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asia / pacific: new zealand
z-South Island Explorer
price
14 Days $5950
11 Days $4950
Single Supplement $750
11 Days $4950
Single Supplement $750
(Willing to Share pays double rate)
duration
14 daystrip dates
Coming Soon!trip level
highlights
ChristchurchKaikoura Dolphin Swim
Maruia Hot Springs
Pancake Rocks
Fox Glacier
Lake Wanaka
Queenstown
Milford Sound
Routeburn Track
accomm types
Backcountry HutHotel
Wilderness Lodge
Day 1 - Arrive Christchurch
Arrive in Christchurch, the most English city outside England, and transfer on your own to our Bed and Breakfast. Meet your local Kiwi guide and traveling companions for a welcome dinner and trip orientation. Enjoy!
Accommodations: Heritage Christchurch or similar
Included Meals: dinner
Day 2 - Kaikoura
Drive north along the coast through a patchwork of ranches and wineries to the seaside town of Kaikoura. Once a sleepy fishing village, Kaikoura is waking up to its increasing popularity as one of the best places in the world to view marine mammals. An amazing variety of whales, dolphins, and seals feed in the krill-rich waters surrounding Kaikoura. Hike around the peninsula and observe seals and sea birds as well as spectacular views of the surrounding coastal mountains. Overnight at an historic convent turned charming bed & breakfast lodge where our hosts provide wonderful company and a delicious evening meal.
Accommodations: White Morph Motor Inn or similar
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 3 - Dolphin Swim and Maruia Hot Springs
Rise early this morning to greet the day with a pre-breakfast get together with some of Kaikoura's more famous local personalities, the playful Dusky Dolphins! With mask, snorkel, and fins enter their world and swim amongst them. Those who prefer may stay on the boat and marvel at their acrobatic displays from the deck. Dry of and head for the hills, stopping for short walks and a picnic lunch in the forest along Lewis Pass before reaching our home in the mountains. At Maruia Springs we have our own natural hot pools just outside our door. Enjoy a relaxed soak beneath the starry southern sky anytime during our stay.
Accommodations: Mauria Thermal Springs Resort
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 4 - West Coast and Paparoa National Park
Drive to the wild West Coast, isolated by the dramatic Southern Alps. Hike the coast of the Tasman Sea at Cape Foulwind where New Zealand fur seals inhabit the rocky coastline and numerous seabirds can be viewed. Enjoy a relaxed lunch at a caf� overlooking the breakers before exploring Paparoa National Park. Hike along the Pororari River through limestone landscapes and sub-tropical rainforest. Emerge from the palm and fern filled forest to the sea. Take off your shoes and walk barefoot in the sand to our lodgings for the night. This evening we enjoy a barbecue by the beach.
Accommodations: Punakaiki Rocks Hotel or similar
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 5 - Pancake Rocks and Westland National Park
Walk along the beach to the famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes, where crashing waves have sculpted spectacular blowholes through a pancake-like stack of weathered limestone. A highlight of the west coast is a visit to Westland National Park and the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Stop along the way at the old gold mining town of Hokitika, now a center for local crafts including blown glass, jade and woven wool. Enjoy an afternoon walk through temperate rainforest with magnificent views of the glaciers.
Accommodations: Mount Cook View or similar
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 6 - Fox Glacier
Lake Matheson rewards early morning walkers with brilliant reflections of New Zealand's highest peaks: Mounts Cook and Tasman. Rejuvenate with a hearty breakfast before heading to the glacier! Follow your guide over securely cut steps into the ice, leading a journey of discovery through crevasses, over glacial moraines and across the surface of the ice. No experience is necessary as the hike does not involve any technical ice climbing. In recent times, the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers have advanced far down the mountains cutting a path through the surrounding rock and rainforest.
Accommodations: Mount Cook View or similar
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 7 - Southwest New Zealand World Heritage Area
Continue south along the remote World Heritage Highway. A rain forest walk to an isolated beach may offer views of nesting penguins. Continue up and over the Haast Pass to the beautiful shores of Lakes Hawea and Wanaka. Stop to sample local wines at a picturesque family winery.
Accommodations: Te Wanaka Lodge or similar
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 8 - Lake Wanaka, Mount Aspiring National Park and Queenstown
Drive through the Matukituki Valley into the heart of Mount Aspiring National Park. Hike across a swing bridge and through a river gorge to a grassy paradise surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of hanging glaciers, waterfalls and misty rainbows. Enjoy a picnic lunch surrounded by amazing scenery. Occasionally, spectacular avalanches are seen in the distance. This afternoon we will return to Wanaka to explore town and choose between a number of excellent restaurants for dinner on your own.
Accommodations: Te Wanaka Lodge or similar
Included Meals: breakfast and lunch
Day 9 - Milford Sound
Drive through land which was carved, tumbled and jumbled by grinding glaciers during the last ice age. Stop for short walks in Fiordland National Park on the way to Milford Sound. This afternoon board our vessel for a cruise through spectacular Milford Sound to the Tasman Sea. Anchor for the night in sheltered Harrison Cove beneath the towering Mount Pembroke. Before sunset, explore the fiord by kayak or tender craft or simply relax on the deck of the vessel. Overnight onboard our luxury vessel with private cabins and bathrooms - enveloped by the majesty of Milford Sound.
Accommodations: aboard the private yacht M/V Friendship
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 10 - Milford Sound, Routeburn Track and Fiordland National park
Wake to the silence and serenity of Milford Sound. After breakfast head ashore and drive to the Divide where we begin the Routeburn Track. Spend the next three days and two nights trekking twenty five miles, hut-to-hut, across the New Zealand's Southern Alps, one of the most spectacular walks in the world. Stay in private huts stocked with food, comfortable beds with down comforters, flush toilets and even hot showers! Carry only a day pack containing your clothes and other personal items. Professional guides take care of meals and logistics allowing you to enjoy the trek at your own pace. The trek begins among dense beech forests on a well graded trail that winds above the treeline at Key Summit, followed by a brief descent to Lake Howden. Then climb steadily upwards to magnificent Earland Falls before descending to our hut at Lake MacKenzie (hiking distance: 9 mi).
Accommodations: Lake MacKenzie Hut
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 11 - Routeburn Track and Mount Aspiring National Park
Leave the emerald waters of Lake MacKenzie, traversing above the treeline (3,200 ft) and cross the dramatic alpine terrain of the Hollyford Face. Descend from the Harris Saddle past Lake Harris and into an immense alpine basin that is often carpeted by wildflowers. Hike downward alongside a final pitch of impressive cascading waterfalls and then relax at the Routeburn Falls Huts. (hiking distance: 9 mi).
Accommodations: Routeburn Falls Hut
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 12 - Routeburn Track and Queenstown
Descend from the tiered cascades of Routeburn Falls to the alpine meadows of Routeburn Flat. Wind alongside the deep green pools of the Routeburn River (i.e., the "Route Burn") and through hearty beech forest to our waiting van (hiking distance: 7 mi). In the late afternoon, drive to our Queenstown lodge. This evening gather for dinner with our friends from the trail.
Accommodations: Queenstown Lodge
Included Meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 13 - Queenstown
Enjoy a free day in Queenstown - "The Adventure Capital of the World." Sample an exciting array of optional (at additional cost) activities including rafting, kayaking, canoeing, jet-boating, bungy jumping, fly-by-wire, canyoning, tandem paragliding, hang gliding, skydiving, horse trekking, river surfing, fishing, vintage plane flights, glider flights, or take a goldfield or sheep station tour. You may choose to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of sidewalk cafes in this lakeside alpine resort. If you'd rather do some hiking around Queenstown there are a number of excellent walks as well as other no cost activities. This evening gather for a farewell dinner to swap tales of the day's adventures, and celebrate two weeks of serious fun!
Accommodations: Queenstown Lodge
Included Meals: breakfast and dinner
Day 14 - Depart Queenstown
After a relaxed gourmet breakfast there's often still time for another activity like a quiet stroll along the lake or some last minute shopping before your transfer to the Queenstown Airport for flights home or to continue another adventure.
Accommodations: n/a
Included Meals: breakfast
Single Travelers: For those requesting Single Occupancy, there is a $695 surcharge. With our Roommate Share program, if you are traveling alone and wish to share accommodations, we will guarantee double occupancy rates even if we are unable to match you with a roommate.
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