Arrive Auckland
After clearing customs and immigration you will pick up your rental car from Auckland Airport and then make your way to your hotel in the central city. Auckland - the “City of Sails” is New Zealand’s largest city and surrounded by two harbours. Stay: Scenic Hotel Auckland
Day 2
Auckland to Waitomo and Rotorua
Continue south through Auckland and Hamilton today to Rotorua. On the way stop off at the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. For over 100 years Waitomo Glowworm Caves have attracted millions of people from all over the world. This evening you will be picked up and taken to the Mitai Village for a unique and unforgettable cultural experience. Be enthralled by the natural bush setting, see warriors in traditional dress, paddle an ancient warrior canoe (waka) down the Wai-o-whiro stream to see glow worms in their natural habitat. See your traditionally cooked hangi meal being lifted from the ground. During the cultural performance, you'll learn about our past, carvings and ta moko (tattoo art). Stay: Kingsgate Hotel Rotorua (2 nights) (D)
Day 3
Rotorua Sightseeing
Rotorua has been known for its geothermal activity for over 150 years now and today you are able to see, feel, smell and hear some of this wonder of nature. At Te Puia, experience the raw power of Te Whakarewarewa geothermal valley with bubbling mud pools, steaming vents and the world famous Pohutu Geyser. Take a journey into the heart of Maori culture, arts and crafts. Then take a ride on the new 8 seater gondola which climbs up the side of Mt Ngongotaha and experience Rotorua's most spectacular views with Skyline Skyrides. This is a fun, all age, all weather attraction with views of the City and Lake Rotorua. You can have lunch here at the café or restaurant, and enjoy the fresh air a little more if you decide to ride a cart down the Luge. At the end of the day you can relax at the Polynesian Spa where you have the choice of 7 hot mineral spring pools – or upgrade to some wonderful treatments from the Spa such as the Aix Massage.
Day 4
Rotorua to Taupo & Napier
Today you head east to Napier. From here you have quite a variety of scenery as you ascend to the volcanic plateau then across mountains and valleys to Hawke’s Bay. Make your way to Napier city which was destroyed by an earthquake and fire in 1931. Napier was rebuilt in the Art Deco style and is known as one of the best Art Deco cities of the world. Art Deco tours are available, and you can also take a walk along Marine Parade or up Bluff Hill to enjoy the fabulous vista from there. Alternatively you can leave Rotorua early and get to Napier in time to go on one of the tours to the Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony. Stay: Quality Inn Napier
Day 5
Hawke’s Bay to Wairarapa
Today’s route has you driving through some of New Zealand’s rural heartland with a mixture of sheep, dairy and crop farming. A good place to stop is the Pukaha Mount Bruce Nature and Wildlife reserve. Experience some of New Zealand’s endangered wildlife up close and in the wild. Learn about what is being done to save kiwi, tuatara, kokako, kaka and return them to our forest. Make your way down the ancient river valley of the Wairarapa through the farming towns of Masterton, Carterton and Greytown before staying in Martinborough for the night. Stay: The Claremont
Day 6
Wairarapa to Wellington
You may like to have a wander around the village which has become well known for its wineries before heading over the Rimutaka Ranges in to New Zealand’s Capital – the harbour city of Wellington. Take a drive up Mount Victoria or a ride up the Cable Car to get some magnificent views of this pretty city. You may also like to have a walk around Oriental Bay, visit Te Papa the Museum of New Zealand, or spend some time shopping or dining in one of the many fine restaurants down town. Stay: Ibis Wellington
Day 7
Wellington to Picton and Nelson
You have very little driving this morning as you drop your car at the Interislander
Ferry Terminal ready to cross the Cook Strait to the South Island. You’ll have a great view of Wellington and the harbour – you can choose to be inside or outside on the ferry. Now you will be crossing Cook Strait, named in honour of Captain Cook in 1770 when he discovered that New Zealand was in fact two islands. The journey then takes you into the majestic Marlborough Sounds, all the way into Picton. Here, you pick up a new rental car. The drive to Nelson via the Queen Charlotte Sound is very picturesque and peaceful, so we recommend this route. You’ll join back on to the main road to Nelson, S H 6, at Havelock. The journey then takes you on to Nelson – the sunniest location in NZ and gateway to the famous Abel Tasman National Park. Stay: Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco (2 nights)
Day 8
Nelson and Abel Tasman Area
Today is yours for relaxing or exploring this lovely area. There are the arts and crafts of the Motueka and Takaka areas, or you may like to choose one of the activities available in the Abel Tasman National Park. There are guided or independent kayak trips available which can include a mix of kayaking and walking.
Day 9
Nelson to Punakaiki
Head south down S H 6 through Murchison and the Buller Gorge to make your way to the West Coast. Some different places to visit on the way are Murchison, Westport and Cape Foulwind. Stay the night at Punakaiki, best known for its Pancake Rocks and Blowholes - both of which are spectacular and a must-see when visiting the West Coast. Other activities include canoe adventures, horse trekking, caving and guided tours to name just a few. Punakaiki has many colourful local crafts people - jewellers, carvers, painters and potters. Stay: Punakaiki Resort
Day 10
Punakaiki to Franz Josef Glacier After a morning of sightseeing head south today down the West Coast. There are some neat old towns to visit on the way as well as some great places to photograph the scenery and take a look at the dramatic coastline, you have time to enjoy this area at a leisurely pace. Continue south through to Franz Josef Glacier. The terminal face is a mere 19 kilometres from the sea and just 5 kilometres from the township. Stay: Punga Grove Lodge
Day 11
Franz Josef Glacier to Queenstown
Today, view incredible scenery as you travel past the untouched native forests and pristine lakes of the World Heritage Westland National Park and Haast Pass to Wanaka. (You may wish to add an extra day here to break up your trip and to take advantage of the scenery and available activities like the Siberia Experience.) There's time to wander around the popular lakeside township before travelling over the spectacular Crown Range to the historic gold mining village of Arrowtown and then on to Queenstown, a beautiful alpine resort regarded as New Zealand's premier holiday destination. Stay: Copthorne Queenstown Lakeviews (3 nights)
Day 12
Queenstown at Leisure
There is a huge number of activities to choose from here in Queenstown – for the adventurous there is bungy jumping, jet boating, rafting and skydiving to name a few. There are also some less adrenaline producing activities such as a cruise on Lake Wakatipu, a ride up the Skyline Gondola, or even a great day out on the Dart River Wilderness Safari.
Day 13
Milford Sound Nature Cruise
Today is the day for your Milford Sound Nature Cruise with Real Journeys. (You have the option to change this to a coach tour with the Nature Cruise, or even to fly one or both ways weather permitting – talk to your Relaxing Journeys consultant about this.) Drive the unforgettable journey from Queenstown into Milford Sound. Located within the World Heritage Fiordland National Park, this region is rich with dense rainforest, lakes and waterfalls cascading from rugged mountain peaks. Travel through the Southern Alps via the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km tunnel drilled through a solid mountain of rock. Upon arrival at Milford Sound, board the Milford Mariner or Wanderer vessel for a spectacular and leisurely cruise in New Zealand’s most famous waterway. Throughout your cruise, a nature guide provides an engaging commentary about the magnificent scenery and wildlife. Keep a look out for dolphins, seals and penguins.
Return to the Milford Visitor Centre where you can then drive back to Queenstown. (L)
Day 14
Queenstown to Mount Cook
Depart Queenstown and travel through the rugged and beautiful landscape of Central Otago. Cross the Lindis Pass into the Mackenzie Country to arrive in Mt Cook National Park where you will find New Zealand’s tallest mountain, Aoraki / Mt Cook which stands at 3754 metres. But just before you get to Twizel be sure to stop off at High Country Salmon which is on your right – it’s an interesting stop in the middle of the country. Drive up the western side of Lake Pukaki to the Mt Cook National Park, a World Heritage listed site. The park covers over 70,000 hectares of breathtaking alpine scenery and is also home to the Tasman Glacier, the longest in the Southern hemisphere. A total scenic highlight, you may wish to see Mt Cook from above by taking an optional scenic flight.. Stay: Hermitage Chalets
Day 15
Mt Cook to Christchurch
After a relaxing morning, leave New Zealand’s highest mountain behind today as you head north through the picturesque town of Geraldine and across the Canterbury Plains, through to Christchurch. Be sure you make a photo stop at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful turquoise coloured lake. Visit the Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of the lake. This is one of the most photographed churches in the world made of stone and sand from around the lake. Stay: Pavilions
Day 16
Depart Christchurch
After breakfast this morning, please make your way to the airport where you will return your car in time for your onward flight.
Note:This self drive tour can be completed in reverse order, the tour cost remains the same.To view tour prices or to make an enquiry, please click on the Tabs at the top of this itinerary.Top
from NZ $3,16116 Day Visions of New Zealand104.35
16 Day Visions of New Zealand Reviews
Tour reviews from past clients of Relaxing Journeys for the 16 Day Visions of New Zealand.
We were very impressed. From the very first email till the end of the trip. Not a single hickup in the bookings anywhere which indicated to us that there is attention to detail in your company. The accomodations were very good and comfortable and all very centrally located. The rental cars were excellent and I loved driving in New Zealand. This trip was to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary and it could not have been a more appropriate trip.
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Value For Money Accommodaton Tour Pace Our Service
Robert Princen (Hong Kong) Tour Date 12/01/2012
We had an absolute ball! Even getting snow bound in Queenstown was a hoot. Although we managed to sort our accommodation during that time ourselves, Toni (our tour consultant) was ever there to support and swing into action should we need her. The supplied car (V6 Toyota Aurion) turned out to be an excellent choice for the challenging roads that New Zealand offers, plenty of power and good on fuel. Thrifty did try to push a 4 cylinder Camry on us at Picton fitted with ski racks but after driving to Nelson through the mountain pass it was not up to the job, heavy on fuel and underpowered. We were able to change it in Nelson. The Thrifty manager at the Nelson airport was very helpful when we approached him about the vehicle. In fact I can say that everybody we dealt with or met throughout New Zealand were wonderful. This made for a really enjoyable holiday that I would recommend to anybody. The route chosen for us exposed us to a real cross section of the country and people. A couple of points in hindsight; Punakaiki - not much to see or do during the colder months. The local pub was a hoot and well-priced food and drink but after a brief walk around the pancakes it was all over. The resort accommodation was the only place we had concerns about the whole way around New Zealand. The room was not prepared as all the others were. It was cold and musty. Could have stayed an extra day in the Glacier country -wow! That is magic. Milford Sound- we were programmed to drive to Milford Sound, boat tour and then drive back on the same day. That's a very big day by anybody's standard. An 8 to 10 hour day then leave Queenstown the next day for Mt Cook. By the time we got to Queenstown we were ready for a go slow and were looking forward to the 3 night stopover. There is certainly no shortage of things to see and do in this amazing town. After talking to the Relaxing Journeys people in Queenstown we chose to exchange our Milford Sound tour for an evening cruise on the TSS Ernslaw with dinner at Walter Peak. Really enjoyed this experience so all worked out well. Sorry to miss Milford Sound as it really deserves a proper look. Certainly on the 'to do' list for next time. There is a bus service that can be included in the tour, if we had known we would have used this service. Christchurch - glad we added this to our stopover. What an amazing community. A resilient bunch that are just getting on with it after such a terrible year. The experience was quite surreal around Lyttelton and Christchurch city. I wish them all well in the future. Our hosts at Halkett Lodge were excellent, very helpful and sent us out in the morning full to the brim with great tucker. I wish to thank Toni for an excellent itinerary, we all thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The accommodation (apart from Punakaiki resort) was above average. The service provided by staff also exceptional. A special thanks to Brad at Breakfree in Queenstown for all his help. We will be revisiting New Zealand again. Now that we are armed with a very good over view, our next Custom Adventure will be even better with Relaxing Journeys very much part of the experience. Thank you all for a great holiday!
Peter Jamieson (Australia) Tour Date 01/08/2011
We have had what we can only discribe as a holiday of a life time. It has been truly fantastic, what a wonderful country, fantastic scenery, good food and very friendly people. The organisation put in by you and the team has been outstanding. Everything worked perfectly except one hotel booking. We arrived and they couldn't find our reservation, it had been booked under the name of the person at Relaxing Journeys that made the reservation. It was soon sorted and all was well. All the other vouchers worked out very well. All the hotels except one were excellent. We feel we did make a mistake by going to the Ibis in Christchurch. The rooms were too small and very dark with poor lighting, nowhere to open the suit cases and no hanging or draw space. You can rest assured that we will recommend you to anyone who asks how we did it. Top marks, thanks to all the team at Relaxing Journeys that made it possible, please pass on our thanks.
John & Mavis Middleton (United Kingdom) Tour Date 10/11/2010
This was really a fantastic trip - the tour plan went off like clockwork, it was perfect, covered all the important areas and made us wish that time would not fly so fast!! The hotels that were provided were fantastic, the rental cars - agency folks were thoroughly professional and it was a super fast service. There was really no room for any complaints. I do have one suggestion - for those who do not read up adequately before they travel, once the tour is finalized, you could look at providing a list of things to definitely do at each location. This will help a first time traveler immensely. Great work, keep it going.
Mala Chandrasekhar (India) Tour Date 29/10/2010
We had a grand time in our tour of New Zealand. For nature lovers like us, New Zealand is the Garden of Eden. We found our time there to be both exhilerating and exhausting. Exhausting in that driving on one lane roads - on the wrong side of the road, was a bit wearying on some days. Although that really is the best way to see as much as you can. Exhilerating in that variety of scenery was stunning at every turn. We did get some rain and a bit of wet snow. The visit to Milford Sound was a constant downpour, but I suppose that one would expect that at that time of year. The big cities were emminently walkable. Terrifice museums. We stopped at some excellent wineries (although, again, the time of year for that was not optimal). We got to 7 National Parks, all fabulous. A thoroughly enjoyable trip and thank you for putting it together.
Rick & Casey Dowell (United States) Tour Date 08/10/2010
Our New Zealand family holiday was made so easy for us by going through Relaxing Journeys. From the moment we arrived at the Auckland airport, where all of our travel vouchers, itinery, individual booklets on the towns and areas we were visiting and a touring atlas, were waiting for us, until we checked out of the Christchurch airport, everything was so organised. Thank you for letting us enjoy our stay in beautiful New Zealand by not having to worry about the paper work.
Kelli-Anne & Lyall Brown (Australia) Tour Date 15/09/2010
Kia ora, we are now home from an excellent trip to NZ where we spent four weeks. Due to the volcanic ash over the UK we were advised by Air New Zealand that we would have to stay an extra week. Oh dear what shame! Anyway our self drive vision of new zealand tour was organised by Relaxing Journeys. On arrival in Auckland we were given a bag with all our vouchers in and a prepared intinery maps etc, which were very easy to follow. We collected our car and we were on our way into Auckland to our hotel. No problems. Over the the next six days we travelled down the North Island to Waitomo caves, Rotorua, Napier, Hawkes bay, we stayed at a great place in Martinborough, Aylstone Retreat surrounded by vineyards. Really great people reccommended. From there onto Wellington. I'm afraid we arrived on easter sunday where it was raining and everything was closed it was dead. Sorry but thats how it was. Monday we crossed over to the South Island on our 3 hour boat trip to Picton. We left the ferry picked up our car and were soon on our way. Next stop Nelson we took the senic route. We arrived in Nelson for a two night stop at the Arthur Wakefield Motor Inn. We took one look and you know this is not the place for you! God it was a shit hole. No way could we stay there for two nights! To say the least we were not impressed so we moved on we did not want to stay in that town. So we were ahead of ourselfs and ended up in Punakaiki a day early. Relaxing Journeys booked us a extra night in Franz Josef to bring us back on course. There were no problems the rest of journey and we enjoyed all the sights of the South Island. Brilliant tour reccommended. Just keep away from the Arthur Wakefield Motor Inn! To those at Relaxing Journeys thankyou for 97% of our trip, and to let you know that in Christchurch we were able to make contact with my wife's family which was a bonus. Great trip - thank you.
John & Valerie Hardy (United Kingdom) Tour Date 30/03/2010
Everything was fantastic. It was easy to understand the itinerary & everyone was so kind & willing to help. If we travel New Zealand again we would look at using your services again. Thank you.
Christian & Kristina Reid (Australia) Tour Date 05/01/2010
We had a fantastic time. All of your arrangements worked perfectly. At times we felt we're rushing off to the next location too soon or spending too much time driving (Milford Sound). Overall, it was a great itinerary. However, we would not stay at Bay Plaza Hotel in Wellington again (horrible bathroom with non draining shower stall). We loved Punakaiki Resort. The rest of the hotels were nice, too. We would love to come back to New Zealand. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Kia ora!
Neal & Kazumi Peterson (United States) Tour Date 17/12/2009
My husband and I returned last Saturday from our New Zealand Adventure (16 Day Visions of New Zealand, with some add-ons). I want to tell you how much we appreciated the time Cam took to arrange all the details of the customized tour for us. My initial enquiry was responded to promptly; all my questions - and there were many - were answered; and additions/changes were made with professionalism and a sense of humor. From the time we were met at the airport in Auckland, until our last day in Christchurch, almost everything (except the weather some days) was perfect. We were pleased with our rental cars, meals (we weren't expecting so many cooked breakfasts), activities and most accommodations. The lodging exceeded our expectations in all but one place (pretty good since we stayed at 13 different establishments!). We were allowed to check in at whatever time we arrived. In most cities/towns we left the car in the car park and walked to restaurants, shops and attractions. It was so convenient to submit a voucher and get a rental car, lodging, transportation or admission to an attraction or activity. All we had to purchase were lunches and dinners that weren't included in the tour, petrol and souvenirs. The optional activities we chose were professionally run, educational, and a lot of fun. Cam's suggestions of places to visit outside our itinerary (Sky Tower, Maritime Museum, Puzzling World, Lower Hollyford Track, etc.) were excellent. We only wish we could have had more time at each stop! I have been singing the praises of Relaxing Journeys' wonderful service since returning home. I would say to those of you reading this who might be apprehensive about a driving tour if you're accustomed to driving on the right, don't let it stop you from driving in New Zealand. It's not as difficult as you might think!!
Marie & Peter O'Neill (United Kingdom) Tour Date 18/02/2009
2012 Season Sale! Save 5% off the prices shown on our website, for all 2012 departures. Deposit this month to qualify!
Valid for bookings made with Relaxing Journeys between 1 February 2012 and 29 February 2012
. Subject to availability at time of booking.
*Terms & Conditions apply to any discounts and/or specials above. Your designated tour consultant will apply the appropriate discounts automatically to your quote and detail any currently applicable 'Exclusive Specials'.
Self Drive Tour Notes
Prices above are per person & valid till September 2012.
International flights to & from New Zealand are not included.
Breakfasts are optional for mid range self drive tours, please select your preference when requesting a quote.
Mixed accommodation pricing is available on request.
For families we can also price our mid range self drive tours using self catering apartments.
If a property listed on our itinerary is unavailable at the time of booking we will replace it with a equivalent accommodation, and let you know, to ensure it is to your satisfaction.
Please note this itinerary was updated 5 July 2011.
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