Natural Wonders of New Zealand

Touch down in the city state of Singapore for our two night stopover and transfer to the four-star M Hotel City Centre. Occupying a great location in Singapore city centre, our hotel offers a warm welcome and a range of services alongside comfortable, contemporary accommodation.

Singapore is a lively, fascinating city where east meets west, where historic buildings from its colonial past sit alongside gleaming skyscrapers and bustling markets. Enjoy a morning tour of this wonderful city, with stops at the historic Civic District, Thian Hock Keng Temple, Merlion Park with its views across Marina Bay, and Singapore’s Botanical Gardens, showcasing spectacular tropical flora set in stunning verdant landscape. The remainder of our day is free to spend at leisure.

Enjoy free time in Singapore until we depart for the airport and our evening flight to Auckland. Perhaps explore the impressive Gardens by the Bay or enjoy high tea at Raffles.

If flying with Qantas & Emirates, your flight will involve a transit stop in Australia. Land in Auckland and transfer to the centrally-located Legacy Airedale Hotel, where we spend our first two nights in New Zealand. At the hotel, we meet our local Coach Captain, who will be our driver and guide during our time on New Zealand’s North Island.

This morning, we take an orientation tour of the city. Known as the ‘City of Sails’, Auckland is New Zealand’s most populous city, with a beautiful waterside setting and a landscape dotted with volcanic hills. We drive along the stunning coastline of the famous Waitemata Harbour. In the distance we see Rangitoto Island, a dormant volcano, dominating the horizon. Our afternoon is free to spend as we please. Perhaps take a scenic boat trip in Auckland’s harbour to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Leaving Auckland via the striking Waitemata Harbour Bridge we head north, and the cityscape gives way to rolling pastures as we enter the Waipoua Kauri Forest Reserve. Here we stop to view Tane Mahuta, otherwise known as ‘God of the Forest’, a giant example of a kauri tree. Our destination is the beautiful Bay of Islands and on arrival we head to our home for the next three nights, the Scenic Hotel Bay of Islands, located in the pretty seaside town of Paihia.

On today’s Freedom Day, there is the option to join a wonderful excursion to Cape Reinga, at the northernmost tip of New Zealand. Here, the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, and the area has a deep spiritual significance to the Maori people. They believe Cape Reinga is the place where Maori spirits return to their traditional homeland, Hawaiiki-A-Nui, via the roots of an ancient and still-standing pohutukawa tree. Today’s tour will include breathtaking coastal landscapes, the Te Paki sand dunes and a drive along Ninety Mile Beach. The beach is actually 55 miles long but was named thus by early European settlers because they knew their horses could travel up to 30 miles in a day, and the journey along the beach took them three days!

This morning we leave the Bay of Islands and travel via Auckland to the geothermal region of Rotorua, at the heart of New Zealand’s rich Maori culture. Our next two nights are spent at the four-star Distinction Hotel Rotorua and later this evening we attend a concert of traditional Maori song and dance, which will include the legendary, fearsome Haka.

Rotorua is well known for its spectacular geothermal activity and this morning, we join an excursion to Wai-O Tapu, considered to be New Zealand’s most colourful and diverse geothermal wonder. Sculptured by volcanic activity and thousands of years in the making, we view spouting geysers, steaming vents, boiling lakes, bubbling mud pools and colourful sinter terraces. Following a visit to spectacular Huka Falls and Lake Taupo, we travel to the Wairakei Terraces, where we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the mineral-rich, naturally-heated thermal pools. We complete our day with a visit to the National Kiwi Hatchery where we learn about the conservation project and the unique kiwi.

We leave North Island today and take a short flight to Christchurch. On arrival, we meet our new Coach Captain, who will be our driver and guide during our time on New Zealand’s South Island. We enjoy a brief sightseeing tour of the city before checking in to the Distinction Hotel, at the heart of Cathedral Square.

Today we embark on one of the most stunning drives in New Zealand as we head towards the imposing Southern Alps. We climb the mighty Southern Alps, where at every turn, spectacular views of the chiselled alpine landscape take our breath away. From Arthur’s Pass, we make the spectacular descent of the western side of the Southern Alps. Our travels continue southbound taking us alongside striking wild scree-scarred terrain, with the forests of Crimson Rata and Kahikatea. We continue past Lakes Lanthe and Mapourika before entering Westland National Park and reaching the Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier for our next two nights.

Following breakfast, we discover the immense beauty of New Zealand’s West Coast and one of the region’s true gems – Lake Mapourika. We explore the lake’s spectacular beauty with either a scenic cruise or a guided kayak tour. The Jurassic rainforest-fringed shoreline is a landscape photographer’s dream, with spectacular panoramic views of glaciers and the Southern Alps. As we navigate the lake, keep watch for curious native birdlife, and we may spot one of the region’s legendary locals – the White heron. In the afternoon, for those that so wish, we shall drive into the valley of Franz Josef Glacier, where we will have the opportunity to walk through the rainforest and enjoy views of the steep glacial valley. Weather permitting, we may also take an optional scenic helicopter flight (at an additional cost) over the glacier and the awe-inspiring alpine region.

Enjoy beautiful scenery as we travel across the single-lane Haast River Bridge and via Clarke Bluff along one of the most exciting scenic roads ever built, the Haast Pass. We pass the peaceful shores of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea as we enter South Island’s Central Otago region, and travel via Lake Dunstan, a man-made lake and reservoir formed on the Clutha River as a result of the construction of the Clyde Dam. Later today we reach the lively lakeside town of Queenstown, and our home for the next two nights, the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown Lakefront, or the Millennium Hotel.

Situated on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range, Queenstown sits in an enviable location and offers a wide variety of activities to suit every taste. Today has been left free for you to choose how you spend your day. For a relaxing experience, join the Queenstown’s wine trail for an enjoyable day of wine tasting and sightseeing. Or take a leisurely cruise across Lake Wakatipu aboard the vintage steamboat TSS Earnslaw. For something a little more adventurous, try a jet boat ride along the glacier-fed Dart River or a four-wheel drive adventure along the famous Skippers Road.

This morning, we visit the nearby historic mining town of Arrowtown, a charmingly quirky gold rush village nestled beside the sparkling Arrow River. At its heart is Buckingham Street, a row of heritage buildings and quaint tea rooms that stretch into a tree-lined avenue of well-preserved miners’ cottages. We travel onwards through high country landscapes to the lakeside town of Te Anau, gateway to the spectacular Fiordland National Park. We spend the next three nights at the Distinction Luxmore Hotel, Te Anau. Tonight, there is the opportunity (at an additional cost), to visit the magical Te Anau glow-worm caves.

Say goodbye to Fiordland as our morning journey travels through lush pastoral scenery and the rural towns of Mossburn, Lumsden and Gore. En route, we see Balclutha, and its distinctive arched concrete bridge. Our destination today is Dunedin, South Island’s second largest city. Our home for the next two nights is either the Southern Cross Hotel, or the Scenic Hotel Dunedin City.

Known as the ‘Edinburgh of the South’, this morning, we enjoy a sightseeing tour of Dunedin’s, lovingly-restored Victorian and Edwardian buildings, neo-Gothic churches, town hall, opulent theatres, and other 19th century buildings. Our morning sightseeing finishes with the beautifully-landscaped flora of Dunedin Botanical Gardens. This afternoon we travel across the quaint communities and rural farms of the beautiful Otago Peninsula to visit the Royal Albatross Colony. We visit The Observatory, where, from behind tinted glass, we look out over the nesting sites. Watch as the parent birds interact with their chicks and soar around the headland. Following a scenic cruise along the rugged coastline, we return to Dunedin.

This morning, we head north from Dunedin to Christchurch. En route, we stop at Hampden Beach to view the Moeraki Boulders, huge spherical boulders scattered along the beach. Geological curiosities, created about 65 million years ago, each boulder weighs several tonnes and is up to two metres in diameter. More poetically, Maori legend has it that the boulders are gourds washed ashore from the great voyaging canoe Araiteuru, when it was wrecked upon landfall in New Zealand hundreds of years ago. Our next stop is Oamaru, which boasts some of New Zealand’s best-preserved Victorian Streets before we arrive at the Distinction Hotel in Christchurch for our final night in New Zealand.

Our time exploring the Natural Wonders of New Zealand comes to an end this morning when we transfer to Christchurch Airport.

Breakfast is served shortly before we land, after a holiday of a lifetime in New Zealand.