Highlights

• All inclusive
• Fully escorted luxury coach travel
• 4 – 5 star accommodations
• Hotel porterage (we’ll handle your luggage for you!)
• Welcome Reception

Inclusions

• Accommodation – Melbourne – Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne (3 Nights), Uluru (Ayers Rock) – Desert Gardens Hotel (2), Cairns – Hilton Hotel Cairns (3), Sydney – Intercontinental Hotel Sydney (4), Auckland – The Grand by SkyCity (2), Rotorua – Millennium Hotel Rotorua (1), Queenstown – Millennium Hotel Queenstown (3), Lake Tekapo – Peppers Bluewater Resort (1), Christchurch – Distinction Christchurch Hotel (2)
• Meals – 21 Full Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 2 ‘Be My Guest’ lunches, 4 Dinners with Wine, 4 Highlight Dinners, 1 Farewell Dinner
• US Domestic Flights – (Not included, but can be added to your quote)
• International Flights – Los Angeles to Melbourne, Christchurch to Los Angeles (Not included, but can be added to your quote)
• Internal Flights – Melbourne to Ayers Rock, Ayers Rock to Cairns, Cairns to Sydney, Sydney to Auckland, Auckland to Queenstown
• Day Tours – Melbourne: Laneways Walking Tour; Uluru (Ayers Rock): Uluru Sunset Tour & Viewing, Uluru Sunrise Viewing, Kata Tjuta Walking Tour, Field of Light Morning Tour, Western Desert Art Experience; Cairns: Great Barrier Reef Cruise; Sydney: Harbor Dinner Cruise, Sydney Opera House Tour, Bondi Life Saving Club; Auckland: City Sights Tour; Rotorua: Rainbow Springs Nature Park Tour, Te Pa Maori Experience, Hobbiton Movie Set Tour; Queenstown: Milford Sound Cruise, Arrowtown and Cromwell Historic Towns; Lake Tekapo: Mount Cook Sightseeing, Southern Skies Astronomy Tour; Christchurch: City Sights Tour
• Transfers – Airport to Hotel and Hotel to Airport
• All Taxes and Fuel Levies (Except where noted)

Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Welcome to Melbourne

On arrival you’ll be transferred to your hotel. This evening join your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner at a riverside restaurant. It’s a great opportunity to get to know everyone before your Melbourne adventure begins.

Hotel Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne (3 nights)

Dinner with wine included

Day 2: Melbourne

Explore Melbourne on a city sights tour then discover its eclectic laneways, arcades, café culture and street art on a private walking tour. The rest of your day is free. You may like to take an optional experience to Phillip Island to see the famous penguin parade or maybe you’d prefer to relax or even experience some of Melbourne’s well known food and coffee.

Breakfast included

Day 3: Melbourne

Today is free for you to explore the delights of Melbourne. You may like to take a full day optional experience to the Great Ocean Road to discover the stunning coastline and the Twelve Apostles. Or maybe treat yourself to a theater production or indulge in some world class fare at one of the city’s famous eateries.

Breakfast included

Day 4: Melbourne – Uluru

Today you fly from Melbourne to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The rusty red landscapes of Uluru beckon as you leave Melbourne for Ayers Rock Resort, your backdrop this afternoon is the world’s largest rock monolith. Follow your guide to the perfect perch to capture Uluru as the last of the day disappears, glass of bubbles in hand (of course). Witness and photograph the striking color changes of Uluru at sunset whilst enjoying canapés and wine.

Hotel Desert Gardens Hotel (2 nights)

Breakfast included

Day 5: Uluru and Kata Tjuta

This morning view the magical Uluru sunrise. Afterwards, gain insight in to the traditional owners of the land, the Anangu, as you tour the caves at the base of Uluru discovering ancient rock art and hearing stories of the Aboriginal Dreamtime. Travel through the desert plains to Kata Tjuta and take a walk at Walpa Gorge. Later experience a stunning Kata Tjuta sunset.

Breakfast Included

Day 6: Uluru – Cairns

Rise early to experience the ethereal Field of Light art installation. Wander through the paths surrounded by 50,000 hand-crafted frosted glass spheres of light. Meet an Indigenous artist for a fun introduction to Western Desert Art. Your Anangu artist will provide you with cultural insights, explaining the meanings of local totems and assisting you to complete your own painting to take home as a memento of your experience. In the afternoon board your flight to tropical Cairns.

Hotel Hilton Hotel Cairns (3 nights)

Breakfast included

Day 7: Cairns

Today is free for you to do as you choose! Perhaps take an optional experience to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures for an opportunity to encounter native Australian animals. Or maybe travel to the Daintree Rainforest, part of the oldest rainforest systems in the world, where you can visit the ‘village in the rainforest’ on the Kuranda Scenic Railway and return to the lowlands on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

Breakfast included

Day 8: Great Barrier Reef

Get ready for an experience of a lifetime – board a high-speed catamaran and cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. You can snorkel and view this natural living wonder up close (equipment provided) or stay dry and explore the stunning reef from the comfort of a semi-submersible craft, just one meter underwater. Enjoy a tropical buffet lunch before you return to Cairns. This evening enjoy a delicious meal overlooking the Cairns waterfront.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner with wine included

Day 9: Cairns – Sydney

Today fly to Sydney where you will have a free afternoon to do as you please. Join your Travel Director for a Highlight Dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Hotel Intercontinental Hotel Sydney (4 nights)

Breakfast & Highlight Dinner included

Day 10: Sydney

Go behind the scenes at the Sydney Opera House, discovering its architectural and performance secrets. The world’s most famous beach beckons this morning, with your chance to pad along the sand at Bondi with Sydney’s beautiful people. Worked up an appetite? A local Surf Life Saver will take you into the members-only Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club. Learn about this historic club and gain an understanding of the important work that is done here saving lives on the famous Bondi Beach. Next, a Be My Guest lunch with views overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Breakfast & Be My Guest Lunch included

Day 11: Sydney

Today is free for you to do as you choose. Why not take a day trip to the spectacular Blue Mountains for fresh mountain air and stunning scenery. You’ll see the famous Three Sisters rock formation and visit a Wildlife Zoo to see some of Australia’s cuddly native animals. This evening spend some time getting to know this spectacular city with your hotel located at Circular Quay.

Breakfast included

Day 12: Sydney

Enjoy another free day to explore Sydney at your own pace. Why not join a harbor cruise and see the Sydney icons? Get up close to Australian wildlife at Taronga Zoo, or explore the world-class restaurants and bars of the Barangaroo district. For a more serene adventure, head to the Royal Botanic Gardens, where you can explore sprawling lawns and stunning landscaped scenery set along the banks of Sydney Harbour. Finally, indulge in a Highlight dinner back in the shadow of the Opera House at Portside Restaurant. Because you’ll never tire of glimpsing this beauty.

Breakfast & Highlight Dinner included

Day 13: Sydney – Auckland

This morning you say goodbye to Australia and fly to New Zealand! This evening meet your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner at your hotel in Auckland.

Hotel The Grand by SkyCity (2 nights)

Breakfast & Dinner with wine included

Day 14: Auckland

Embark on a city sightseeing tour this morning. Travel around the waterfront from central city out to Mission Bay. Prepare your camera for the stop at Bastion Point and the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial, as you will get stunning shots of Auckland, the North Shore and the Waitemata. This afternoon is at leisure.

Breakfast included

Day 15: Auckland – Rotorua

Today, you’ll venture through Waikato region passing through Cambridge known as ‘The Town of Trees and Champions’ on your way to Rotorua. On arrival embark on an orientation of the area before visiting Rainbow Springs Nature Park for a guided tour of the National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa, the national leader in kiwi husbandry. Learn about the work being done to save New Zealand’s national bird, see kiwi eggs being incubated, the hatching process and newly hatched kiwi chicks. This evening your Highlight Dinner is prepared in an earthen hangi at the Te Pa Tu Maori Experience. It’s an eye-opening (and tasty) introduction to Māori culture.

Hotel Millennium Hotel Rotorua

Breakfast & Highlight Dinner included

Day 16: Rotorua – Queenstown

Your day starts with breakfast at Hobbiton, experience the iconic rolling hills and green pastures of the Hobbiton Movie Set as seen in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies before continuing to Auckland to board your flight to Queenstown. Tonight, speak with your Travel Director about dining recommendations in Queenstown.

Hotel Millenium Hotel, Queenstown (3 nights)

Breakfast included

Day 17: Milford Sound

Journey along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, over the Devil’s Staircase and along to Te Anau and its lake, the largest in the South Island. Experience magnificent scenery as you continue along this alpine highway to Fiordland National Park. Enjoy numerous photo opportunities afforded by the Mirror Lakes, Knobs Flat, Hollyford Valley lookout (Pop’s view), Cleddau Valley and the Chasm, drive through the hand-hewn Homer Tunnel towards the iconic Mitre Peak and the Bowen Falls before reaching Milford Sound. Enjoy lunch and a cruise on this wonder of nature. Later, return to Queenstown for the evening.

Breakfast & Lunch included

Day 18: Queenstown

Today choose from a range of optional sightseeing experiences. You could ride the world famous’ Shotover Jet or enjoy a cruise across Lake Wakatipu aboard the TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue lunch at the Colonel’s Homestead. This evening, join your Travel Director for dinner at the Postmasters Café. The historic cottage was once home to the town’s postmaster and has been a main street feature since the 1860s. Its old-world charm, complete with horse-hitching post, picket fence, beautiful gardens and hanging wisteria, has made it one of Arrowtown’s most photographed buildings and is the perfect venue for your highlight dinner.

Breakfast & Highlight Dinner included

Day 19: Queenstown – Lake Tekapo

Arrowtown and Cromwell are known for their natural drama; just as enticing is the tasty stone fruit. Today you will leave the alpine wonderland of Queenstown behind, traveling through Central Otago to the Mackenzie region with time along the way to stop in Cromwell, situated next to the pristine Lake Dunstan and taste delicious stone fruit at a local orchard. Continue over the dramatic Lindis Pass before reaching the Starlight Highway and Tekapo’s world renowned UNESCO Aoraki McKenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. This afternoon enjoys the views of Mt Cook before heading to the iconic Church of the Good Shephard. This evening, see amazing constellations that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere, including the Southern Cross, to the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. Your local specialist expert astronomy guide will enhance your knowledge and understanding of our Southern Skies as you admire and ponder the possibilities through our powerful optical telescopes.

Hotel Peppers Bluewater Resort Lake Tekapo

Breakfast & Dinner with wine included

Day 20: Lake Tekapo – Christchurch

Enjoy a relaxed start before heading north through South Canterbury, visit the charming boutique village of Geraldine as you travel through to Christchurch. Ever wondered what life on the land is like? Meet Angie and Stan Taylor, who have farmed this countryside for more years than they care to remember. You’ll hear their stories over a delicious lunch.

Hotel Distinction Christchurch Hotel (2 nights)

Breakfast & Be My Guest Lunch included

Day 21: Christchurch

This morning see how Christchurch is rebuilding after the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, and pop into the Transitional Cathedral in Latimer Square, the temporary home of the Christchurch Cathedral. It is the world’s only cathedral made substantially of cardboard! Take in the sights with an in-the-know local. This evening, join your Travel Director and Driver, and your new-found friends for a farewell dinner.

Breakfast & Farewell Dinner included

Day 22: Farewell from Christchurch

Your tour concludes this morning after breakfast. Your flights can depart any time today, and you will be transferred to Christchurch Airport.

Breakfast included