10 Day South Island Tour

10 days & 9 nights of South Island wonder!

Tour Description & Details

Suggested Ten Day Tour Itinerary

Our custom 10 day/9 night tour includes everything from the 7 day tour, all accommodation and the following, starting in Christchurch and ending in Auckland:

Day 1 to Day 6 – as per 7 day tour
Day 7: Queenstown: TSS Earnslaw including world class Colonel’s Homestead buffet lunch.
Hotel Novotel Queenstown Lakeside or similar.

Day 8: Private coach to Aoraki/Mt Cook. Glacier Explorers boat trip (Early September to Late May), or Mt Cook heli flight with snow landing if Franz Josef heli was cancelled due to bad weather.
Hermitage Hotel or similar for the following 2 nights.

Day 9: Aoraki/Mt Cook: Hooker Valley Track, Kea Point Track, Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, or alternative days for heli/boat trip if they were cancelled due to bad weather.

Day 10: Private coach to Lake Tekapo, Church of the Good Shepherd and back to Christchurch for return flight to Auckland.

Prices start from NZ$6500 pp sharing. This is a custom tour so the itinerary is totally flexible, and will be tailored to your exact needs as you require. Contact us and let us work with you to plan your dream!

Tour Time: 10 days and 9 nights
Tour includes:

  • Everything from the 7 day tour
  • Personal guide throughout
  • All accommodation, meals and activities described, plus TSS Earnslaw and Colonel’s Homestead, Glacier Explorers, Sir Edmund Hillary Centre, Mt Cook hiking (suitable for all abilities) and the stunning blue lakes of Pukaki & Tekapo
  • All transport on your own private coach and return flight to Auckland

Minimum two families (6 people) on this tour
Tour excludes: Free time activities in Queenstown and Mt Cook, although we will arrange these for you with pleasure!

Day 7
This morning we stroll down to Steamer Wharf and hop onto the historic, 100+ year old steamship TSS Earnslaw (the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere), for a cruise across gorgeous Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak High Country Farm. Walter Peak is a working high country sheep station on the southern shore of Lake Wakatipu and here we will be entertained with a farm activity such as a sheep shearing and working sheep dog demonstration, after which we get to enjoy a sumptuous gourmet BBQ buffet lunch. This is Queenstown’s hidden culinary experience, not to be missed!
The rest of the afternoon is free time, so you have the option of a myriad of adventure activities to choose from, to get your adrenaline flowing – sky diving, para gliding, canyoning, bungy jumping…the list is endless!

Day 8
After breakfast, we are back in our private coach and off to Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak at over 3700 metres, via Lindis Pass and the spectacular Lake Pukaki.

After checking in to the Hermitage we take a cruise on the Tasman Glacier terminal lake for a fascinating glacial encounter. We will cruise the rapidly growing terminal lake taking in spectacular mountain views and scenery and see icebergs of every shape and size which periodically tear away from the glacier allowing us to touch and taste the 300 to 500 year old glacial ice!

Day 9
On our second to last morning in Aoraki/Mt Cook we get up close and personal with the awe-inspiring landscape of the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, on one of our best day hikes, by tackling the Hooker Valley Track. As we wind up the Hooker Valley past alpine streams and glaciers in the shadow of Aoraki/Mount Cook we get views of Mueller Glacier, Hooker Lake and majestic Aoraki/Mount Cook itself. In late Spring we’ll also see the Mt Cook buttercup/kōpukupuku (the world’s biggest buttercup) and Mountain Daisies as we listen for the rumbling of avalanches from the distant Mount Sefton. We will cross over three swing bridges to get to the end of the track which has an amazing view over the iceberg-speckled Hooker Lake and up to Aoraki/Mt Cook and the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana.
After lunch we can take the shorter Kea Point Track which gently winds its way through subalpine grasslands and scrub to the Mueller Glacier moraine wall. This track passes through a landscape that was formed in 1913 and ends at a viewing deck with stunning views of Mount Sefton, The Footstool, Hooker valley, Mueller Glacier lake and Aoraki/Mt Cook. The rest of the afternoon is free time to be enjoyed at your leisure!

Day 10
After a leisurely breakfast, we pack up and board our private coach for the last time to make our way back to Christchurch for our return flight to Auckland.

We’ll have a break when we get to Lake Tekapo with a photo op at the Church of the Good Shepherd and a short drive around the gorgeous lake for some last minute pictures of your New Zealand adventure!

Goodbye New Zealand – Kia ora and ka kite anō! (Thank you and see you again!)

Four reasons to choose us

We are passionate about sharing our fabulous ‘back yard’ with you

We offer unique visitor experiences

We keep groups small and intimate

We are committed to sustainable tourism in NZ

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Contact

Geoff Dunne and Lily Sha
info@whitecloudtravel.com

 

 

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