New Zealand Hiking Tours

My husband and I went on a wonderful trip to New Zealand visiting both North and South Island. The trip was originally planned for 2021 but had to be postponed until this year. I prefer working with an agent, and Lindsay from our travel agency was extremely responsive, offering helpful options and suggestions. Even though the time we spent on the North Island was right after the torrential rains, we modified the itinerary to spend four days in the Taupo area and two days in Rotorua.

We hiked in the Tongariro National Park and part of the Great Lake Pathway, sailed to view the Maori Rock Carvings, and visited Orakei Korako geothermal pools and Huka Falls in the Lake Taupo area. In Rotorua, we relaxed in the mineral pools of the spa and enjoyed the indigenous Maori experience at Te Puia.

The next 12 days were spent on the South Island where we had sunny and warm weather! One of our favorite places was Abel Tasman Park where we went kayaking and hiked the beautiful Coast Trek. We continued our adventures with a memorable heli-hiking experience on the Tasman Glacier in the Mt. Cook region, followed by visiting the unique blue penguins and Royal Albatrosses on the Otago Peninsula and enjoyed a hike and cruise on the famous Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park.

We ended our journey with three days in the Lake Wanaka area where we kayaked, hiked, and visited some of the region's famous wineries.

We have just returned from a 6 week trip to Australia and New Zealand.  Our travel agents and their team at this travel company are personable, professional, knowledgeable and did an amazing job putting together our trip! Our collaboration involved several phone calls to discuss options and preferences as our trip was being organized as well as a pre-trip call to answer any questions.  Our email exchange was continuous and responses were very prompt.  We even received a call once during our travels to check in.  Our detailed itinerary was precise and accurate.  Every connection, tour, driver, hotel, etc. was on time and of excellent quality. While in New Zealand in Milford Sound our flight back to Queenstown was cancelled due to poor weather and we received a quick refund.                

In Australia we visited Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road ( a favorite of ours!), Uluru, Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef, and Hobart, Tasmania.  We only stayed a few days in Tasmania but would love to return to enjoy more of the wilderness outside of Hobart.  

In New Zealand we visited Auckland and then drove to the Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorua, and Napier.  Then we flew to Christchurch on the South Island and drove to Mt. Cook, Queenstown, and Dunedin.  If you are big fans of the outdoors, spend more time on the South Island.                                                                                                                 

Our agent selected beautiful and centrally located lodging that usually offered laundry facilities-helpful for a long trip!  The travel company also provided a suggested restaurant list that proved to be excellent!  We would highly recommend this company for your Down Under adventures!  When we travel again to that part of the world, we will definitely call this company.

We were a little hesitant to utilize the "independent travel" aspect, as we have always gone as part of a group, or we went on our own. When we couldn't find a guided tour that hit all our "must-do/see" things, I found this travel agency and our travel planner was able to customize our trip. We were given a book of vouchers on arrival which kept us on track. The transportation to excursions and from one location to the next was varied, which we really liked. We rode a coach from auckland to Rotorua, which allowed us to go by the Wiatomo glowworm caves, and also to the Milford sound. We flew from Rotorua to Wellington, rode the ferry from the north to the south island, rode the trains from Picton to Christchurch, and from CC to Greymouth, where we rented a car for the remainder of the trip. The car allowed us to see places on our own which were not part of our itinerary (Pancake Rocks, Fox Glacier, Mount Cook, Glenorchy).

Our travel planner made recommendations that were very helpful and much appreciated. The partner company was very cooperative and helpful when we needed to call them.  We arrived in Christchurch the night of the earthquake( a little shaky), and were scheduled to be one the Trans-alpine over to Greymouth the Wednesday after. We knew the Coastal Pacific was out (we had been on that last train in to Christchurch), so were concerned that other railways could be affected. They were able to do the communicating for us and let us know as soon as they found out when the train was operating again. I received an e-mail from our travel planner checking on us in CC. As it turned out, none of our itinerary was altered, but I feel confident that our travel planner and her partners would have handled any changes that were needed. Excellent service and wonderful trip!!