Tour Type: Premium Self Drive Tour
Duration: 12 Days
Tour Starts In: Christchurch
Tour Finishes In: Christchurch
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from NZ $3571 pp
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12 Day Southern Delight Touring Route:
Tour Inclusions:
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Day
1 |
Arrive Christchurch
"Haere Mai" Welcome to Christchurch - the Garden City. Upon arrival at Christchurch airport, you will be personally met by our representative & transferred in an executive sedan to your accommodation. The remainder of the day is at leisure to explore what Christchurch has to offer. The city has had 2 earthquakes in the last year, and as a result the central CBD district has been damaged. However many of the activites in and around Christchurch are still operating as normal, and there is plenty to experience and see.
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Day
2 |
Spectacular TranzAlpine, Franz Josef Glacier
This morning, you will be met again and transferred to Christchurch Railway Station where you board the TranzAlpine Train, described as "The Great New Zealand Rail Adventure". It is rated one of the top six scenic train journeys in the world. After crossing the huge and fertile patchwork farmlands of the Canterbury Plains, the TranzAlpine winds its way over massive viaducts, through spectacular river gorges and the stunning Waimakariri River valley. It tracks its way up and across the spectacular Southern Alps via the alpine village of Arthur’s Pass situated 737 metres above sea level. On arrival in Greymouth, collect your chosen rental car & drive down the dramatic West Coast, steeped in history dating back to the gold rush era of the 1800's, to the glacier township of Franz Josef or Fox Glacier for our overnight stay. (B)
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Day
3 |
Franz Josef Glacier
A free day of leisure to experience the endless opportunities that exist to take in the beauty of this special part of the South Island's West Coast. Take a guided walk or heli-hike to explore the spectacular ice formations; experience the thrill of a scenic flight and place your footprints onto a high alpine snowfield; feel your adrenaline rush on New Zealand's most scenic skydive; visit New Zealand's only White Heron (Kotuku) nesting colony; take in the scenery as you kayak the stunning Okarito lagoon or visit Lake Matheson, renowned for its mirror images of Aoraki/Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, New Zealand's highest peaks. (B) |
Day
4 |
Haast, Wanaka, 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. Travel over the magnificent Southern Alps to the Southern Lakes District. There is time to wander around the popular lakeside township of Wanaka before travelling over the spectacular Crown Range to the historic gold mining village of Arrowtown. On to Queenstown, a beautiful alpine resort regarded as New Zealand's premier holiday destination. (B)
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Day
5
&
6 |
Explore Queenstown & its surrounds
Enjoy two full days to experience this magnificent resort. Surrounded by majestic mountains, Queenstown boasts adventure activities in all forms, from extreme to relaxed exploration. Here you can take a thrilling jet boat ride, pan for gold, raft the white water rapids, take a wine trail, fish for trout, play golf or 4WD sheer canyons. It is also a great base from which to explore the Fiordland National Park, gateway to the awesome Milford & Doubtful Sounds. (B) |
Day
7 |
Drive to Lake Tekapo
Journey north through the historic gold rush routes of Central Otago to the Mt Cook National Park, a World Heritage listed site. Mt Cook is Australasia's highest mountain at 3764 metres. 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 (optional Ski-plane & helicopter flights are available subject to weather conditions). A short drive then brings us to the stunning glacier lake of Tekapo. (B)
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Day
8 |
Lake Tekapo, Hanmer Springs
Be sure to visit the tiny Church of the Good Shepherd, on the shores of Lake Tekapo, built of local stone and oak in 1935 before travelling on to Hanmer Springs, an exciting & picturesque alpine thermal resort surrounded by tall mountains. The village is renowned for its relaxing and therapeutic thermal springs. (B)
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Day
9 |
Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura
This morning, bathe in the hot thermal pools of the Hanmer Springs Thermal Reserve. For 125 years, this reserve has attracted people from all over the globe, seeking the benefits of its natural clean mineral water and the crisp Alpine air. Later, a short drive brings you to Kaikoura, a place of unparalleled wildlife experiences, located in a narrow strip of stunning coastline between mountain peaks and the Pacific Ocean. (B)
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Day
10 |
Whale Watching & Dolphin Encounter
A blend of ocean currents creates a habitat that supports an abundance of ocean species, from fish & birds to marine life. This morning, view dolphins up close in their natural environment as you go on a Dolphin Experience. Later, board your boat & enjoy the awesome experience of a 3-hour whale-watch excursion. This is a unique experience & sightings may vary from day to day. Giant sperm whales are the star of the show and are year-round residents. A typical Whale Watch tour may encounter fur seals, pods of Dusky dolphins & the endangered Wandering Albatross. Depending on the season, you may also see migrating Hump Back whales, Pilot whales, Blue whales & Southern Right whales. Kaikoura also attracts the largest concentration and variety of seabirds on mainland New Zealand including 13 species of Albatross, 14 varieties of Petrel & 7 types of Shearwater. (B) |
Day
11 |
Kaikoura, Christchurch
A leisurely drive back brings you back to Christchurch, the ‘Garden City’ regarded as the most ‘English’ of all New Zealand cities. Parks, gardens, historic buildings, the Arts Centre & much more waits to be discovered. (B)
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Day
12 |
Depart Christchurch
Sadly, your holiday is at an end and you deliver your car back to the rental car depot at Christchurch airport today for your onward flight. Here, we bid you a fond farewell and hope you leave with many happy memories of your stay in Aotearoa, New Zealand. (B) |
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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 |
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from NZ $3,571
12 Day Southern Delight
13
4.4
5
12 Day Southern Delight Reviews
Tour reviews from past clients of Relaxing Journeys for the 12 Day Southern Delight . |
Our hugest thanks to Jarrod for organising our fabulous tour - all done in less than a week! A tour consultant extraordinaire! Our group of 6 had a fantastic time. The Hyundai IMax was spacious, comfortable for all and easy to park too. The hotels were well located and lots had beautiful views and we were very well looked after. The tour gave us enough time to see plenty at each location and NZ is so pretty we have hundreds of picture postcard photos. We saw whales and dolphins, kiwis, seals, so many beautiful lakes and waterfalls, mountains and coastal scenes. Lots of adventure too with jet boating, help-hiking and horse riding too! A great family holiday.We would recommend you most highly.
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Value For Money
Accommodaton
Tour Pace
Our Service
Cathy & Duncan Hewett & Family (Australia)
Tour Date 09/01/2012 |
We had an amazing trip! From start to finish, it was spectacular. The whole tour was organised flawlessly. The accommodation was great, lots of space for the kids. We would have liked a bigger room in Queenstown, as we were there for 3 nights, but it was still a great hotel. The Thrifty representative was waiting for us when we arrived in Greymouth, so there was no worry about finding the office, this was one of our concerns when we read an earlier review. The car was perfect, no problems at all. There were plenty of highlights, the Dolphin Encounter was right at the top. Thank you for making it a wonderful holiday.
[More+]
Value For Money
Accommodaton
Tour Pace
Our Service
Silpa & Dhiren Jethwa (India)
Tour Date 19/12/2011 |
Absolutely 'fentestic'... We did a 12 day self drive tour of the South Island with a trip on the TranzAlpine train and had the best holiday!. The apartments were extremely high quality and easy to find. Possibly the Rees at Queenstown was my favourite - due to the degustation menu! The car was comfortable, the views were nothing short of spectacular. The kids enjoyed it all..even testing out the electric fence inadvertently. Kaikoura was a highlight....seal pups playing in the waterfall - magic!
Brigid & Peter (Australia)
Tour Date 14/11/2011 |
The tour was amazing and definitely appreciate your knowledge of the country , best route etc. The only difficulty was the hire car company. The Thrifty office was the only one not actually situated in the railway station at Franz Josef. The car they gave us was malfunctioning, so we had to return it. They advised us that it was the only one they had available and we had to take it to the garage to have it fixed! They eventually did make a call to head office and after some time and valeting another vehicle where we able to continue our journey. I was not impressed and would suggest you seriously consider using this company again. The accommodation was excellent and the service was superb, and I would definitely recommend your company to friends and family. (RJ - Thanks for your feedback Leisha, we will be looking into this issue. Glad the rest of your holiday was worth recommending!)
Leisha Burns (United Kingdom)
Tour Date 29/08/2011 |
First, the planning and execution went flawlessly. All of the changes were handled perfectly by Jarrod and all questions were handled very quickly. It was very nice to have one point of contact to work with during the entire planning and vacation process. Jarrod provided exceptional service and was very personable and easy to work with. Highly recommend that Jarrod be promoted to CEO or president of the company if he isn't already. (CEO - I just sacked him to protect my job!) The Tree House at Hapuku Lodge (Kaikoura) was the highlight of our trip. Throughout our trip, some of the accomodations were aware it was our honeymoon and left congratulation gifts in our room when we showed up. Very nice touch and much appreciated. Overall, we had an amazing experience and will definitely use Relaxing Journeys again if we return to NZ, and highly recommend them to our friends (RJ - This review has been edited for brevity)
Kyle & Nicole Schlappi (United Kingdom)
Tour Date 31/12/2010 |
Jarrod, we had just a fabulous trip! Thanks for your excellent planning and suggestions. The accommodations were uniformly lovely, especially the B&Bs - Hotel St. Moritz was a bit of a bummer because we had a room on the street side, but the hotel itself and the breakfasts were great! They tried to move us to the lake side view but indicated they were totally full. All of our B&B hosts were charming and hospitable, especially the Cheltenham House folks who gave us wine in the evening and the best breakfast to order we had. Colin and Chris at the Fyffe Country Lodge in Kaikoura put on an excellent gourmet dinner for us and 4 other guests (paid for by us). They were very solicitous and kind on the morning when Michael felt ill. All the hosts were interesting and each accommodation was unique . We did change our minds twice about the Doubtful vs. Milford Sound trip, finally taking an informal poll of the staff at the Hotel St. Moritz which tipped the scale. We enjoyed our long, foggy and rainy trip despite the weather. Were happy we decided to go to Doubtful especially after hearing they'd overbooked the Milford Sound trip so had been squeezed on the boat and had essentially the same weather. Thanks for being willing to change it. Overall the scenery was really more spectacular even than we had been led to expect. The sheer difference in topography was fascinating. We've done a lot of traveling around the world but this had to have been one of our best trips so far. Driving on the left was challenging but after one flat tire and a lost hub cap we did just fine. GPS never worked but we were able with the help of all the maps and the Information Centers locally to find all the B & B's. One thought -- maybe you could give more specific directions to some of these places in town as the addresses were so general. We appreciated being picked up and ferried everywhere but were spoiled by this so when we had to lug our suitcases around Greymouth to find the somewhat hidden Thrifty office we were a bit chagrined. Had to ask for help from kind locals. We're recommending your group.
Avis Elson & Michael Brockmeyer (United States)
Tour Date 06/11/2010 |
Our trip went without a hitch. Accommodations were great, hosts/hostesses were all wonderful (especially Bernie at Holly Homestead in Franz Joseph), and we had a wonderful time. Drank lots of great beer, ate lots of great sea food, and met some great people. The weather wasn't kind in Kiakora, we had to cancel the Dolphin Encounter, but we made the Whale Watch tour the next day. We did all of the hikes (treks/walks) we had planned (5-8 miles, 8-13 km/day except on the long driving days). And the country was gorgeous!
Gary & Elaine McMillan (United States)
Tour Date 01/10/2010 |
Extremely enjoyable. Well constructed itinerary. Good acccomodation especially the Tree House at Kiakoura and the Old Dairy. Thanks to Jarrod for all his help and look forward to my next trip to NZ.
Richard Elvidge & Julie Bowry (Australia)
Tour Date 24/05/2010 |
Had a wonderful time. Every part of the journey was well planned and well taken care of. It was truly a 'relaxing journey' for me and my wife. I have already highly recommended Relaxing Journeys to all my friends. I also want to particularly thank Jarrod Scharvi for his great service and professionalism. He was extremely helpful and patient in walking me through the whole planning process. Having a personal tour planner made all the difference. Thanks for making our honeymoon an unforgettable experience!
Jason & Juliana Young (Hong Kong)
Tour Date 06/11/2009 |
We had a fantastic time on our holiday. Right back when we started tailoring our itinerary the service and help that we received from Cam was first rate. He always got back to us promptly with revised prices and helpful comments as to whether or not our plans were realistic (in terms of travelling times etc). We were also very impressed that he remembered details on our final itinerary that were only mentioned in passing on initial enquiries some months earlier. We only had one hiccup (wrong hire car on pick up at Greymouth). Although this was a mistake on Cams part we were very impressed how quickly he set things right and made sure we were duly compensated. Even more impressed on reflection that he was probably dealing with this when he was feeling poorly. A fantastic, memorable holiday which was a pleasure to organise through Relaxing Journeys because Cam gave us very personalised service and made us feel important. Daily servicing of our Motel units was an unexpected surprise that we do not think happens in Australia at the standard we booked.
Kemp Family (Australia)
Tour Date 29/12/2008 |
Hello Craig, just wanted to let you know our holiday turned out to be one of the best we have ever taken. We loved the country, the people, even the weather! Your arrangements worked out perfectly, we were met on time and by very knowledgeable guides who had no problems giving us all the local knowledge we could ask for. The accommodation was excellent and the rental car worked out perfectly. We will certainly be coming back to see the rest of the South Island very soon.
Mike & Sharon Thompson (Australia)
Tour Date 26/05/2008 |
Greetings from Australia!!! Our trip (Southern Delight) was FABULOUS even when the weather was chucking it down and the waves were misbehaving. This was absolutely the best holiday ever and we enjoyed every moment of it. The accommodation was great, the driving tips and routes that that you suggested were amazing - Derrick and I had a superb time and just when we thought it could not get any better, it always did. Thank you very much. Hope to do the North Island in 2008.
Ann Cheryl and Derrick (Australia)
Tour Date 16/02/2008 |
We just returned from the holiday last Friday night. It was a wonderful holiday and we found everything booked and ready for us. I must congratulate you and your company for preparing everything for us...really excellent! Once again, thank you for organising the wonderful holiday. We loved the country and the people. We'd probably consider a trip to the North Island in the future, and will definitely use your company's services again.
Mathu & Lalitha (Singapore)
Tour Date 12/02/2008 |
Tour Prices
All tour prices are per person, twin share. |
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| Intermediate Car |
NZ $3,571 |
NZ $3,705 |
NZ $5,139 |
| Full Size Car |
NZ $3,621 |
NZ $3,756 |
NZ $5,189 |
| Mid Size 4WD |
NZ $3,764 |
NZ $3,899 |
NZ $5,332 |
| Full Size 4WD |
NZ $3,845 |
NZ $3,980 |
NZ $5,413 |
| People Mover (MPV) |
NZ $3,887 |
NZ $4,021 |
NZ $5,455 |
| Premium Full Size 4WD |
NZ $3,952 |
NZ $4,087 |
NZ $5,520 |
EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL OFFER
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. |
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- Frequently Asked Questions.
- International flights to & from New Zealand are not included.
- Single, Triple & Quad prices are available on request.
- If you would prefer a mix of the accommodation listed we can arrange this.
- For families we can also price our premium self drive tours using self catering apartments.
- Our premium B&B's do not cater for children.
- 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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