• 7 Breakfast (B)
• 3 Dinner (D)

• Medium level of fitness required.

• Day 1: Flights to arrive prior to 11.00pm into Wellington AirportDay 8: 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

AAT Kings

Explore New Zealand’s capital on an orientation tour of Wellington with your Travel Director and fellow travellers. At Mount Victoria Lookout, take a short stroll to sweeping views across the city, its hills and the harbour.

Wellington’s compact waterfront and hillside neighbourhoods give the capital its distinctive character. Share a welcome drink with your group and get acquainted in a city known for its lively café and arts scenes.

Enter the Waitomo Caves on a guided tour to discover their limestone formations and underground passages. A quiet boat cruise beneath thousands of glowworms reveals pinpoints of light overhead in the darkness.

These glowworms are the larvae of a species native to New Zealand; their light attracts prey in the cave environment. Seeing the illuminated cavern from the water offers a striking perspective on one of the North Island’s best-known natural wonders.

Discover Auckland on a tour of the City of Sails, including a lookout near the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Take in views over the yacht-studded harbours that shape the city’s waterfront character.

Built around the Waitemata and Manukau harbours, Auckland has a close relationship with the water. This city introduction offers a sense of its scale and setting, from the central skyline to the harbours that have made sailing part of local life.

Visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands with a local specialist, and experience a Maori cultural performance. Hear why this place remains central to conversations about New Zealand’s history and identity.

The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed here in 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and Maori rangatira. Your guide’s perspective brings the significance of the grounds into focus, making this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® experience a meaningful encounter with the country’s living heritage.

Join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for farewell drinks and dinner in Auckland. This hosted gathering is a chance to share stories from your North Island journey over a meal.

From Rotorua’s geothermal landscapes to the Bay of Islands’ coastal scenery, the route offers plenty to reflect on together. The social occasion provides a relaxed close to the tour without requiring you to plan an evening meal independently.

Visit Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington to explore collections devoted to New Zealand’s people, art and natural world. Exhibitions addressing Maori history and culture offer valuable context for the places and traditions encountered across the North Island.

Set on the capital’s waterfront, the national museum presents stories through artefacts and immersive displays. This is an optional independent visit: any applicable entrance or exhibition fee is at additional cost, and you can discuss arrangements while on tour.

Unwind at Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa beside Lake Rotorua, where bathing draws on the region’s geothermal waters. Spend time in the pools and enjoy a restorative pause amid a landscape shaped by volcanic activity.

The spa incorporates Maori cultural perspectives into its approach to wellbeing, giving the experience a strong sense of place. This Rotorua visit is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour; ask your Travel Director about the available arrangements.

Walk through the Hobbiton Movie Set near Matamata, where the rolling Waikato countryside became the Shire in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. See the hillside Hobbit holes and carefully tended village scenery on a tour of the set.

The setting is as much a rural landscape visit as a film experience: green pastures surround the small-scale buildings that brought Middle-earth to the screen. This excursion is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Journey to Cape Reinga at the northern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, with a route that includes Ninety Mile Beach. The cape’s exposed headland opens onto a vast meeting of sea and sky.

Known to Maori as Te Rerenga Wairua, Cape Reinga holds deep spiritual significance as a place associated with the departure of spirits. This full-day Bay of Islands excursion is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour; ask your Travel Director about the available trip.

Explore the waters of the Bay of Islands on an optional trip to the Hole in the Rock, a natural opening in the sea cliffs of Motukokako, or Piercy Island. See the bay’s islands and rugged outer coastline from the water.

The rock formation is one of the region’s best-known coastal sights, shaped by the sea at the edge of the bay. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; trip details can be discussed with your Travel Director.

Discover Russell on a tour focused on the settlement of the Bay of Islands. Explore a small coastal town whose quiet streets belie its prominent role in New Zealand’s early colonial history.

Known as Kororareka, Russell was a busy port during the nineteenth century and a centre of encounters between Maori and European settlers. A guided visit adds context to the town’s preserved character. This experience is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore Te Puia’s geothermal valley in Rotorua on a guided evening experience. See steaming ground and the Pohutu Geyser, and learn about Maori history and culture through the stories shared by your hosts.

Experience a cultural performance inside Te Aronui a Rua, a finely carved meeting house, before enjoying a buffet dinner featuring hangi-inspired cuisine. The combination of living cultural traditions and the valley’s geothermal activity makes this more than a scenic visit.

Explore Whangarei at your own pace during a visit to Northland’s principal city. Its central precinct brings together public spaces, galleries and distinctive architecture, offering a glimpse of cultural life beyond the Bay of Islands.

The Hundertwasser Art Centre, with its colourful, irregular forms, is a striking feature of the city. There is time to discover what interests you locally; entry to individual attractions is not specified as included.