Magnificent New Zealand Tour OLD

Depart from the UK airport most convenient for you with Qantas & Emirates. Choose from London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle or Glasgow. Alternatively, fly direct to Singapore with Singapore Airlines from London Heathrow or Manchester. No matter which airline or airport you choose, there will be no additional cost.

Arrive into the wonderful city of Singapore and transfer to the four-star M Hotel City Centre, situated in an enviable position close to the banks of the Singapore River.

Alternative stopover

We have based days 2-4 of this itinerary on a stopover in Singapore. If you are flying with Qantas  & Emirates, you may choose to stop in Bangkok or Dubai for the same price. Your stopover includes transfers, accommodation, daily breakfast and a city sightseeing tour. Flight timings will vary and will be advised at the time of booking.

Known as ‘the crossroads of Asia’, Singapore is a city where east meets west; a cosmopolitan melting pot with an inspirational identity. This morning, enjoy a tour of this wonderful city. Included is a stop at Merlion Park with impressive views of Marina Bay. See the historic Civic District, Thian Hock Keng Temple and the fabulous orchid gardens set within Singapore’s botanical gardens. Return to the hotel where the rest of our day is free to spend as we please.

A day at leisure in Singapore until it’s time to leave for 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 transfer via Australia before arriving into Auckland. On arrival, transfer to the centrally located Grand Millennium Auckland, 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 in New Zealand.

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 see Rangitoto Island, an extinct volcano, dominating the horizon. Your afternoon is free for you to enjoy as you please. Perhaps take a trip to the top of Sky Tower; the panoramic views from the tallest building in the southern hemisphere are truly breathtaking.

Our travels today commence with a drive over the impressive Waitemata Harbour Bridge. Journey past dairy farms and rolling hills as we make our way north. We continue to the Waipoua Kauri Forest Reserve, where we stop to view the gigantic kauri tree Tane Mahuta, ‘Lord of the Forest.’ We then travel across the country to the beautiful Bay of Islands and our home for the next three nights, the Scenic Hotel Bay of Islands, located in the picturesque seaside town of Paihia.

Tour Highlight

Visiting this stunning area wouldn’t be complete without a cruise around the Bay of Islands, no doubt one of your tour highlights. Cruise via Red Head Passage to Cape Brett and Piercy Island and on to the famous ‘Hole in the Rock’. In these world-famous deep-fishing grounds dolphins and schools of fish are frequently seen. Our return trip travels via historic Russell, once known as the ‘Hell Hole of the Pacific’, but now a peaceful and picturesque township. Our free afternoon provides an excellent opportunity (at an additional cost) to visit the grounds of the Waitangi National Reserve where, in 1840, the British and Maori chiefs signed the Waitangi Treaty.

Although our day has been left at leisure, we have the opportunity to join a fantastic optional trip to Cape Reinga. This full day excursion visits the northern tip of New Zealand, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. The area holds special spiritual significance in Maori tradition, as the place where Maori spirits return to their traditional homeland, Hawaiiki-A-Nui, via the roots of a lone (and still standing) 800-year-old pohutukawa tree. Highlights of today’s tour include magnificent coastal landscapes, the Te Paki sand dunes and a drive along Ninety Mile Beach.

We travel south this morning via Auckland as we make our way to the world-famous thermal region of Rotorua. The next two nights are spent at the four star Distinction Hotel. Rotorua is the heart of New Zealand’s rich Maori culture and this evening, at our hotel, we attend a concert featuring traditional song and dance, including the world famous war dance – The Haka. Also included is a buffet dinner.

Our sightseeing this morning takes us via Rotorua’s famous Bath House, a Tudor-style building within the Government Gardens. We continue to Te Puia, home to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, with its spurting geysers and boiling mud pools. Your afternoon is at leisure to relax. For those that so wish, optional activities include a floatplane flight over Mount Tarawera, or perhaps an afternoon visiting the world-renowned
Polynesian Thermal Pools for a soak in their therapeutic geothermal waters.

This morning we make our way to Auckland Airport for our Jetstar flight to Christchurch. Enjoy a brief sightseeing tour, prior to our arrival at the centrally located  Distinction Hotel, Christchurch.

Today we embark on one of the most stunning drives in New Zealand. Travel through the Canterbury Plains, heading 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. There is also an opportunity to take an optional journey on the TranzAlpine, arguably one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world. On board, you will enjoy thrilling vistas over deep gorges as we travel alongside the ice-fed Waimakariri River. From Arthur’s Pass, we make the spectacular descent down the western side of the Southern Alps by coach, through thick native beech forest. Our travels continue southbound taking us alongside striking wild scree scarred terrain with forests of Crimson Rata and Kahikatea. Just a few miles further south we pass Lakes Ianthe and Mapourika before entering the Westland National Park and reaching the Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier for our next two nights.

Included meals:

Breakfast

Today is left completely free to absorb the beauty of Franz Josef. For those that so wish, we shall drive to the Franz Josef Glacier terminal where we will have the opportunity to walk through the rainforest and enjoy views of the glacier valley. Weather permitting we may also take an optional scenic flight (at an additional cost) over the glacier and the awe-inspiring Alpine region.

Incredible scenery today as we travel across the Haast River Bridge and via Clark Bluff along one of the most exciting scenic roads ever built. Travel along the shores of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea as we enter New Zealand’s Central Otago region. We continue via Lake Dunstan, created by the mighty Clyde hydro dam in 1994. Later in the afternoon we reach beautiful, cosmopolitan Queenstown, and our home for the next three nights, the four star Millennium Hotel, situated only a short walk from the centre of town.

Queenstown smiles south across Lake Wakatipu into an incomparable alpine scene. Poplars and willows surround the lakefront and the lake seems to glisten every shade of blue. Today has been left free to take advantage of the incredible variety of activities available in and around New Zealand’s most glamorous alpine resort. For a relaxing experience, follow Queenstown’s wine trail, an enjoyable day excursion of wine tasting and sightseeing. There is also an opportunity to take an optional leisurely cruise across Lake Wakatipu aboard the vintage steamboat TSS Earnslaw. The cruise includes a visit to Walter Peak Homestead and a sheep shearing show, before returning to Queenstown aboard Earnslaw.

This morning we take a tour to visit the nearby historic mining town of Arrowtown. The heart of its history is Buckingham Street, a procession of small-town heritage buildings that stretch into a tree-lined avenue of tiny miners’ cottages. Be sure to try a cream tea in one of the quaint tea rooms. In the afternoon, you are free to enjoy this wonderful alpine setting. The thrill-seekers amongst us may wish to try the Shotover Jet – an exhilarating boat ride amongst the crags and boulders of the Shotover River canyon. For a more serene experience maybe stroll by the lakeside or take a gondola ride to the top of Bob’s Peak for a magnificent panoramic view of Queenstown.

Included meals:

Breakfast

Tour Highlight

Today we travel to the magnificent Fiordland National Park and to Milford Sound, which will undoubtedly prove to be one of our tour’s many highlights. The scenic drive takes us through a variety of landscapes – farmland, native tussock grasslands, lush beech forests and impressive glacial valleys – before arriving at Milford Sound to begin our cruise. Only when out cruising on Milford Sound can the sheer scale of the dramatic scenery be fully appreciated: towering peaks rise all around and spectacular waterfalls cascade into the calm waters below. Our cruise takes in the impressive Mitre Peak and Bowen Falls. Remember to keep a look out for  dolphins as well as seals and penguins. We spend tonight at the Distinction Hotel and Villas.

Included meals:

Breakfast

This morning after a hearty breakfast we say goodbye to Fiordland. A morning drive takes us via Mossburn and Lumsden to Gore. Fresh, green farm scenery will accompany us to Balclutha, which has a distinctive arched concrete bridge. Known as the ‘Edinburgh of the South’, Dunedin is South Island’s second largest city and is considered New Zealand’s architectural heritage capital, with its lovingly restored Victorian and Edwardian buildings. On arrival, we enjoy a sightseeing tour taking in the city’s neo-Gothic churches, town hall, opulent theatres, and other 19th century buildings. We have time to admire the beautifully landscaped trees and plants of Dunedin Botanical Gardens and the spectacular views of the Otago Peninsula and Harbour before we return to our hotel. Our next two nights are spent at the Distinction Hotel Dunedin.

A day at leisure to spend as we please. Perhaps join the Otago Peninsula Wildlife Tour – a perfect optional excursion for nature lovers. The tour includes an Otago Harbour cruise to Taiaroa Head, home of the world’s only mainland nesting place of albatross, and a visit to Penguin Place, a private conservation reserve for the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguin.

This morning, our travels take us north once more. We stop at Hampden Beach to witness the geological curiosities known as the Moeraki Boulders, huge spherical boulders which are scattered along the beach, whilst others can be seen emerging from the sandstone cliffs. Each boulder weighs several tonnes and is up to two metres in diameter. According to Maori legend, 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. Scientists explain the boulders as calcite concretions formed about 65 million years ago. The soft mudstone containing the boulders was raised from the seabed around 15 million years ago and waves, wind and rain are uncovering them one by one. Our next stop is Oamaru, where we stroll through New Zealand’s best preserved Victorian streets. Later in the day we arrive at the Distinction Mackenzie Country Hotel in Twizel.

Included meals:

Breakfast

On leaving Twizel, we head northeast to the turquoise-tinted Lake Pukaki, which gains its colour from the melting water of a glacier. We also stop at The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo, where there is also an opportunity to make an optional visit to the Dark Sky Project, an interactive journey delivering thought-provoking insight into the world of tatai aroraki (Maori astronomy). Later, we descend from Mackenzie Country to the Canterbury Plains and to Christchirch, where we spend our final night in New Zealand at the Distinction Hotel.

All good things must come to an end, and this morning we transfer to Christchurch Airport. Dependent on your choice of airline your flight will either connect via Australia and Dubai, if flying with Qantas & Emirates, or Singapore if your chosen airline is Singapore Airlines.

Add a Homebound Stopover?

Should you wish to break up your journey on your way home, there are opportunities to arrange a stopover in a variety of incredible destinations, including Singapore or Sentosa Island. Find out more.

Breakfast is served shortly before our arrival, bringing an end to our Magnificent New Zealand tour.