Spirit of New Zealand
Spirit of New Zealand
Spirit of New Zealand
21 Days Starting in Christchurch, New Zealand and ending in Auckland, New Zealand
Visiting: Christchurch, Omarama, Dunedin, Invercargill, Stewart Island, Queenstown, Franz Josef, Punakaiki, Nelson, Wellington, Napier, Rotorua, Auckland, Bay of Islands
Tour operator:
Tour code:
LCQB25
Guide Type:
Fully Guided
Tour operated in:
EnglishInterests:
Activities:
Tour Overview
Embark on the "Spirit of New Zealand" tour, a captivating 21-day journey through the breathtaking landscapes and vibrant cultures of New Zealand's North and South Islands. This adventure offers a perfect blend of relaxation and exploration, with two-night stays in iconic destinations like Queenstown, Wellington, Nelson, and Rotorua. Experience the geothermal wonders of Rotorua, the majestic Franz Josef Glacier, and the untouched beauty of Stewart Island. Enjoy authentic cultural experiences, such as the Real Country Farm Show, and contribute to the Fairlight Foundation's mission to advance women in agriculture. Travel in comfort with a specialist team of a Travel Director and Driver Guide, and stay in accommodations with easy access to city centers. While flights are not included, the tour promises unforgettable memories, from the art deco charm of Napier to the historic significance of the Bay of Islands. Prepare for an adventure that combines nature, culture, and relaxation in one of the world's most stunning destinations.
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1: Welcome To Christchurch
Location: Christchurch
Accommodation Name: Wyndham Garden
Community spirit is strong in Christchurch, as you’ll discover exploring its streets at your leisure. Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers this evening for a Welcome Reception.
Day 2: Christchurch - Omarama
Location: Omarama
Accommodation Name: Distinction Heritage Gateway Hotel
Meals Included: Dinner
More of the city is revealed on a Christchurch tour before the colours of the Canterbury Plains spread before you: the turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo, snow-capped mountains and atmospheric towns. It’s quite the backdrop for the stone-hewn Church of Good Shepherd. Your Indoor Dark Sky Astronomy Experience at Tekapo, hosted by passionate guides, will forever change the way you see the night sky. You'll see for yourself it may be one of the quietest spots on the planet, yet it has one of the busiest skies in the universe.
Day 3: Omarama - Dunedin
Location: Dunedin
Accommodation Name: Dunedin Leisure Lodge
Easing through the Waitaki Valley, you’re en route toward New Zealand’s oldest public gardens. They lie in the pretty town of Oamaru, known for its stately tree-lined streets and limestone buildings. Architectural drama of a different kind 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). Or venture further afield to discover Larnach Castle. Dunedin is widely known as the Edinburgh of the South. In truth, it could also be known as ‘Little Galapagos’: fur seals and penguins thrive in this part of the South Island.
Day 4: Dunedin - Invercargill
Location: Invercargill
Accommodation Name: Kelvin Hotel
Meals Included: Dinner
Invercargill is obsessed with motor vehicles. Tributes to speed legends colour the city. So it's only fitting that you visit Classic Motorcycle Mecca for a self-guided tour followed by a guided tour and Highlight Dinner at Transport World, exploring classic vehicles as you are transported on a nostalgic walk back in time. From Brough Superior to Burt Munro and John Britten, ride into yesteryear and discover the Southern Hemisphere’s leading classic motorcycle collection. Home to more than 300 vintage motorcycles, a visit here is a truly mind-blowing experience for enthusiasts and newbies alike. Housed in two restored historic buildings in the heart of Invercargill, the collection boasts displays of classic British, American, European, and Japanese bikes alongside tributes to motocross and speedway (including legend Ivan Mauger). It is also home to the George Begg Bunker: a tribute to a homegrown hero and a golden age in Kiwi motorsport history. Bill Richardson began collecting old trucks in 1967 and in his words sometimes "bought a truck more with our hearts than with our heads." The collection now comprises of many rare and unusual vehicles, along with popular classic vehicles.
Day 5: Stewart Island Sightseeing
Location: Stewart Island
Accommodation Name: Kelvin Hotel
Invercargill is the gateway to the southernmost community in the country. Welcome to Stewart Island, a wild and wonderful drop of land that is 85% national park. Naturally, it’s a magnet for endemic flora and fauna, as you’ll discover on your guided Village and Bays tour. Later you have the option to join a leisurely cruise, including a picnic lunch, around Paterson Inlet that will take you past unique places including Acker’s Cottage before docking at Ulva Island to admire the bird life and native flora.
Day 6: Invercargill - Queenstown
Location: Queenstown
Accommodation Name: Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown
Today on your New Zealand tour, get a taste of country life combined with good old fashioned southern hospitality as you meet a ‘Southern Girl’ local farmer at Real Country. Get a feel for life on the farm as you have demonstrations of Horse communication and Working sheep dog mustering. Try your hand at a Stock whip cracking lesson, and feed and interact with the friendly farm animals. Plus, for every guest, we donate funds to The Fairlight Foundation, Advancing Women in Agriculture, a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Continue to Queenstown and take the rest of the day at your own pace.
Day 7: Queenstown Free Time
Location: Queenstown
Accommodation Name: Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown
You clearly need more than one day to appreciate Queenstown and its surrounds. And when we say surrounds, we mean Milford Sound. Today, sign up for an Optional Experience to dive deep into this yawning gorge within World Heritage-listed Fiordland National Park – it’s within easy reach of your base, and is best explored on an optional South Island tour that sees you jumping aboard boat to cruise the mirror-like waterway. Like things fast and furious? Feel the wind in your hair on the high-octane jet boat ride, perhaps, twisting and revving along Queenstown's Shotover River. There's a reason why Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the country. Wine aficionado? Sip your way through surrounding vineyards. Tours of the South Island don't get much tastier than this. There's also the option of an afternoon cruise on Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue dinner (all own expense).
Day 8: Queenstown - Franz Josef
Location: Franz Josef
Accommodation Name: Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier
Meals Included: Dinner
We know you’ll want to linger in Arrowtown’s movie-set-like streets, lined with trees and character-filled boutiques and restaurants. But the Alpine country of the Southern Lakes is calling, from Lake Dunstan – where you can pause to buy juicy stone fruit picked fresh from the tree – to oh-so-blue Lake Hawea and lovely Lake Wanaka, with its Instagrammable shoreline of poplars and willows. Over the Haast Pass, the pretty town of Franz Josef/Waiau at the edge of the Westland World Heritage Park, awaits. Get some perspective on an optional scenic flight over this natural wonder – if the weather behaves, you may even get to land on it. Trips to New Zealand don’t get any cooler than this.
Day 9: Franz Josef - Punakaiki
Location: Punakaiki
Accommodation Name: Scenic Hotel Punakaiki
Meals Included: Dinner
There aren’t many communities on the wild West Coast, Hokitika is one, and boy does it make the most of its setting. Wander the windswept coast before discovering the town’s other beauty: 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.
Day 10: Punakaiki - Nelson
Location: Nelson
Accommodation Name: The Rutherford Hotel
Sit back and relax – that’s all you have to do today as you ease along the Heritage Highway toward Nelson. Press your nose against the glass as your coach weaves through Buller Gorge – a deep canyon home to New Zealand’s longest swingbridge – and Kahurangi National Park, a place of wild rivers, high plateaus, alpine herb fields and coastal forests.
Day 11: Nelson Free Time
Location: Nelson
Accommodation Name: The Rutherford Hotel
Sleep in or work up a sweat – today is completely at your leisure. We have a few ideas up our sleeve, of course. Travel to the Abel Tasman National Park for the ultimate cruise and walk combination (own expense). This pocket in the north of the island inspires calm, its golden beaches framed by sculpted granite cliffs that all unite to create one of the country’s most legendary coastal tracks.
Day 12: Nelson - Wellington
Location: Nelson, Wellington
Accommodation Name: Travelodge Wellington
Meals Included: Dinner
All aboard the Interislander for a cruise through Queen Charlotte Sound, up the Tory Channel and across Cook Strait, from the South Island to the North, navigating a maze of arms and inlets into New Zealand's cool little capital of Wellington.
Day 13: Wellington - Napier
Location: Napier
Accommodation Name: Scenic Hotel Te Pania
Travel to Napier. Beautifully preserved 1930s architecture is Napier's special point of difference. After a massive earthquake in 1931 destroyed the commercial centre of Napier, rebuilding began almost immediately in the architectural styles of the times - Striped Classical, Spanish Mission and Art Deco.
Day 14: Napier Sightseeing
Location: Napier
Accommodation Name: Scenic Hotel Te Pania
This morning meet your informative and entertaining local guide from the Art Deco Trust who will bring Napier's fascinating architectural history to life as you take an easy stroll through the compact Art Deco Quarter in the vibrant city centre. On this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience your participation helps preserve Napier’s Art Deco heritage. This afternoon relax or perhaps choose an optional experience of either a wine tour of local Hawkes Bay vineyards, or a safari to the famous Gannet nesting colony at cape Kidnappers with Gannet Safaris Overland.
Day 15: Napier - Rotorua
Location: Rotorua
Accommodation Name: Sudima Lake Rotorua
Meals Included: Dinner
The road ahead unfolds in a broad panorama of Lake Taupo, the largest (and perhaps bluest) of its kind in the country – it feeds thundering Huka Falls, which you’ll hear well before you see. It’s a landscape almost as otherworldly as Rotorua, where mud pops and jettisons from bubbling geysers, and steam rushes skywards from cracks in the Earth. This afternoon, explore Te Puia's geothermal valley, and learn about Maori history and culture. Take a guided tour of the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute, and later enjoy a Highlight Dinner of 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.
Day 16: Rotorua Free Time
Location: Rotorua
Accommodation Name: Sudima Lake Rotorua
Today is Rotorua tour day of many decisions, but with plenty of tips available from your Travel Director. Want a bit of down time? We wouldn’t blame you for simply blissing out at in the steamy thermal springs at Wai Araki Hot Springs & Spa. Hobbit fans will want to take advantage of the opportunity to tour the sights featured in The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit movies on the Hobbiton Movie Set tour. Or board a scenic flight for a bird's-eye-view (all own expense).
Day 17: Rotorua - Auckland
Location: Auckland
Accommodation Name: Adina Apartment Hotel Britomart
From New Zealand’s longest waterway, the Waikato River, to its largest city: 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 New Zealand's national game: rugby. As part of your Auckland tour you’re kicking about at the interactive All Blacks Experience. Journey through the sporting team’s remarkable history via various displays and presentations before you’re serenaded by a performance of a traditional haka with you front and centre.
Day 18: Auckland - Bay Of Islands
Location: Bay of Islands
Accommodation Name: Copthorne Hotel and Resort
Meals Included: Dinner
140 – that’s how many droplets of land ringed by turquoise sea comprise the Bay of Islands, your tour destination de jour. It’s undeniably beautiful, but it also holds a special historical significance: this is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, between Captain William Hobson and Māori chiefs. Your guide, perhaps a descendent of one of the original signatories, will explain the significance of the site, while pointing out the world’s largest ceremonial war canoe and a carved meeting house.
Day 19: Bay Of Islands Free Time
Location: Bay of Islands
Accommodation Name: Copthorne Hotel and Resort
If there’s a travel destination that inspires wanderlust, the Bay of Islands is it. Today, trip the light fantastic and head off in whatever direction you please. Perhaps travel up to Cape Reinga, the very top of New Zealand, via idyllic Ninety Mile Beach. Or glide around on an historic tall ship, cruise to the Hole in the Rock or join a tour of Russell and learn more about the settling of the Bay of Islands (all own expense).
Day 20: Bay Of Islands - Auckland
Location: Auckland
Accommodation Name: Adina Apartment Hotel Britomart
Meals Included: Dinner
For a little more northern exposure, make your way to Whangarei, the island’s most northerly outpost and a place where waterfalls meet beaches, galleries meet museums. It’s like the country in a tantalising snapshot – a union of nature and forward-thinking culture. Explore at your leisure before sinking back into your seat for the mesmerizing commute back to Auckland for your Farewell Dinner.
Day 21: Farewell From Auckland
Location: Auckland
Over three weeks, we hope you’ve packed your address book with the names of new friends and your camera with photos of New Zealand’s most inspiring attractions. But at the end of the day, it’s the memories that will fuel your flight home. Trips to New Zealand don’t get any more epic than this.
What's Included
What's Not Included
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Flights to and from the start/end of your trip
Flights to and from the start and end of your trip are not included in the trip price.
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Optional activities
Optional activities such as the Fiordland National Park journey, Hobbiton Movie Set Tour, and other excursions are at your own expense.
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Personal items
Items such as water bottle, comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses, sunscreen, hat, warm layers in cooler months, and camera are not included.
Mode of Transport
Travel in comfort with a specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide, ensuring smooth journeys between destinations. Note that flights to and from the start/end of your trip are not included.
Accommodation
Enjoy comfortable accommodation with easy access to city centres, including stays at the Wyndham Garden in Christchurch, Distinction Heritage Gateway Hotel in Omarama, and Copthorne Hotel and Resort in Queenstown.
Dining Summary
- 20 Full Breakfast (B)
- 5 Dinner (D)
- 2 Highlight Dinner (HD)
- 1 Farewell Dinner (FD)
Fitness Requirement
- Low level of fitness required
Flexible Holidays
- We’ve crafted an itinerary with plenty of two-night stays, so you can sleep in and take the pulse of your destination, whether Queenstown, Wellington, Nelson or Rotorua.
Flight information
- Flights to and from the start/end of your trip are not included in the trip price. Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 4.00pm into Christchurch AirportDay 21 – flights to depart any time from Auckland Airport
Iconic Sites
- From the bubbling geysers of Rotorua to the gem-like surface of Franz Josef Glacier/Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere, nature and culture unite across the North and South islands.
Natural Wonders
- An island off an island, Stewart Island is wild, wide and wonderful. Some 85% is national park - prepare for epic animal encounters.
What to Bring
- Water bottle Comfortable walking shoes Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat Warm layers in cooler months Camera
Check out our Q&As
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What kind of accommodation can I expect during the tour?
You will enjoy comfortable accommodation with easy access to city centres, including stays at the Wyndham Garden in Christchurch, Distinction Heritage Gateway Hotel in Omarama, and Copthorne Hotel and Resort in Queenstown.
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Are flights included in the tour package?
Flights to and from the start and end of your trip are not included in the trip price.
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What is the level of physical fitness required for this tour?
A low level of fitness is required for this tour.
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What kind of transportation is provided during the tour?
Travel is in comfort with a specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide, ensuring smooth journeys between destinations.
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Are there any optional activities available during the tour?
Yes, optional activities such as the Fiordland National Park journey, Hobbiton Movie Set Tour, and other excursions are available at your own expense.
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What is the significance of Stewart Island on this tour?
Stewart Island is largely untouched, with 85% being national park, offering epic animal encounters and a tour through the Village and Bays.
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What cultural experiences are included in the tour?
The tour includes a visit to Te Puia's geothermal valley in Rotorua, where you will learn about Maori history and culture, enjoy a hangi-inspired dinner, and watch a cultural performance.
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Who will be my travelling companions on the tour?
The beauty of taking a holiday with us is you’ll have the opportunity to meet and travel with people from all over the globe.
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Can I join the tour once it has departed?
It is important to adhere to departure times while on tour for the comfort of everyone on-board, and to make sure no one misses out on the planned experiences. The coach will not be able to wait for you, and in some instances, if you miss a departure time you will need to make your own way to the next destination to re-join the tour.
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Do you operate a “single share” option and how does it work?
AAT Kings operated Guided Holidays have competitive single supplement rates available if you prefer to confirm your own room. Or we can match you to share with a guest of the same gender at no extra cost. If we fail to match you, we will accommodate you in a single room at no extra cost.
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How long has the tour company been trading?
Over 100 years
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What documents will I receive before I travel?
We will email your documents to you approximately four weeks before your departure date provided you have completed your pre trip registration using the My Travel Portal. If you’ve booked through a travel agent, your documents will be emailed directly to your agent.
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Low Deposit
AAT Kings requires a minimum deposit of 100 GBP per person or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 60 days before departure.
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Cancellation Policy
We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of aat kings charges.
Up to 60 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.
At 59 days before tour starts: Forfeit 30% of booking price.
At 15 days before tour starts: Forfeit 50% of booking price.
At 7 days before tour starts: Forfeit 90% of booking price.
At 1 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of booking price.