Guide

Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide

Meals

Farming is a big deal in New Zealand, as you’ll fast discover at Walter Peak Station. Sit down to a barbecue dinner before being immersed in a farm show.

Hygieneprotocol

As of December 1st 2021, you must be fully vaccinated to travel with us. Your final vaccine dose must have been administered a minimum of 15 days prior to the start of the trip. This is your second dose of Pfizer, Moderna, or Astra Zeneca, or single dose of Johnson & Johnson.  You must be able to show documented proof of vaccination on trip. Your CDC card is sufficient (we recommend saving a picture on your smart phone as a backup option), but please be aware that certain destinations may require you to fill out additional forms online.

Accommodation

Includes a range of quality accommodation for your comfort: Distinction Christchurch Hotel MacKenzie Country Hotel Scenic Hotel Southern Cross Distinction Te Anau Hotel and Villas Millennium Hotel, Queenstown Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier (Douglas Wing) Punakaiki Resort

Transport

• Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide • 1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Fiordland National Park • Centrally located premium hotels • Arrival and departure private airport transfers

Others

Visit retired sheep farmers, Angie and Stan Taylor, who serve up a mean afternoon tea at their home on the edge of Lake Tekapo and tell you about life on the land. Delve into the history and culture of local West Coast Māori (Poutini Ngāi Tahu). Embark on a unique self-guided journey, through extraordinary storytelling, in collaboration with Wētā Workshop. Snow-capped mountains, a mirror-like lake, white-water rivers and vine-laced fields. Queenstown is blessed with natural assets.

Not included:

Optional

Monarch Larnach Castle Tour (Dunedin) NZ$76 Adult NZ$38 Child Monarch Wildlife Cruise (Dunedin) NZ$150 Adult NZ$56 Child Taieri Gorge Railway (Dunedin) NZ$105 Adult NZ$28 Child Haast River Safari (Franz Josef Glacier) NZ$109 Adult NZ$59 The Helicopter Line - Mountain Scenic Spectacular 40min Flight (Franz Josef Glacier) NZ$480 Adult NZ$336 Child The Helicopter Line - Twin Glacier Scenic 30min Flight (Franz Josef Glacier) NZ$350 Adult NZ$245 Milford Sound flight back to Queenstown (Milford Sound) NZ$420 adult NZ$260 Child Air Safaris - Grand Traverse Scenic Flight (Mt Cook) NZ$395 Adult NZ$295 Child Queenstown Boutique Wine Tour (Queenstown) NZ$199 Adult NZ$139 Child Kiwi Birdlife Park (Queenstown) NZ$49 Adult NZ$24 Child Lakeshore, Forest and Bird Guided Walk (Queenstown) NZ$115 Adult / NZ$75 Child Shotover Jet Boat Ride (Queenstown) NZ$149 Adult NZ$79 Child Skippers Canyon Scenic Tour & Jet Boat (Queenstown) NZ$195 Adult NZ$115 Child Te Anau Glow Worm Caves Tour (Te Anau) NZ$98 Adult NZ$30 Child

Others

Other activities and services are not included.

Insurance

Insurance is not included.

Flights

Flights are not included.

Start planning your experience

Day 1 Day 1: Welcome To Christchurch
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 1: Welcome To Christchurch

At once forward-thinking and fun, Christchurch is the kind of city you could lose yourself in for a week – or more. You have this afternoon, so make the most of it. Time to meet your fellow adventure-seekers over a couple of wines and local snacks at a Welcome Reception.
Day 2 Day 2: Christchurch - Twizel
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 2: Christchurch - Twizel

If you didn’t get your Christchurch bearings yesterday, you certainly will on today’s city tour, taking in the record-breaking Cardboard Cathedral – who knew you could build a church from cardboard? The buildings of the city fade into a patchwork of farms as you ease across the Canterbury Plains towards Lake Takapo. Here, retired farmers Angie and Stan Taylor welcome you to their home with a slap-up Be My Guest afternoon tea and tales about life on the land. And this land is truly dramatic, backdropped by powdery mountains and cut with turquoise lakes, none quite as pretty as Lake Tekapo, on its banks the stone-hewn Church of the Good Shepherd.
Day 3 Day 3: Twizel - Dunedin
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 3: Twizel - Dunedin

Oamaru has a rich history and proud heritage, enriched by passionate and perhaps quirky locals. Explore the shops, galleries and traditional crafts within some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most complete Victorian streetscapes. You’re en route to Dunedin, replete with rolling green meadows and a grand stone castle. It kind of feels like you’ve been transported to Scotland – small wonder it’s known as the ‘Edinburgh of the South’. Afternoon at your leisure, we recommend a visit to Speight’s Brewery – a New Zealand institution. And pretty much everything in between. There’s always that castle to explore… Larnach may not have the history of Scotland’s grand estates, but it’s just as pretty in our humble opinion. A NZ holiday must.
Day 4 Day 4: Dunedin - Te Anau
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 4: Dunedin - Te Anau

Leave Dunedin’s pastoral sheep-farming countryside behind as you venture into World Heritage listed Fiordland National Park, a place of yawning gorges and gem-like glaciers, and azure lakes so large they have their own islands. Case in point Pomona Island, where a charitable trust of passionate volunteers works to restore flora and fauna on this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. With your help. Take a thrilling jet boat ride down the Waiau River to Lake Manapouri and if that’s not enough water for one day, you may choose to cruise to the iconic Glowworm Caves (own expense). Can we tempt you?
Day 5 Day 5: Te Anau - Queenstown
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 5: Te Anau - Queenstown

Nature rules again today, from the moment you depart Te Anau and begin your journey deep into the heart of Fiordland National Park. Think native rainforests, beech forests, alluvial flats and meadows; Mirror Lakes perfectly reflecting mountain scenery; and precipitous lookouts holding guard over alpine rivers. And this is just the entrée. The main course is your Milford Sound/Piopiotahi tour, where you cruise in the company of fur seals that bask on the rocks, and gaze at misty escarpments so sheer they appear to cleave off the edge of the Earth. You’re in the company of a naturalist who knows every nook and cranny of this mighty cavern and will point out flora and fauna you would have never spotted on your own.
Day 6 Day 6: Queenstown Free Time
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 6: Queenstown Free Time

Take today at your own pace. Like things fast and furious? Feel the wind in your hair on a high-octane jet boat ride, perhaps. Prefer wine to get your heart started? See why Central Otago makes some of the world’s most raved about cool-climate pinots on a cellar door tour. Wherever your daily wanderings take you, reunite with your companions come dusk to glide across Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw, your barbecue Highlight Dinner served on the grounds of Walter Peak High Country Farm.
Day 7 Day 7: Queenstown - Franz Josef/Waiau
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 7: Queenstown - Franz Josef/Waiau

In the shadow of the Remarkables, Queenstown is pretty spectacular. But it has some stiff good-looks competition from neighbouring Arrowtown, with its movie-set tree-lined avenues and 19th-century buildings that once housed gold-rush fortune-seekers. Things grow well in this verdant countryside, from cherries to pinot grapes and all manner of stone fruit. Prepare for a flavour explosion at a roadside stall run by the interminable Mrs Jones, a local institution. The next explosion is a visual one as you arrive in the town of Franz Josef/Waiau, home to Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere. Get some perspective of this immense ice fall on an optional helicopter flight – you may even get to land on it.
Day 8 Day 8: Franz Josef/Waiau - Punakaiki
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 8: Franz Josef/Waiau - Punakaiki

Explore the small but lively Franz Josef/Waiau village before venturing to Hokitika, home of New Zealand’s native jade greenstone. Then soak in the natural surroundings as you head to Punakaiki to view the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, where waves thunder through cracks in the Earth. This is the soundtrack that lulls you to sleep at tonight’s eco-resort.
Day 9 Day 9: Punakaiki - Christchurch
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 9: Punakaiki - Christchurch

Wine may steal the scene across much of New Zealand, but at legendary Monteith’s Brewery, beer rules. Sip your way through a tasting paddle of XPA, IPA, lager and pale ale because, hey, you’re not driving to the station where your TranzAlpine train awaits. Just as well lunch is included. This is one of those experiences where the journey matters just as much as the destination, as you sweep through tunnels and over viaducts with panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, beech forests, gorges and river valleys. What a way to end a day.
Day 10 Day 10: Farewell From Christchurch
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 10: Farewell From Christchurch

Wait, the last 10 days flew by. Return home with new friends, a full SD card on your camera – and even more memories.

10 days tour

Southern Spectacular (10 Days)

This tour includes:

Not included:

Start planning your experience

Itinerary of your trip Southern Spectacular (10 Days)

Day 1: Welcome To Christchurch

Day 2: Christchurch - Twizel

Day 3: Twizel - Dunedin

Day 4: Dunedin - Te Anau

Day 5: Te Anau - Queenstown

Day 6: Queenstown Free Time

Day 7: Queenstown - Franz Josef/Waiau

Day 8: Franz Josef/Waiau - Punakaiki

Day 9: Punakaiki - Christchurch

Day 10: Farewell From Christchurch

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