AAT Kings Spirit of New Zealand

Community spirit is strong in Christchurch, as youll discover exploring its streets at your leisure. Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers this evening.

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. Its 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.

Easing through the Waitaki Valley, youre en route toward New Zealands 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.

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 Hemispheres 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.

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, its a magnet for endemic flora and fauna, as youll 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 Ackers Cottage before docking at Ulva Island to admire the bird life and native flora.

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.

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 its 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).

We know youll want to linger in Arrowtowns 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 dont get any cooler than this.

There arent 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 towns other beauty: pounamu (native greenstone or jade). Prepare yourself for Punakaikis Pancake Rocks and blowholes; they owe their existence to the thundering surf that will lull you to sleep.

Sit back and relax thats 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 Zealands longest swingbridge and Kahurangi National Park, a place of wild rivers, high plateaus, alpine herb fields and coastal forests.

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 at the top of the island inspires calm, its golden beaches framed by sculpted granite cliffs that all unite to create one of the countrys most legendary coastal tracks.

All aboard 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.

Tour Wellington's highlights before travelling 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.

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 Napiers 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.