from $15,840* per person	11 Days	October-April
Luxury accommodations		Exertion level: 4
Operator: Geographic Expeditions		18 people max

New Zealand is a gem of a country, and it shines brightly and beguilingly on this elegantly-paced 11-day Private Departure to its South Island. (And while you’re at the computer, take a look at Natural North New Zealand, just a smidgen of cyberspace away; we suspect you’ll be tempted to combine these trips into a gorgeous and rollickingly fun, just-over-three-week, North and South Island look at this wonderful country.)

We begin Mountains and Fiords (they’re generally fiords in New Zealand, not the more familiar fjords) with a good look at famously lovely Christchurch, from which we’ll take the TranzAlpine Train to Arthur’s Pass Village, in the midst of the Southern Alps. Then we’re off to New Zealand’s highest peak, Mount Cook. At 12,313 feet, Cook--or Aoraki--isn’t among the world’s giants; it is however a mountain of tremendous presence and glacier-draped beauty, which we’ll get a feel for on a private Glacier Explorer tour and perhaps a visit to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center, dedicated to the world’s most famous Kiwi.

Dropping down from the mountains, we drive to Dunedin, yet one more of New Zealand’s rich collection of knockdown charming towns. And from Dunedin, we’ll venture out onto the Otago Peninsula for meetings with penguins, sea lions, fur seals, and teeming masses of cheerful birds. Back inland, through the Central Otago region, we reach the Wharekea Lodge in the pretty little lakeside town of Wanaka, at the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. The next morning we’re whisked by helicopter into the mountains for a stay at the Whare Kea Alpine Chalet, a marvelous hostelry in a trip brimming with them. After enjoying epic views, perhaps from the summit of Dragon Fly Peak, we helicopter back to the lodge, and make a scenic drive over the Crowne Range to Queenstown, cherished for much, but perhaps most for its dramatic situation at the foot of the Remarkable Ranges. As a dramatic wrap-up, we head to South Island’s western coast and the famed Fiordlands National Park for an overnight cruise aboard the Fiordland Navigator into magnificent Doubtful Sound, lengthier and far less visited than its better press-agented neighbor, Milford Sound.