sound on a scenic lunch cruise
• Explore the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown
• View the waters of Lake Tekapo
• Stargazing at UNESCO Aoraki McKenzie International Dark Sky Reserve
• Visit a working sheep farm

Premium Inclusions

• Private car airport transfers on arrival and departure 
• Airport meet & greet on arrival
• Enjoy selected New Zealand and Australian wines with all hotel dinners

Inclusions

• Experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide
• Quality accommodation
• Travel by luxury coach

Dining 

•  17 Full Buffet Breakfasts
•  2 Lunches
•  1 Be My Guest Lunch
•  2 Dinners
•  4 Dinners with Wine
•  1 Highlight Dinner
•  1 Farewell Dinner

** Required Internal Flights: are to be purchased in order to fulfil the itinerary and are NOT included in the land content price - please contact us to confirm these details and any other itinerary updates

• Day 1 - Flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne Airport
• Day 3 – Melbourne to Cairns: VA1291
• Day 6 – Cairns to Sydney: VA1418
• Day 9 – Sydney to Auckland: VA141
• Day 12 – Auckland to Queenstown: NZ623
• Day 17 - Depart Christchurch any time