New Zealand Beach Tours

This itinerary was busy but completely worth it - it truly hit all the highlights in Australia and New Zealand. I enjoyed every planned activity and we took advantage of many of the optional tours. Some of my favorites were snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, tour and later dinner at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney harbor cruise, Hobbiton, visiting the Kiwi hatchery, and the Be Our Guest experience on the sheep farm. Don’t miss these! The hotels at each location were fantastic - very comfortable and more importantly, well placed for easily walking to sites of interest. Both our guides were fantastic. in Australia was energetic and always entertaining. While more subdued was just as fun and knowledgeable and I appreciated his insights as a Māori. Australia and New Zealand had long been on my bucket list and this tour with Trafalgar exceeded my expectations!

What a wonder-filled trip. Between the cultural education, the beauty of the landscapes and our great tour director and bus driver we couldn’t have asked for much more. It’s impossible to name just one memorable experience. The Bay of Islands, Mt Cook, Christchurch Gardens, Milford Sound and many more!

I picked this itinerary because it had the things and places I wanted to check off my bucket list - visiting Uluru/Ayers Rock, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, visiting the Sydney Opera House and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge (optional) in Australia! Optional means it is an activity you have to pay extra to participate in. It included 3 days in Melbourne where we had a Welcome Dinner the first day. 2nd day - city walkabout tour of Melbourne, the Conservatory, Shrine of Remembrance, Koala Conservation Reserve where we saw koalas and wallabies (optional) and Phillip Island to see fairy penguins come out of the sea at dusk (optional). 3rd day - drive along the Great Ocean Road (optional). Uluru/Ayers Rock - Got to learn about aboriginal art (free) and have a BBQ in the desert and tasted kangaroo meat (optional). New Zealand is really beautiful - one cannot capture its beauty accurately on video! In Auckland, we got to attend the All-Blacks Experience. Visited Hobbiton and Rotorua where we had a Maori traditional show, saw geysers and a meal cooked using the traditional method (hangi- sorry not sure how to spell it using the Maori alphabet) (bucket list). Also visited The National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua. We visited Milford Sound and went on a cruise. It was raining that day, so we saw lots of waterfalls! Missed out on flying over the fjords (optional) cos of the weather. Queenstown - went on a cruise on a steamboat (optional), missed out on Jetboat (optional) cos of the weather but went on the gondola instead and did some luging (optional). Visited Arrowtown, Tony Quinn motorway, Lake Tekapo (blue turquoise water and Church of the Good Shephard) and star gazing at Lake Tekapo. Had our Be Our Guest invitation to a sheep farm where we were hosted by and (lovely couple). Our last excursion was to a winery in Waipara where you can taste the best sauvignon Blanc wine New Zealand can offer. It was an amazing trip but I can't lie, it was also tiring - one has to pace onself! This was my third trip with Trafalgar so I knew the pace. Our 2 Tour Directors were great! We had *************** in Australia and ************** in New Zealand.

In spite of unforeseen weather conditions, the tour adjusted and adapted to provide a great experience for my wife and I, allowing us to enjoy a beautiful, varied and fascinating country and people.

Excellent tour, guide and coach driver. Tour guide had to revise trip while on the trip due to crazy weather. We still had a great tour and a good time.

Good balance of included and optional experiences, good variety and coverage of important sights, good balance of travel time - rest time - sight seeing time, great accommodations, smooth transfers, and awesome tour directors.