Classic New Zealand

Arrive Auckland, New Zealand

Nau Mai Haere Mai Ki Aotearoa. It means welcome to New Zealand.

Today is your first day in the land of the Long White Cloud. You will be met by your concierge/driver guide on arrival, who will bring you to your luxurious STAY. This evening, we will gather for a welcome dinner & drinks and get to know your travelling companions for the next 11 days.

Fable Auckland

Welcome Dinner and Drinks

Auckland | Get Acquainted With The Locals

Get a flavour of New Zealand culture at a local farmers’ market. Matakana Farmers Market is located an hour away from your STAY and has a real countryside ambience. With a lively atmosphere and everything from fresh produce to real New Zealand honey to food carts and lovely coffee, you will get to meet and speak with some of the locals behind the stalls and feel the super friendly vibe of this market. Grab a bite from the myriad food stalls at the market. Return to Auckland. Evening at your own leisure.

As part of the concierge driver/guide service, your driver will discuss with you for best pick up and drop off times to a restaurant of your choice, this evening. It is not required that all guests choose the same kind of cuisine or restaurant. You are free to select from a range of cuisines and restaurants. If some of you prefer to visit a bar or pub, that also can be arranged.

Fable Auckland

Breakfast

Rotorua | Immersive Experience & Cultural Entertainment

Immerse yourself in a private and exclusive guided experience of Spellbound Cave & Cave of the Spirit. The cave systems are a national treasure of New Zealand. The Spellbound Cave is home to a unique species of glowworms found only in New Zealand, while the Cave of the Spirit is a cave system that is like an old-time vault, which has trapped and hidden away bones of ancient animals that once roamed around Waitomo.

In the evening, Te Pa Tu (previously Tamaki Māori Village) will enthral and entertain you with cultural storytelling that has interactive elements. Learn how Māori first came to New Zealand, through song & dance routines and witness the world-renowned Haka (ancestral battle cry). The cultural performance includes a wonderful dinner.

Pullman Rotorua

Breakfast and Dinner

Rotorua | Land Of Make Believe & Living, Breathing Earth

This morning, you will be whisked away to the delightful land of make-believe, the Hobbiton Movie Set. It isn’t often one gets to visit a movie set back home. Even if you are not a fan of movies, your private guided tour of Hobbiton Set will fascinate you with its creative engineering of farmland to a village of times bygone where small people lived. The attention to detail including real fruit and vegetable gardens makes Hobbiton the best open-air movie set that still exists years after the movies have come and gone.

How often do you get to  walk amidst a heaving & constantly changing thermal landscape?  Waiotapu, a spectacular showcase of New Zealand’s most colourful and unique geothermal elements sculpted by thousands of years of volcanic activity makes you feel like you are walking on living, breathing earth as go on a private guided walk and learn about this thermal wonderland.

Pullman Rotorua

Breakfast

Christchurch | A Day Of Leisure

After four days in the North Island, it is time to head to the South Island. Your driver/guide will bring you to the airport for your flight to Christchurch. On landing in Christchurch, you will be met with your new driver/guide, who will be with you for the rest of your tour.

The day is free for you to do as you please.

Christchurch, Is fast becoming a renowned street art city. It is best to see this on a guided walking tour with a specialist artist guide. If you like, we can help arrange for a tour and not everyone has to choose to do this tour. If you prefer to do the walk by yourself, a guide map can be arranged.

Distinction Christchurch Hotel

Breakfast

Franz Josef | Spectacular Southern Alps and Wild West Coast

Cross plains, gorges and river valleys & the magnificent Southern Alps aboard the TranzAlpine Scenic Train as you travel to the serene wilderness of Glacier Country. After lunch at a microbrewery in the West Coast town of Greymouth, you will visit Hokitika, home to Pounamu (precious natural greenstone), and learn the importance of this stone, before making your way to the Glacier Country located at the northern edge of Te Wahipounamu, a UNESCO World Heritage natural site.

Dinner tonight is at your luxury eco forest lodge.

Te Waonui Forest Retreat

Breakfast, Lunch with Beer Tasters, Dinner

Franz Josef | Rest & Stillness

You can choose to be very active (within your capabilities) followed by a good period of rest & stillness. There isn’t any place on the planet that have two accessible glaciers flowing down into the rainforests, flanked by mountains on one side, rugged beaches and an ocean on the other.

With a local population of only 700 people, spread over an area that is remote, wild, authentic & vast, you can immerse yourself in pure nature for a meaningful experience unlike any other.

From relaxing with a book in the middle of nowhere or hiking on the glacier or gently kayaking in the hidden away Okarito lagoon, or going on a backcountry quad bike adventure or a scenic helicopter flight that will take your breath away, you are spoilt for choices with a myriad of special experiences. You can also choose to walk among the beech forests to the terminal face of one of the glaciers to engage with and absorb raw New Zealand.

Te Waonui Forest Retreat

Breakfast

Queenstown | Lakefront Paradise

The drive from Glacier Country to Queenstown is an experience on its own, with plenty of scenic stops and photo opportunities. After you have checked in and relaxed a bit, it is best you head out to the town centre, get a feel for the place, do a bit of walkabout and soak in the ambience of this lakefront paradise.

Depending on your taste buds tonight, you can choose from a variety of dining establishments or maybe even first enjoy a glass or two of your favourite beverage in one of the many bars/pubs scattered around the lake.

QT Queenstown

Breakfast

Queenstown | Sound Of Silence

Prepare yourself for an unforgettable journey as you leave this morning to Lake Manapouri. You are going on a wilderness cruise on Doubtful Sound, among the top 3 Fjords in the world and probably the quietest in the world.

Doubtful Sound. is a magical fiord that is awe-inspiring with its stunning scenery and untouched appeal. Your immersive experience begins with a cruise over a picturesque lake, followed by a trip across New Zealand’s most expensive road over Wilmot Pass, to reach Doubtful Sound. Be prepared for wildlife encounters with dolphins, fur seals and perhaps the rare Fiordland crested penguin.

A packed picnic lunch will be served as you board the first boat at Lake Manapouri.

QT Queenstown

Breakfast & Picnic Lunch

Queenstown | A Day of Leisure

The entire day is free for you to do what you wish. Your concierge driver/guide will help you with whatever you like to do today.

On this penultimate evening, we gather for one last time over a farewell dinner & drinks to bid adieu to newfound friends with a promise to keep in touch.

Christchurch via Mt Cook | Heart Of New Zealand

Today you will head to Mt. Cook National Park, home to more than thirty razor-sharp uplifted mountains standing over 3000 meters/10,000 feet each and the tallest mountain in New Zealand, Aoraki (Cloud Piercer) /Mt. Cook, which is over 3700 meters/12,000 feet.

This stunning and rugged region is also home to the longest glacier, in New Zealand, the Tasman Glacier. You will experience the enormity of the glacier. on a private tour on a purpose-built craft to explore and learn about the ever-changing glacial landscape as you journey across the terminal lake. This is a one of a kind and once in a lifetime trip. You may even get lucky and witness calving of an iceberg while you are on the lake.

After the heady private experience, you will continue on to Christchurch for your last night of this Classic New Zealand journey.

Distinction Hotel Christchurch

Breakfast

Depart Christchurch

Your breathtaking holiday ends today as you make your way to the airport for your flight back home. Hope you loved what we designed for you, and we look forward to your feedback on your journey.

Happy & Safe Travels.