Itinerary

Saturday Feb 2
Fly from LAX on Air Pacific FJ811 departing 9:30pm and lose Friday to the International Date Line. Meet your fellow travelers at the gate at 8.30pm.

Monday Feb 4
Arrive Fiji 5:15am.  Fly Air Pacific FJ411 departing Fiji 10am and arrive in Auckland 1pm where your Kiwi Guide will meet you in the arrivals hall.  Tour begins.  Driving through the beautiful city of Auckland you’ll see why it’s called the “City of Sails.”   North in the seaside community of Paihia we’ll move into our apartments for a three-night stay.

Tuesday
Journey to the top of New Zealand!   Drive to Kaitia to meet our bus for the trip along 90-Mile Beach.  We take a break to toboggan down sand dunes and stroll on the beach.  At Cape Reinga we’ll see the broiling waters where the two oceans meet – a top photo spot.  Our evening meal will be at an ocean-side fresh fish restaurant.  This is an especially scenic day.

Wednesday
We are the only tour company to incorporate Waitangi Day celebrations into our schedule!  On this, New Zealand’s national day we’ll stroll down to the harbor to see the Maori wakas (war canoes) paddle across the harbor – quite a sight!  Enjoy a wonderfully relaxing sail in the Bay of Islands on a 50’ yacht.  You can take the helm or sit back and relax.  We’ll lunch at an unspoiled anchorage and swim in crystal clear waters.  Maybe we’ll see dolphins.  Stop in at the tiny community of Russell, where musket holes in historic buildings tell tales of less tranquil times.  Before dinner we’ll visit the park where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the Maori people and European settlers.
           
Thursday
We retrace our route south through Auckland down to Waitomo for a blackwater rafting adventure!  After a quick lunch we’ll don wetsuits, a hard hat and a miner’s lamp and walk down into Ruakuri Cave.  Jumping onto the river we’ll float on tubes through an underground river.  Half way through the cave we’ll switch off our lamps and look up and see hundreds of glowworms looking like constellations - quite a sight!  It’s serene to emerge into the sunlight of the native forest.  Later in the afternoon we’ll drive across to the Coromandel Peninsula and stay in a seaside motel in Tairua.

Friday
This morning it’s an hour’s easy stroll down to Cathedral Cove for swimming and relaxing on the most beautiful beach in New Zealand.  Hike back up then drive south through coastal towns in the Bay of Plenty.  At 6pm we are welcomed onto a local Maori marae (homeland) in a moving, traditional ceremony.  The tribe prepares a feast and the children dance and sing for us.  We sleep comfortably and communally in the whare.  Our stay on the marae is a tour highlight.

Saturday
After breakfast it’s a heartfelt farewell to the people of the marae.  Drive to Murapara and meet our guides for a great white water rafting trip.  We raft one grade 4 and then mostly grade 3 rapids of the Rangitaiki River.  It also has a float section through idyllic native forest.  Drive to Waiotapu and walk through this active geothermal area of boiling pools and mud and amazing colors of nature seldom seen.  Drive south to Taupo stopping to see thundering Huka Falls.  Soak in thermal hot springs while a BBQ dinner is prepared for us poolside.  Check into our Turangi motel for a two-night stay.

Sunday
Early start for a short hop to the trailhead of the Tongariro Crossing.  Known as “the finest one-day hike in NZ” this 8–10 hour hike takes us across craters of extinct Mt. Tongariro.  Enjoy amazing views of emerald lakes and gaping vents from previous eruptions.  The hike is challenging - if you can climb 50 flights of stairs and descend 50 flights of stairs, then this hike's for you.  Alternatively you can spend the day exploring Taupo.  Soak in the hot pool while dinner is prepared.
 
Monday
Drive south to the capital city of Wellington which may remind you of San Francisco with its scenic harbor and houses clinging to steep hills.  Lunch in a New Zealand home.  After ashort tour of Wellington you’ll have time to explore Te Papa, the National Museum of NZ.  Board a ferry to the South Island, a scenic trip through the Marlborough Sounds.  Dinner on the ferry is logistically difficult for a group so this is your responsibility.  We’ll overnight at a motel in Picton.

Tuesday
An early start today for a scenic drive across to Nelson then onto Marehau.  Sea-kayak the emerald seas and golden beaches of Abel Tasman National Park.  Kayak on crystal clear water around the shoreline and across to an island.  Relax on the beach and swim while lunch is prepared.  If there’s an afternoon sea breeze, we’ll hoist our sails and take the easy way back!  Change into dry clothes before driving to Murchison for the evening.

Wednesday
Our road south is squeezed between the Southern Alps and a stunning coastline.  At Punakiki, walk out to limestone pancake formations and if we’re in luck, the sea will send blowholes into the air.  Lunch in Hokitika where you may want to buy NZ greenstone.  Nowhere in the world at this latitude have glaciers advanced so close to the sea.  At 3pm we’ll climb the fast-moving and ever-changing Franz Josef Glacier, walking beside walls of blue ice.  This is a high-energy crampon hike, climbing and descending ice steps. OR, you can soak in nearby hot pools.  Dinner is “Blue Ice” pizza!  Lodging at Fox offers views of Mt Cook.

Thursday
Lake Matheson at 6am has a stunning reflection of Mount Cook and anyone up for an early start will be treated to great photos.  Breakfast near the lake.  Travel over the Alps through Haast Pass and lunch at Lake Wanaka.  Then it’s a short hop over the spectacular Crown Range to Queenstown, New Zealand’s most beautiful city.  After checking into our motor lodge for a three-night stay there’ll be time to make bookings for activities you have planned for your day off tomorrow.  At 6pm we’ll sail on the historic steam ship Earnslaw across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Farm where we’ll see a sheep-dog round-up and a shearing demonstration.  Dine at the homestead then join a piano sing-a-long on our return trip.

Friday
Day off!!  Queenstown is the launching point for trips to world re-known Milford Sound by bus or plane. This activity is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and includes a launch trip where you can photograph waterfalls, fur seals and fabulous scenery.  Queenstown has a host of activities for travelers – tandem paragliding, Shotover jet boat rides, wine tours, strolling historic Arrowtown and you can even jump off Kawerau bridge, the original bungy site!  You are responsible for your dinner this evening.

Saturday
Sleep in!  After a lazy breakfast we board the gondola and are pulled up to the most amazing view of Queenstown.   Then we ride another shorter gondola up to the start of our luge ride – fun to be a kid again!   After lunch we’ll drive along the shore of Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy.  You’ll want your camera along on our relaxing two-hour horse ride.   This is a wonderfully scenic ride involving several river crossings.  There is an opportunity for experienced riders to canter on this ride.  Dine tonight at a pub in Queenstown.

Sunday
Our drive north is through Mackenzie Country to Canterbury.  The highlight will be views of Mt Cook (Aoraki) across the glacial waters of Lake Pukaki.  Lunch at Lake Tekapo, visit the Church of the Good Shepherd and see the memorial to the beloved sheep dog.  Drive to a high country sheep station adjacent to a lake at the foot of the Southern Alps.   This farm stay is a perfect place to relax and reflect on our journey through Aotearoa.  Our hosts prepare a beautiful meal for our final dinner.
Monday
After breakfast it’s a two-hour drive to Christchurch airport where the tour ends.  Catch a 10.30am flight to Auckland and walk to the International Terminal to connect with return flights to LAX – Air Pacific FJ412 departing 2.30pm, arriving Fiji 5.30pm.  Board FJ810 departing Fiji at 10:50pm.  Arrive at LAX 1:05pm (still Saturday!).  Allow two hours to clear through immigration, baggage and customs when booking connecting flights.

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