Best of New Zealand Holiday of a Lifetime

Kia Ora and Welcome to New Zealand! On arrival, you will be met and transferred to your Auckland hotel. Enjoy some free time to relax and freshen up before your afternoon city tour.  Join your Goway Tour Director for a city orientation tour including the bustling downtown and waterfront areas, and see panoramic views of the city from the Auckland Domain and the pretty north shore from the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Tonight you will meet your Tour Director and fellow travellers at a special ‘Welcome to New Zealand’ dinner with an amazing 360-degree view of Auckland at SkyCity Orbit restaurant.

This morning enjoy a delicious breakfast at your hotel before we depart Auckland. First, journey to Waitomo, where we enjoy a guided excursion underground through the Waitomo Cave Complex with its fascinating natural landforms including tiny glow-worms that shine in the dark like stars. After Waitomo, there will be a stop for lunch (own expense) and we continue our scenic journey through the rich farming country before reaching Rotorua, in New Zealand’s thermal heartland. Check-in and freshen up before this evening’s cultural performance and dinner.

This evening visits an authentic Maori village in the midst of Rotorua's ancient Tawa Forest and immerses yourself in the colourful culture of the Tamaki Maori Cultural Experience. It is an evening of ritual, ceremony, amazing Maori cultural performance, cultural storytelling, interaction and traditional feasting as you relive significant portions of New Zealand’s pre-European history and real events!

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From Te Puia, we are off to the Agrodome for your exclusive Wool Shed & Mustering Experience. Travel to the Wool Shed by tractor where you’ll experience a private demonstration of Sheep feeding, Dog mustering, sheep shearing, Wool grading & wool baling before returning to the main area. Spend time feeding the Alpacas and Llamas, sampling Kiwi juice and honey before a short tour of the farm for an introduction to the other breeds of sheep. Our day concludes at our hotel, where we will have dinner and relax for the remainder of the evening.

OPTION FARMSTAY – MUST BE PREBOOKED

For those passengers who have chosen to be guests of a "Kiwi" family tonight, your hosts will pick you up at the hotel at approximately 3:30 PM and take you to their homes for dinner and an overnight stay. After a hearty country breakfast the next morning, you will be taken back to the hotel to rejoin the group.

NOTE: We suggest you only take a small overnight bag and store your large suitcase at the hotel. You will need to check out of your room at the hotel in the morning before heading off on the Rotorua tour.

This morning after breakfast we leave the thermal wonderland and fly south to the mountain resort town of Queenstown (airfare not included in the tour cost, to be purchased separately). On arrival, we are met and transferred to our hotel. This region is home to the rugged, snow-capped Remarkable Mountains towering over the deep blue waters of Lake Wakatipu, fringed by poplars and weeping willows that form the backdrop to Queenstown - probably New Zealand's most spectacular and popular resort town. Magnificent scenery, lovely promenades, lake cruises and great shopping - there is something for everyone.

This evening we transfer to the Skyline Gondola for a scenic ride to the Stratosphere Restaurant, located at the top of the Gondola. As you dine, the panoramic view from the windows will captivate you. Enjoy a relaxing dinner while the sun sets over the Remarkable Mountains. After dinner, we will be transferred back to our hotel.

After a hearty breakfast, we depart on our full-day tour to spectacular Fiordland National Park and world-famous Milford Sound. Our route takes us along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, one of New Zealand's prettiest lakes, and through some of the world's finest vertical landscapes, hanging valleys, precipices and raging torrents surround us on our way to this beautiful Sound. The road follows through the Homer Tunnel and the Eglinton Valley to Milford and the famous mile-high Mitre Peak. Rudyard Kipling once described this Sound as the "eighth wonder of the world." Our cruise includes a picnic-style lunch and will cover the length of the fiord right up to the 1200-foot cliffs and thundering waterfalls. As our vessel turns at the point where the fiord meets the Tasman Sea, we will see how this majestic fiord, hidden at first, unfolds before us. The captain is an expert at seeking out playful schools of dolphins and fur seals basking on the sunny rocks. We return to our hotel in the early evening.

We have a full day at leisure to relax or to join one of the many optional tours and activities that are available (additional cost). Some suggestions are: get a thrill on the famous Shotover Jetboats; take a guided walking tour of the Queenstown Wine Trail including an underground wine cave tour; cruise Lake Wakatipu on the historic Earnslaw Steamer; shop in all the stores and boutiques in the town centre or just relax in the sheer beauty of it all!  If you haven’t prebooked an activity, your Goway Tour Director will help arrange the activities for you. 

This morning, we depart after breakfast, driving through some of the most scenic landscapes in New Zealand, We will journey through the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, renowned as the "most English city outside of England". We will make a stop en route for lunch (own expense).  On arrival to Christchurch enjoy an orientation city tour before checking in at the hotel. Tonight enjoy a lovely three-course dinner onsite.  

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast this morning. This is the end of your Holiday of a Lifetime. If flying out of Christchurch there is a transfer included to Christchurch airport to connect with any onward travel arrangements.