• 7 Dinner (D)
• 21 Breakfast (B)
• 5 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 22: 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. Internal flights on this itinerary may operate with a stop or connection rather than direct.
  Day 4: Melbourne to Ayers RockDay 6: Ayers Rock to CairnsDay 9: Cairns to SydneyDay 13: Sydney to AucklandDay 16: Auckland to Queenstown

Explore the Hobbiton Movie Set on a guided walk through its 12-acre landscape near Matamata. See the hobbit holes and the Mill, with opportunities to photograph details created for the world of Middle-earth.

Built into the rolling Waikato countryside, the set brings a fictional village into a real rural setting. The guided visit reveals how its carefully tended gardens and buildings create the lived-in appearance familiar from the films.

Cruise the Melaleuca wetlands at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures on an optional wildlife visit from the Cairns region. Look for saltwater crocodiles in a habitat of waterways and wetland vegetation.

The cruise introduces the environment these formidable reptiles inhabit, adding context to a close-up wildlife experience. The itinerary suggests pairing this visit with a Kuranda excursion; ask about available arrangements. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Ride the Kuranda Scenic Railway from the Cairns region through tunnels and across bridges to Kuranda, with time to explore the village’s arts and crafts. Return above the forest on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

The contrasting rail and cableway perspectives reveal the scale of Queensland’s tropical rainforest, from steep terrain to the canopy overhead. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Walk among the towering domes of Kata Tjuta in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, where ancient rock formations rise above the red desert. Enjoy sunset drinks as the light changes across the landscape.

Like Uluru, Kata Tjuta is part of Anangu Country and holds deep cultural significance. Its clustered domes offer a strikingly different perspective from Uluru’s single vast form, while the walk brings the desert’s scale and quiet into sharper focus.

AAT Kings

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a welcome dinner beside Melbourne’s Yarra River. A hosted walk to South Wharf introduces the riverside precinct before the group gathers at a local restaurant.

South Wharf’s former maritime setting gives this first meeting a distinctly Melbourne backdrop, with the river and city lights close at hand. The dinner offers a relaxed opportunity to get acquainted with the people sharing the journey.

Explore Melbourne with your Travel Director on a city sights tour and a private walk through its hidden laneways. Look for street art, small cafés and arcades that reveal a more intimate side of the city.

Melbourne’s lanes grew around its nineteenth-century street grid and have become gathering places for artists, independent businesses and coffee lovers. The guided walk brings their changing character into focus beyond the city’s broad main streets.

Watch sunset transform Uluru from a guided viewing spot in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, with a glass of bubbles in hand. Observe the sandstone’s colours shift as the light fades across the desert.

Uluru is profoundly significant to the Anangu, its Traditional Owners, whose connection to this Country spans millennia. Your guide provides context for the landscape, making the viewing more than a photographic moment in this World Heritage-listed national park.

See dawn light reach Uluru before touring its base with a guide. From ground level, take in the scale, changing textures and distinctive features of the sandstone formation.

Uluru stands within the ancestral Country of the Anangu, who continue to care for this landscape. Hearing about their enduring connection to place adds cultural depth to the sunrise and to the rock’s geological presence in Australia’s arid centre.

Try your hand at Western Desert art alongside an Anangu artist in the Uluru region. This hands-on introduction invites you to make a painting while learning directly from a First Nations practitioner.

Art is one way knowledge and relationships with Country are expressed and shared. Rather than treating dot painting as decoration alone, the experience offers an opportunity to listen, create and better appreciate the cultural context behind this recognised artistic tradition.

Cruise from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef by catamaran and discover its marine life by snorkelling or using the underwater observatory and semi-submersible craft. A tropical buffet lunch is served onboard.

This World Heritage-listed reef system supports intricate coral habitats and a remarkable variety of fish and other sea life. The different viewing options let you experience its colours and activity from both above and below the water, whether or not you choose to swim.

Go inside the Sydney Opera House on a private guided tour exploring the building’s architecture and performance history. Discover details that are easy to miss when admiring its familiar silhouette from the harbour.

Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the Opera House opened in 1973 and is recognised as a landmark of twentieth-century design. The tour connects its sculptural exterior with the working performing-arts venue inside.

Cruise Sydney Harbour while enjoying a lunch featuring local food and wine. From the water, take in the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge against the city skyline.

The harbour has shaped Sydney’s identity as a port and gathering place, and its coves and headlands reveal a different sense of scale from the streets. A meal aboard gives you time to linger over these views rather than simply passing them by.

Walk on the sand at Bondi Beach, one of Sydney’s best-known stretches of coastline. Take in the surf, broad sweep of the bay and lively beachside atmosphere at your own pace.

Bondi’s appeal lies as much in everyday coastal culture as in its postcard views: swimmers, surfers and walkers all share this Pacific-facing shore. The visit offers a close-up experience of the beach that has become an emblem of Sydney life.

Stroll through Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for a guided tour focused on First Nations and Australian art. Enjoy a Be My Guest lunch infused with native Australian flavours.

The gallery brings together works across different periods and artistic traditions, offering space to consider the many stories represented in Australian art. The garden walk and distinctive lunch extend the experience beyond the galleries themselves.

Take part in the interactive All Blacks Experience in Auckland, exploring rugby’s place in New Zealand culture. Exhibits and participatory elements introduce the game and the national team’s identity.

For many New Zealanders, rugby reaches beyond the pitch into community life and national conversation. This experience provides an accessible way to understand that connection, whether you follow the sport closely or are meeting its traditions for the first time.

Visit the National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa in Rotorua with a Local Specialist to learn how this native bird is protected. See aspects of the incubation and hatching process and, where available, newly hatched chicks.

Kiwi are a national symbol, yet they face serious threats in the wild. The hatchery tour makes conservation tangible by showing the careful work involved in helping young birds survive and supporting the future of the species.

Explore Fiordland’s alpine scenery on the journey to Milford Sound/Piopiotahi, with viewpoints including Mirror Lakes and the Hollyford and Cleddau valleys. Cruise the fiord with a guide beneath sheer cliffs and past waterfalls, including Bowen Falls.

Carved by glaciers and surrounded by World Heritage-listed landscapes, the fiord has a scale best appreciated from the water. Your guide can explain its geology and help spot wildlife such as fur seals and, when present, dolphins.

Taste Central Otago stone fruit at the Jones Family fruit stall near Cromwell. Depending on the season, sample produce such as apricots, nectarines, peaches or plums.

Cromwell’s orchards benefit from the region’s sunny summers and cool winters, conditions well suited to fruit growing. This tasting offers a direct encounter with a local agricultural specialty and the flavours associated with this part of the South Island.

Explore the Highlands Motorsport Museum near Cromwell and examine its collection of notable racing and performance cars. Displays include vehicles associated with Formula One and rare examples of automotive engineering.

The museum offers more than a look at speed: close-up viewing reveals the design decisions, craftsmanship and motorsport history behind the machines. Its varied collection gives both devoted racing fans and curious visitors something to inspect from every angle.

Visit the Church of the Good Shepherd beside Lake Tekapo, where its stone walls frame a striking lakeside setting. Look for the nearby bronze sheepdog statue, a tribute to the working dogs of the Mackenzie Country.

Built in 1935, the small church reflects the region’s pastoral heritage and is closely identified with Tekapo’s landscape. Its modest scale, set against open water and mountains, makes the setting as memorable as the building.

Join a guided stargazing experience in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve near Lake Tekapo. Use a powerful optical telescope to examine the night sky and look for the Southern Cross, Magellanic Clouds and Milky Way when conditions allow.

The region’s protected dark skies make celestial detail easier to appreciate away from strong urban light. Guided interpretation helps turn a view of the stars into an introduction to the distinctive southern sky.

Discover Christchurch on a city sights tour examining its changing urban landscape. See examples of the city’s response to the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, including the Transitional Cathedral and Turanga central library.

The Transitional Cathedral’s unconventional construction and the library’s contemporary design illustrate different approaches to rebuilding civic space. Together, they tell a story not only of recovery, but also of how Christchurch is reshaping its public places.

Meet the Bamford family at Hurunui Hills for a Be My Guest introduction to their sheep and cattle farm. Hear about farm life in the woolshed and watch a sheepdog demonstration.

Six generations of the family have farmed here since 1884, raising Merino sheep and Angus cattle. Meeting the people behind the property offers a personal perspective on Canterbury’s pastoral traditions, from wool production to the working partnership between farmer and dog.

Taste wines at Waipara Springs and enjoy a platter-style lunch among the vines. This boutique vineyard visit gives you time to sample local wines alongside food in their growing region.

The Waipara Valley is part of North Canterbury’s wine country, where vineyards sit among rolling hills. Sampling wine at its source adds a sense of place to the tasting, while the shared lunch provides an unhurried way to enjoy the setting.

Join your Travel Director for a celebratory dinner in Christchurch featuring produce from the Canterbury region. Gather with fellow travellers over a meal designed as a shared close to the tour.

Canterbury’s farms and food producers help shape the region’s dining traditions. A hosted dinner centred on local ingredients offers a fitting opportunity to reflect on the people and places encountered across Australia and New Zealand.

Watch the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, where little penguins come ashore around dusk and make their way towards their burrows. This optional excursion takes you beyond Melbourne for a wildlife encounter on Victoria’s coast.

The nightly return is a natural behaviour rather than a staged performance, so viewing conditions and activity vary. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Travel the Great Ocean Road on an optional excursion beyond Melbourne. Follow a celebrated stretch of Victorian coastline and take in changing views of the Southern Ocean and rugged shore.

The road winds through coastal landscapes that feel far removed from the city, making the drive itself central to the experience. Specific stops depend on the excursion offered. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Extend your evening at Uluru with an optional barbecue dinner in the desert region. This organised dining experience offers a chance to spend more time with fellow travellers in the setting of Australia’s Red Centre.

With the day’s desert light giving way to evening, the meal provides a different way to experience the atmosphere around Uluru. Ask your Travel Director for the available arrangements. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

See Bruce Munro’s Field of Light near Uluru on an optional early-morning visit. Thousands of illuminated stems spread across the desert, with a sand-dune viewpoint offering a broader perspective as dawn develops.

The installation places a contemporary artwork within the vastness of the Red Centre, creating a contrast between its small points of colour and the surrounding landscape. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore the Blue Mountains on an optional excursion from Sydney. Discover a World Heritage-listed region of sandstone escarpments, forested valleys and waterfalls beyond the city.

The area’s broad viewpoints reveal the scale of its protected wilderness, while eucalyptus-covered slopes give the landscape its characteristic blue haze in suitable light. Specific stops depend on the excursion offered. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Feel the rush of a Queenstown jet boat ride on an optional high-speed outing. Skim across the water for a more energetic perspective on the region’s dramatic scenery.

Jet boating is closely associated with Queenstown’s adventure culture, pairing purpose-built craft with the area’s waterways. The particular route and operator depend on what is available during the tour. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cross Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm. Take a guided farm tour and enjoy morning or afternoon tea in an alpine lakeside setting.

The steamship and working farm offer a gentler alternative to Queenstown’s adrenaline-focused activities, combining lake views with an introduction to rural life. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore Auckland on a city sightseeing tour taking in Mission Bay, Bastion Point and the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. Pause to appreciate its landscaped gardens and views across Waitemata Harbour to the North Shore.

The memorial honours New Zealand’s first Labour Prime Minister, while the waterfront viewpoints show why the harbour is central to Auckland’s character. Together, these stops introduce both the city’s setting and a chapter of its political history.

Experience Te Po at Te Puia in Rotorua with a guided introduction to Maori history and culture. Watch a cultural performance in the carved meeting house Te Aronui a Rua, view Pohutu Geyser and enjoy a hangi-inspired dinner.

Te Puia brings living cultural traditions together with Rotorua’s geothermal landscape. The combination of performance, storytelling, food and the sight of the geyser offers several ways to engage with the place and its people.