Essence of New Zealand
Overview
What's this trip about?
Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Activities
Trip includes
- • Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide • Comfortable accommodation with easy access to city centres • National Park entrance fees
Itinerary
Arrive early to see just how Christchurch has transformed itself since the 2010/11 earthquakes. The best way to do this? Aboard the city’s tram. It loops past historic attractions as well as some new ones. Meet your fellow travellers this evening for a Welcome Reception.
Wyndham Garden
Step out with your guide for a deeper dive into ‘The City of Gardens’ before traversing the colourful Canterbury Plains: the turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo and snow-capped mountains. Your Indoor Dark Sky Astronomy Experience at Tekapo, hosted by passionate guides, wi...
Architectural drama awaits in Dunedin. While away the afternoon in atmospheric art-lined alleys or sipping a lager or two in Speight’s Brewery (a national institution).
Dunedin Leisure Lodge
Rolling green pastures dotted with wide-eyed sheep are your backdrop to Gore, the country music capital of New Zealand. Invercargill is obsessed with something else: motor vehicles. Tributes to speed legends colour the city. So it's only fitting that you visit Classic Motorcycle Mecca for a tour and Highlight Dinner.
Kelvin Hotel
The ferry ride to Stewart Island is wild and wonderful. When you arrive, you’re welcomed by the country’s southernmost community. It’s largely untouched, which means endemic flora and fauna thrive here. But don’t take our word for it. Meet the locals on a Village & Bays tour.
Kelvin Hotel
You’ve probably already noticed that there’s a lot of farmland here in New Zealand. It’s fitting, then, that you meet southern girl Laura, who will introduce you to the sheep farm where she was born and raised. The Real Country Farm Show, a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experie...
Today, sign up to dive deep into Milford Sound/Piopiotahi within World Heritage listed Fiordland National Park, best explored on an optional tour cruising the waterway. Don’t be surprised if you see dolphins and seals.
Copthorne Hotel and Resort
Around the next bend is the Alpine countryside of the Southern Lakes, from Lake Dunstan to oh-so-blue Lake Hawea and lovely Lake Wanaka. Over the Haast Pass, the town of Franz Josef/Waiau at the edge of the Westland World Heritage Park, awaits.
Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier
Wandering Hokitika’s windswept shore on the West Coast feels a bit like you’ve discovered the end of the Earth. The town’s other natural beauty is pounamu (native greenstone or jade). Prepare yourself for Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks and blowholes; they owe their existence to the thundering surf that will lull you to sleep.
Scenic Hotel Punakaiki
Ease along the Heritage Highway toward Nelson. Press your nose against the glass as your coach weaves through Buller Gorge and Kahurangi National Park, a place of wild rivers, high plateaus, alpine herb fields and coastal forests.
The Rutherford Hotel
Today is at your leisure. Lace up your hiking shoes, or sit back on a boat and soak up the silence of Abel Tasman National Park. This wilderness inspires calm, its golden beaches framed by sculpted granite cliffs that all unite to create one of the country’s most legendary coastal tracks.
The Rutherford Hotel
You’ll want a window seat for the cruise from the South Island to the North aboard the Interislander. This spectacle unfolds as you glide through Queen Charlotte Sound to NZ’s cool little capital of Wellington.
Travelodge Wellington
Your morning city sights tour will end at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. After the opportunity to visit, travel to the Art Deco mecca, Napier.
Scenic Hotel Te Pania
After a devastating earthquake in 1931, Napier completely rebuilt itself in just two years. The end result is architectural Nirvana, a city home to the world’s greatest concentration of Art Deco, Spanish Mission and Striped Classical buildings. This morning get the lowdown from your in-the-know local guide on a Napier tour. Your afternoon is at leisure.
Scenic Hotel Te Pania
This evening, explore Te Puia's geothermal valley, and learn about Maori history and culture on this guided experience, which includes hangi-inspired cuisine and a cultural performance in a finely carved meeting house, Te Aronui a Rua. It ends on a high at the Pohutu Geyser, where, armed with a hot chocolate you'll view one of New Zealand's geothermal wonderlands.
Sudima Lake Rotorua
Today, it’s your choice. Hobbit fans will want to take advantage of the opportunity to tour the sights featured in The Lord of the Rings movies at Hobbiton. Want a bit of down time? Bliss out at Wai Araki Hot Springs & Spa.
Sudima Lake Rotorua
Welcome to Auckland, the ‘City of Sails’. You’ll understand how it got its moniker when you glimpse yachts gliding around its two harbours. But today your sights are firmly set on the city’s other love: rugby. The interactive All Blacks Experience explores an introduction to the game as a part of New Zealand culture.
Holiday Inn Express Auckland City Centre
It’s amazing how much of two islands you can see in 18 days. Provided you have the right people at the helm, and like-minded company, that is.
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Dates & Availability
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The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
AAT Kings Reviews & Ratings
Other AAT Kings Reviews
Ian Baster
Aug 2024
Exceptional tour guide and driver.
Excellent.
Trusted Customer
Aug 2024
Top End Highlights
We were quite happy with the tour. We meet some lovely people and saw parts of the country without having to drive and the director and driver looked after us very w...
Tour Operator
A century ago, the Australian outback was but a twinkle in most travelers’ eyes. But thanks to visionaries like the Pyke family and Bill King, the way we explore the Land Down Under was about to change in unimaginable ways. Over the coming decades, maps were unfolded, desert cruisers and coaches were customized, and guides were trained. From humble beginnings, the company now known as AAT Kings was going places few had gone before, pioneering new paths across Australia and New Zealand and taking intrepid travelers on a wild and wonderful ride. We’ve come a long way and clocked a few kilometers in the process. But some things will never change. Like our spirit for adventure. Our oh-so-knowledgeable Travel Directors. The local characters we meet (and will never forget) along the way. The epic, goosebump-inducing stories we’re told by First Nations guides. The life-changing experiences on offer – the kind that only 100 years of exploring affords. We’ve never been more passionate about our next discovery. Join us and fall in love with Australia and New Zealand all over again. #aatkings
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Logistics
Accommodation
Cancellation by the Traveller
Travel arrangements for any member of the party may be cancelled at any time by written notice by the person who made the booking.
If notice of cancellation is received by the Provider before final payment is due (see The Table), the deposit will be retained. If cancellation is made after final payment is due cancellation fees will apply (see The Table). These cancellation fees represent the costs incurred less any expected recoveries. Please also refer to Air cancellation Section where applicable.Notice of cancellation must be made in writing directly to the Provider or through your Travel Agent. Please also refer to the Provider's Gold Seal Additional Protection.
If a person in a party cancels and there is a room change caused by this cancellation (such as a twin share to Single, or Triple to twin share), charges for the new room type will be the responsibility of the remaining party. The charges detailed in the Summary Terms table (which includes GST), representing costs incurred by the Provider in cancelling your travel arrangements, will apply when notice of cancellation for your trip is given after the booking is confirmed. Please also refer to the Provider's Gold Seal Additional Protection.
If a guest fails to join the trip on the day of departure, cancellation fees will be 100% (unless the guest notifies us of the delay and joins the trip later at their own expense).
Cancellation fees as per The Table apply to additional accommodation and/or chargeable transfers prior to and after the trip, itinerary extensions or cruise reserved through the Provider.
Cancellation fees and charges will include any amounts that we have paid or have contractually committed to pay to third parties to deliver your travel arrangements which we cannot reasonably recover (for example payments made or due to airlines and hotels). Any payments we have made to third parties will only be refunded to you once we have deducted the above cancellation fees and charges and once we have actually recovered the amounts from the third parties.
All cancellation fees as per The Table are additional to any cancellation fees or other charges that may be levied by your Travel Agent.
Gold Seal Protection premiums are non-refundable.
If the reason for your cancellation is covered under your insurance, you may be able to reclaim these charges from your insurer. You are responsible for making the claim to your insurer. We will provide you with documentation to support your claim.
Cancellation by the Provider
The Provider reserves the right, to modify or cancel any trip, accommodation, in-destination activity or arrangement, definite or not, at any time.
Cancellation due to Failure to Pay
If full payment is not received by the due date (see The Table), The Provider has the right to cancel your reservation and no refund will be made. The Provider will not be responsible for lost reservations.
Cancellation due to Force Majeure Events
If The Provider cancels a trip as a result of a Force Majeure Event, a future travel credit (FTC) to the value of funds paid to date, less any unrecoverable third-party costs incurred, will be provided. All FTCs will be valid for 24 months from date of issue.
Where a trip is terminated mid-trip due to a Force Majeure event, if we provide you with any alternative services or assistance (such as hotels or travel) then you agree to pay for these costs.
Cancellation due to Events other than Force Majeure Events
If the cancellation by the Provider is not as a result of a Force Majeure Event, the Provider will provide an alternative comparable trip (if available). If an alternative is not available, then a refund will be made. The Provider is not liable for any cancellation or change cost or penalties incurred on other travel arrangements, including air travel, that may be affected thereby.
The Provider is not responsible for other travel arrangements that you or your party have made outside the Provider and which are affected by our cancellations.
For more additional details, see the booking conditions of TruTravels at the following web address: https://www.aatkings.com/about-us/booking-conditions-published-5-august-2024/
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