7 Day South Island Tour

7 days & 6 nights of South Island wonder!

Tour Description & Details

Suggested Seven Day Tour Itinerary

Our custom 7 day/6 night tour includes all accommodation and the following, starting in Christchurch and ending in Auckland:

Day 1: Fly direct to Christchurch from your home town for the first night of your tour in New Zealand.
Hotel Ibis or similar. Dinner included.

Day 2: Tranz Alpine Railway to Greymouth. Private coach to Punakaiki and Hokitika.
Stopforths Motel or similar. Lunch and Kiwi dinner included.

Day 3: Coach to Franz Josef. Twin glacier helicopter snow landing and West Coast Wildlife Centre included.
58 On Cron Motel or similar. Lunch and dinner included.

Day 4: Coach to Queenstown. Breakfast and nature walk at Lake Matheson included.
Hotel Novotel Queenstown Lakeside or similar for the following 3 nights.

Day 5: Queenstown: Skippers Canyon Jet boat ride and Skyline Gondola with buffet dinner included.

Day 6: Queenstown: Milford Sound day tour and sea cruise including buffet lunch on board a luxury three-level catamaran.

Day 7: Queenstown: Free time before return flight to Auckland.

Prices start from NZ$ 4800 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: 7 days and 6 nights
Tour includes:

  • Personal guide throughout
  • All accommodation, meals and activities described, including Tranz Alpine Railway, Franz Josef Glacier helicopter flight, Skippers Canyon Jet boat ride, Queenstown Gondola and Milford Sound day tour and sea cruise.
  • 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 of your choice.

Day 1
Fly directly from your home town to Christchurch where we check in to a great hotel for your first night in New Zealand.

Depending on your arrival time, we can take a stroll around the city centre, see the earthquake damaged Cathedral, or visit the Earthquake Museum, all within walking distance of your hotel.

Day 2
We board the awesome Tranz Alpine train in Christchurch and travelling west, we cross the Canterbury Plains as the train slowly ascends through the spectacular gorges and river valleys of Arthur’s Pass towards the Southern Alps. We have a short break in a quaint alpine village before descending through the Otira Tunnel to the West Coast of the South Island, travelling through lush alpine beech rain forests to the small town of Greymouth.

Our private coach is waiting to meet us here and our driver will take us north up the ‘Wild West Coast’ for a wander around the incredible pancake rocks of Punakaiki, after which we head back to Hokitika where a great, home cooked Kiwi dinner and local NZ wine is waiting for us!

Day 3
After a traditional Kiwi breakfast we drive south to Franz Josef Glacier where we enjoy a twin glacier helicopter flight that includes a snow landing, with Glacier Helicopters. We will have a choice lunch in Franz at The Landing Bar (best fries on the West Coast!) after our heli flight, then a walk around the West Coast Wildlife Centre where we’ll see real Kiwi birds and live Tuatara lizards.

Free time in the afternoon can be spent trekking to the face of the glacier on foot, a dip in the Glacier Hot Pools, or just relaxing before dinner at King Tiger with local wines and a martini for the adventurous!!

Day 4
An early start will get us not far down the line to Fox Glacier where we enjoy a nature walk around Lake Matheson and a great breakfast at the Matheson Café. Lake Matheson, in the heart of Glacier Country and the Westland National Park, is famous for its reflected views of Aoraki/Mount Cook and Mount Tasman and is a traditional mahinga kai (a natural resource from the environment) for Māori people. The lake contains long finned eels as well as being home to many water birds.

After breakfast we are off to Queenstown via Haast Pass but we’ll stop to see the Blue Pools on the way, with another stop in Wanaka for lunch and a walk around this beautiful town. A fabulous photo opportunity awaits us at The Neck when we cross over from Lake Wanaka to Lake Hawea on the way to Queenstown.

In Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand, we check into our accommodation for the next three days and have a little free time in the afternoon before dinner at one of the many fabulous restaurants to be found there.

Day 5
Today we take a trip into Skippers Canyon, one of the most scenic and exciting roads in New Zealand, and an area rich in Lord of the Rings filming locations! This incredible road was carved out of the rock by hand in the 1860s to give miners access to the rich gold fields of the Shotover River, and has changed little in the intervening years. When we reach the river, we’ll board a V-8 powered jet boat for a truly thrilling ride through the narrowest canyons on the Shotover River! This is a must-do adventure for anyone visiting Queenstown!

Back in Queenstown we have some free time before we take the Skyline Gondola up to the top of Bob’s Peak for some fun and a sumptuous buffet dinner. Take in the stunning views as we ride the steepest cable car lift in the Southern Hemisphere to be carried 450 metres above Lake Wakatipu to the top of Bob’s Peak, where we’ll enjoy breath-taking views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Walter and Cecil Peak and, of course, Queenstown.
The Luge is an essential activity for the kids and you can also choose to bungy or take a zip-line trek amongst the treetops. After the activities we can enjoy a relaxing evening with some of the best of New Zealand and international cuisine at the Stratosfare Restaurant.

Day 6
Early on day 6 we hop on to a luxury coach to Milford Sound, New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination. You’ll experience the world-famous fiord in all its natural glory – surrounded by dense rainforest, glacier-carved valleys and beautiful waterfalls.

Leaving Queenstown we travel along the shores of Lake Wakatipu and into southern farmland to Lake Te Anau, the largest lake in the South Island. After a morning tea stop we travel along the lake and into Fiordland National Park to the picturesque Eglinton Valley, a place of ancient alpine forest and gushing waterfalls, and take advantage of the photo opportunities on offer along the Milford Road, like the stunning Mirror Lakes and Knobs Flat, where glaciers have carved their mark on the terrain.

Our glass-roof coach will provide amazing views of the dramatic skyline as we cross the Main Divide of the Southern Alps, with stunning mountain peaks all around. We stop at Monkey Creek and sample some of the purest water in the world (but watch out for cheeky Kea – native mountain parrots!) and travel under the mountains through the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km passageway drilled into solid rock.

At Milford Sound, we board our cruise and set off to explore the region that Rudyard Kipling called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. Travel the length of the fiord and out to the Tasman Sea, gliding past glacier-scarred rock walls and waterfalls that tumble into the sea. Lush native forest clings to steep cliffs, while wildlife including seals, penguins and dolphins are regular visitors to the icy waters. Mountain ranges surround the fiord, including Mitre Peak which rises dramatically from the depths to a height of 1,692 metres above sea level.
Our cruise will take place on the newest and most luxurious cruise ship in Milford Sound. This impressive three-level catamaran has extensive outdoor decks so we can get up close to nature and serves a gourmet buffet lunch featuring fresh local ingredients on board as part of our tour.

Day 7
This is our last morning in Queenstown before we fly back to Auckland, so you have the option of a myriad of adventure activities to choose from, to get your adrenaline flowing one more time before going home!

Queenstown is well known as the adventure capital of New Zealand and for good reason! Sky diving, para gliding, canyoning, bungy jumping (this is where commercial bungy all started in 1986!), white water rafting, canyon swings, hang gliding, skiing or snowboarding, quad biking, and a host of other exiting things you can do if you feel the need to get your pulse racing!

For those wanting something a little more relaxed, we can pop over the Crown Range to Wanaka, stopping at the famous Cardrona Hotel and bra fence, and let the kids explore Puzzling World while we stroll around this beautiful little town, do some shopping or just kick back & relax at one of the many fantastic coffee shops on the waterfront. Or we can pop around to Bob’s Cove close to Queenstown and discover a hidden gem!

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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