AAT Kings

• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 3 Dinner (D)

• Day 1: Flights to arrive prior to 4.00pm into Wellington AirportDay 10: Flights to depart anytime from Auckland Airport
  Airport to Hotel transfers are available to purchase on request.
  Flights to and from your tour are not included in the tour price.

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

• Medium level of fitness required.

Meet your fellow travellers over welcome drinks in Wellington, New Zealand’s compact harbour capital. This hosted gathering offers a relaxed introduction to the small group and a chance to share what draws everyone to the North Island.

Wellington’s café and bar culture gives the occasion a distinctly local feel. Set between steep hills and a busy waterfront, the city makes a convivial starting point for conversations that continue throughout the journey.

Explore Wellington on a city sights tour and get your bearings in New Zealand’s capital. Take in a city shaped by its waterfront, hillside neighbourhoods and role at the centre of national life.

Known for its creative culture and independent cafés, Wellington packs a great deal into a narrow strip of land beside the harbour. The tour offers an introduction to its character and setting without requiring you to navigate the city on your own.

Walk Napier’s Art Deco quarter with a local Art Deco Trust guide, examining the geometric facades and decorative details that distinguish this Hawke’s Bay city. Hear stories of the residents and events behind its remarkable architectural heritage.

Much of Napier was rebuilt following the devastating 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Its Art Deco, Spanish Mission and Stripped Classical buildings preserve a vivid record of that era. This private walking tour is a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience.

Stand beside the rushing waters of Huka Falls, where the Waikato River is forced through a narrow volcanic gorge before dropping into a turbulent pool. Watch the water change from clear blue to churning white as the current gathers force.

Approximately 220,000 litres of water pass through the gorge each second, making the falls a striking demonstration of the North Island’s natural power. The contrast between the river’s colour and its sheer speed is the highlight of this scenic stop.

Go behind the scenes at a pounamu carving workshop and watch skilled artisans shape New Zealand greenstone. Learn about the care and techniques involved in turning raw stone into pieces intended to be worn, held or passed between generations.

Pounamu holds deep significance in Maori culture, where it is prized for its beauty and associations with ancestry and connection. Hearing its story from makers gives this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience a perspective beyond the finished carving.

Discover Auckland on a city sights tour and see why New Zealand’s largest city is known as the City of Sails. Look out across its harbour setting, where yachts and working waterfronts are part of the everyday scene.

Built around two harbours, Auckland has a close relationship with the water that shapes both its skyline and its pace of life. This guided orientation offers a sense of the city’s scale and maritime character.

Explore the All Blacks Experience in Auckland on a guided visit through the history of New Zealand’s celebrated rugby team. Interactive displays and presentations reveal the skill, preparation and team identity behind the black jersey.

Witness a performance of a haka, a powerful expression of Maori culture closely associated with the All Blacks before international matches. The experience connects a national sporting passion with the traditions and sense of belonging that give it wider meaning.

Tour the Waitangi Treaty Grounds with a guide in the Bay of Islands, where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in 1840. See the carved meeting house and an immense ceremonial waka while hearing why this place remains central to New Zealand’s history.

Experience a Maori cultural performance featuring waiata, poi and haka. Stories shared at the grounds illuminate the treaty’s continuing significance and the perspectives of the people connected to it. This is a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience.

Visit Te Papa Tongarewa on Wellington’s waterfront and explore the collections of New Zealand’s national museum at your own pace. Exhibitions offer insight into the country’s landscapes, history and cultures, including Maori heritage.

Te Papa’s Maori name means ‘container of treasures’, reflecting its role in caring for objects and sharing the stories attached to them. This independent visit is at additional cost and bookable on tour; any applicable exhibition entrance fee is separate from the included programme.

Explore Hawke’s Bay’s wineries on an optional tour through one of New Zealand’s established wine regions. Discover the vineyard landscape surrounding Napier and, where offered on the selected tour, sample wines produced in the area.

Hawke’s Bay is known for its varied growing conditions and a wine tradition that stretches back to the nineteenth century. The experience offers a different perspective on the region beyond Napier’s architecture. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit the Hawke’s Bay gannet colony on an optional wildlife tour and observe these striking seabirds in their coastal breeding habitat. Watch their long wings, close-packed nests and movements between the colony and the sea.

The colony at Cape Kidnappers is among the world’s largest accessible mainland nesting sites for Australasian gannets. Conditions and the birds’ breeding cycle shape what you may see on the day. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Unwind at Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa in Rotorua, choosing time in the thermal waters as an alternative to a more active excursion. Feel the warmth of the pools in a city where steam and geothermal activity are part of the landscape.

Rotorua’s hot springs have long been valued as places to rest and restore. Wai Ariki offers a contemporary way to experience that connection to geothermal water. This optional spa visit is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Tour the Hobbiton Movie Set and walk among the hobbit holes and village details created for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. See how a working rural landscape became the on-screen home of the Shire.

Set among the green hills near Matamata, Hobbiton pairs film-making craft with the contours of the Waikato countryside. Its carefully kept gardens and pathways make the fictional setting tangible even for casual filmgoers. The tour is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Take a scenic flight above the Rotorua region for a bird’s-eye perspective on the North Island’s volcanic terrain. From the air, appreciate the shapes of the lakes, forested land and geothermal country that are harder to grasp at ground level.

The region lies within the Taupo Volcanic Zone, whose geological activity gives Rotorua its hot springs, steam and distinctive sulphur scent. Flight routes and views depend on the operator and conditions. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Travel to Cape Reinga via Ninety Mile Beach on an optional excursion to the far north of New Zealand. Take in the long sweep of sand and the exposed coastal scenery around the cape.

Known to Maori as Te Rerenga Wairua, Cape Reinga holds profound spiritual significance as a place associated with the departure of spirits toward their ancestral homeland. Its headland also overlooks the meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise the Bay of Islands toward the Hole in the Rock, passing islands and open stretches of turquoise water along the way. The excursion includes an island stopover, offering time to enjoy the coast from a different vantage point.

The Hole in the Rock is a natural opening in the rock at Motukokako, also known as Piercy Island. Sea conditions influence how closely a vessel can approach it. This optional cruise is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore Russell on a heritage tour and hear how settlement unfolded around the Bay of Islands. Discover the stories behind this small coastal town, whose quiet streets contrast with its eventful early colonial history.

Russell, formerly known as Kororareka, was an important port and meeting place during a period of rapid change for Maori and Europeans. A guided visit provides context for the people and events that shaped the wider bay. This tour is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Experience Te Po at Te Puia in Rotorua, beginning with a Maori cultural performance inside the carved meeting house, Te Aronui a Rua. Encounter the sounds and movement of the performance, see Pohutu Geyser, and enjoy a buffet dinner featuring hangi-inspired cuisine.

Te Puia brings Maori cultural expression together with Rotorua’s geothermal landscape. The rising steam and sulphur-scented air give the evening a setting found in few other places, while the food draws inspiration from traditional earth-oven cooking.