1
Welcome to Melbourne!
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)
3
Fly to Cairns & Crocodile Adventure
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)
4
Great Barrier Reef Cruise & Snorkel
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
5
Cairns at Leisure
Today is one of decisions: explore the Cairns Esplanade, or head up into the hills on a Scenic Railway journey to Kuranda. You’re surrounded by some of the world’s oldest rainforest as you return to base via the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. If that’s not humbling enough, tonight’s dinner at Ochre Restaurant on the waterfront uses native ingredients that the world’s oldest civilisation has consumed for millennia.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with wine
6
Cairns to Sydney
This morning you'll fly to Sydney!
Following a leisurely start to the morning it’s time to switch the tropical vibes back to city highlights as you fly to Sydney. Check into your centrally located hotel and spend the rest of the day and evening exploring as you wish. Ask your Travel Director for sightseeing and dinner suggestions.
Included Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Sydney - 3 Nights
7
Sydney Opera House & Harbour Cruise
Discover on of the great highlights of Sydney, the beautiful Sydney Opera House with a guided tour inside this iconic building. 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 Sydney hip Inner West 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
8
Sydney Free Day
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
9
Fly to Auckland
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
10
Auckland Sightseeing 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
11
Auckland - Rotorua
Cute and cuddly, NZ’s national bird, the Kiwi, is also endangered. Go behind the scenes on a working kiwi nursery and hatchery to learn how breeding programs are helping the population thrive. This evening your dinner is prepared in an earthen hangi at the Mitai Māori Village. It’s an eye-opening (and tasty) introduction to Māori culture.
Meals: Breakfast and Highlights Dinner
Accommodation: Rotorua - 1 night
12
Fly to Queenstown
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
13
Milford Sound Scenic Cruise - Fiordland
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
14
Queenstown at Leisure
Sleep in, find a rooftop wine bar for lunch, take a stroll around the lake… wherever you wander, meet your fellow travellers for a Highlight Dinner at 1860s Postmasters Cottage.
Recommended Alternative Excursions are:
Routeburn Day Walk | Highest Bungy Jump | Explore Arrowtown |
Biking Skippers Canyon | Round at Millbrook Golf Resort | |
Earnslaw Steamboat Cruise | Dart River Jetboat Safari |
Meals: Breakfast and Highlights Dinner
15
Queenstown to Lake Tekapo
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
16
Lake Tekapo to Christchurch
The Canterbury region of the west coast is a rustic union of grassy plains, mirror-like lakes and snow-capped mountains, the kind of landscape that you might see on postcards. Arrive at the beautiful English city of Christchurch for a guided visit. The city is not only rebuilding itself after the devastating 2010/11 earthquakes, but is changing the way architects think about design. Case in point the mind-bending Transitional Cathedral,made largely of cardboard, and Turanga, the gold-clad central library.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Christchurch - 2 nights
17
Christchurch
Travel north through rolling countryside to Hurunui Hills, a hill country farm in North Canterbury. Enjoy warm Kiwi hospitality with the Bamford Family, who have been farming at Hurunui since 1884 with six generations focused on producing premium Merino sheep, wool, and Angus cattle. Soak up stunning scenery while enjoying morning tea, meet the farm animals & discover what it is like to live off the land on this unique Be My Guest experience. Continue to a local vineyard, Waipara Springs Winery, where it’s time to relax and enjoy a platter-style lunch among the vines. A big day leads to a big evening joining your Travel Director and travel mates for a celebratory Farewell Dinner featuring produce from the Canterbury region.
This evening join your Travel Director for a Farewell Dinner.
Meals: Morning Tea, Breakfast, Lunch, Farewell Dinner
18
Bon Voyage
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
Notes
Itinerary Variations – the provider strives to improve trip itineraries. If improvements can be made, or if circumstances beyond their control make changes necessary, the provider reserves the right to vary itineraries and to make substitutions.
Included Highlights
Local Connection
From city to country … go behind the scenes at the Sydney Opera House with a local expert, then learn about what life was like on the land in NZ over a barbecue lunch.
Cultural Immersion
Māori culture and traditions are celebrated across New Zealand, as you’ll discover at Te Pa Tu Maori Experience, your hangi dinner prepared in an underground oven.
Sustainable Footprints
Your visit to the tropics of Queensland helps protect World Heritage areas and the wildlife within then when you plant native trees as part of our Rainforest Restoration project.
Wildlife & Nature
It doesn’t matter how many times you splash about in the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef never fails to impress. There are too many world records being broken here to mention.
Inclusions
- Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide
- 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, Fiordland National Park
- Centrally located premium hotels
Dining
- 5 Dinners with Wine
- 17 Full Breakfasts
- 3 Lunches
- 2 Highlight Dinners
- 2 Be My Guest Morning Teas
- 1 Farewell Dinner
Flight Information
Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne Airport
Day 18 – flights to depart anytime from Christchurch Airport
*Internal-vacation flights: Please note that the price above includes land and internal-vacation airfares, which are required to be booked in order to fulfil the vacation itinerary:
- Day 3 – Melbourne to Cairns
- Day 6 – Cairns to Sydney
- Day 9 – Sydney to Auckland
- Day 12 – Auckland to Queenstown
- Return airfares from your home port are not included in the price above.
- Return airport to hotel transfers are included in the holiday price
What Natalie says about this tour: A bit city, a bit country; sometimes beachy, sometimes mountainous; in the company of locals and Indigenous guides – this epic Melbourne to Christchurch tour is diverse and dynamic.
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