• 8 Dinner (D)
• 17 Breakfast (B)
• 4 Lunch (L)

• Medium level of fitness required.

• Comfortable walking shoes Warm layers Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat Water bottle Camera

• Day 1: Flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne AirportDay 18: Flights to depart anytime from Christchurch Airport Airport to Hotel transfers are available to purchase on request. Flights to and from your tour are not included in the tour price.   Internal-holiday flights IncludedPlease note that prices include land and internal-holiday airfares, which AAT Kings will book in order to fulfil the holiday itinerary: Day 3 – Melbourne to CairnsDay 6 – Cairns to SydneyDay 9 – Sydney to AucklandDay 12 – Auckland to Queenstown

Visit the Highlands Motorsport Museum in Central Otago to examine rare vehicles from New Zealand’s motorsport collection. Displays include celebrated racing and high-performance cars, with machines whose engineering and design reward a closer look.

The museum offers an unexpected contrast to the region’s orchards and alpine scenery. From competition history to cars recognised from popular culture, its collection gives both motorsport enthusiasts and curious visitors plenty to explore.

Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge on an optional guided experience above the city’s waterfront. Make your way across the bridge structure for elevated views of the Opera House, harbour and surrounding shoreline.

Opened in 1932, the steel arch remains one of Sydney’s defining engineering landmarks. This experience combines its history with a distinctly physical way to see the city. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

AAT Kings

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over dinner at a restaurant in Melbourne’s South Wharf precinct. A short walk from the Yarra River brings the group together in a lively waterfront setting.

South Wharf’s former maritime warehouses speak to Melbourne’s trading history, while its restaurants reflect the city’s contemporary dining culture. This hosted meal offers a relaxed introduction to the people sharing your journey.

Walk Melbourne’s laneways and arcades with your Travel Director, discovering street art, café-lined passages and the ornate facades of the city’s grand boulevards. Look for the contrast between painted walls and the Victorian-era buildings that shape the central city.

Melbourne’s lanes began as service routes and have become places for independent cafés and public art. This guided walk reveals the everyday details behind the city’s reputation for coffee and creative culture.

Plant trees with a rainforest restoration team near Cairns and take a hands-on role in protecting the region’s Notophyll Vine Forest. Learn how planting native species helps restore habitat and strengthen a wildlife corridor used by local birds.

This rare type of dry rainforest is part of Queensland’s ancient natural heritage. The MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience turns conservation from a topic of conversation into practical work, with guidance from people caring for the landscape.

Cruise from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef aboard a high-speed catamaran. Explore the coral environment by snorkelling with provided equipment, or stay dry and watch marine life from a semi-submersible craft and underwater observatory.

A local guide shares insights into the fish and reef habitats of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, the world’s largest coral reef system. A buffet lunch is served on board, leaving time to take in the tropical seascape.

Step inside the Sydney Opera House on a guided tour of its performance spaces and distinctive architecture. Hear about the artists who have appeared here and discover how the building serves as a working centre for music and theatre.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, its sculptural roof forms have become a defining image of Sydney Harbour. The tour reveals details that are easy to miss when viewing this celebrated building only from the waterfront.

Cruise Sydney Harbour for water-level views of the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay and the shoreline’s parks, beaches and waterfront homes. Pass Shark Island and travel beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a close-up view of its steel arch.

The harbour has long shaped Sydney’s life, from its maritime history to its present-day ferries and foreshore neighbourhoods. Seeing its landmarks from the water reveals how the city wraps around its coves and headlands.

Explore the Hobbiton Movie Set on a fully guided walk through the green pastures of the Shire. See the Hobbit Holes and carefully crafted details used in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, including an interior Hobbit Hole experience.

Set amid farmland near Matamata, the 12-acre site pairs film-making craftsmanship with the rolling Waikato landscape. Your guide brings the fictional village to life while showing how a working rural setting became Middle-earth on screen.

Pause at the Church of the Good Shepherd beside Lake Tekapo to see its stonework framed by turquoise water and the Southern Alps. Take time to appreciate the modest scale of this lakeside church and its dramatic natural setting.

Opened in 1935, the church was built as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country. Its simple design and location make it a distinctive place to reflect on the region’s rural history and expansive landscape.

Meet the Bamford family at Hurunui Hills, their North Canterbury hill-country farm, for a hosted introduction to rural life. Enjoy morning tea, meet farm animals and hear about the work behind raising Merino sheep and Angus cattle.

Six generations of the family have farmed here since 1884. This Be My Guest experience pairs wide Canterbury scenery with a personal account of the skills and traditions involved in living off the land.

Watch the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, an optional excursion from Melbourne. At dusk, observe little penguins returning from the sea and making their way across the shore to their burrows.

This nightly wildlife spectacle offers a chance to see the world’s smallest penguin in its coastal habitat. Viewing conditions and penguin activity vary naturally. The experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit the Blue Mountains on an optional excursion from Sydney to see the Three Sisters, the sandstone formation overlooking Jamison Valley. Take in the escarpments and eucalyptus-covered scenery that give the region its distinctive character.

The mountains offer a marked change from Sydney’s harbour and beaches, with broad valley views and cooler upland air. This optional excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Take a jet boat ride near Queenstown for a fast-paced experience on the region’s waterways. Feel the acceleration and spray as the boat moves through a landscape of rivers, hills and alpine scenery.

Jet boating has deep roots in New Zealand, where the water-jet propulsion system was developed to navigate shallow rivers. Routes depend on the excursion available on tour. This optional activity is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise Lake Wakatipu aboard the TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm. Enjoy the lake and mountain views before joining a guided farm tour, with morning or afternoon tea included in the optional experience.

The historic steamship has long been part of life on Lake Wakatipu. At Walter Peak, the farm visit offers a closer look at the area’s rural character against an alpine backdrop. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit the Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne for a gallery tour and talk exploring the cultures, histories and contemporary lives of Koorie peoples. Your guided walk offers an opportunity to hear First Peoples’ perspectives in the heart of the city.

The Trust works to preserve and celebrate cultural knowledge while supporting living communities. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience connects Melbourne’s present-day streetscape with the continuing heritage of Aboriginal peoples in south-eastern Australia.

Cruise the waterways at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures near Cairns to observe crocodiles in a tropical wildlife setting. Keep watch for the reptiles from the safety of the boat and learn more about the animals that inhabit this part of Queensland.

The wildlife park is also home to Australian species including koalas and wallabies. Seeing crocodiles from the water gives a distinctive perspective on these powerful animals and the wetlands associated with Australia’s tropical north.

Go behind the scenes at Bondi Surf Life Saving Club with special access to this members’ club. A surf lifesaving guide explains its history and the work involved in keeping beachgoers safe at one of Australia’s most recognised beaches.

Share a Be My Guest lunch at Bondi RSL Club with views across the sand and out to the Pacific. Together, the club visit and hosted meal offer a closer look at Bondi’s community beyond its famous shoreline.

Explore the interactive All Blacks Experience in Auckland and discover why rugby occupies such a prominent place in New Zealand culture. Exhibits introduce the national team and invite you to engage with the skills and spirit of the game.

The experience places the All Blacks in a wider cultural context, showing how sport can bring communities together and express national identity. It is an engaging introduction whether you follow rugby closely or are new to its traditions.

See Auckland on a city sightseeing tour that includes Bastion Point and the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. Wander among the landscaped gardens and sunken pool, and take in views over Waitemata Harbour towards the North Shore.

The memorial honours New Zealand’s first Labour prime minister and occupies a prominent headland above the water. Its setting brings together civic history and the coastal geography that gives Auckland its distinctive character.

Join a guided tour of the National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa in Rotorua to learn how conservation specialists care for New Zealand’s distinctive flightless bird. See kiwi eggs being incubated and discover what the hatching and chick-rearing process involves.

The hatchery’s work helps protect a native species facing significant threats in the wild. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience offers a close look at the patience and specialist care behind kiwi conservation.

Explore the landscapes of Fiordland with scenic pauses along the route to Piopiotahi/Milford Sound, including Mirror Lakes and viewpoints across the Hollyford and Cleddau valleys. Board a guided nature cruise beneath the fiord’s steep cliffs and waterfalls.

A naturalist explains the area’s glacial geology and points out wildlife such as fur seals or kea when they appear. The cruise includes a picnic lunch and an immersive view of this World Heritage-listed wilderness.

Taste Central Otago stone fruit at the Jones Family fruit stall, sampling produce such as apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums when available. The visit offers a flavour of the orchards that thrive in this part of New Zealand’s South Island.

Central Otago’s sunny days and cool nights support a celebrated fruit-growing tradition. Stopping at a local fruit stall connects the region’s striking inland scenery with the food produced in its valleys.

Explore the southern night sky with an expert astronomy guide in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve near Lake Tekapo. Look for constellations and stars associated with the Southern Hemisphere, including the Southern Cross and Centaurus.

The reserve is recognised for its exceptionally dark skies and efforts to limit light pollution. Guided observation helps turn a vast field of stars into a readable celestial landscape, shaped by what can be seen from this latitude.

Sample wines at Waipara Springs Winery in North Canterbury and enjoy a platter-style lunch among the vines. The family-owned vineyard offers a chance to taste local wines in the landscape where their grapes are grown.

The Waipara Valley is an established wine-growing area, known for varieties suited to its climate and soils. A tasting and shared lunch make this a relaxed introduction to the region’s produce and vineyard culture.

Travel above the rainforest on Skyrail towards Kuranda, with views into the tropical canopy. Explore the village before riding the historic Kuranda Scenic Railway through the mountain landscape on the return journey.

The cableway and railway offer contrasting perspectives on Far North Queensland’s World Heritage-listed rainforest: one from above the treetops, the other along a heritage rail route. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Experience Maori culture at Te Puia in Rotorua on a guided visit featuring a performance and hangi-inspired dinner. Gather in the carved meeting house, Te Aronui a Rua, to hear and see expressions of living Maori tradition.

The evening also introduces Te Puia’s geothermal valley and Pohutu Geyser. With a hot chocolate in hand, take in the steam and geothermal activity that have long made Rotorua a place of cultural and natural significance.