New Zealand
Kiwis and Kokakos

Sunday 21 November - Saturday 11 December 2010 (21 days)
Sunday 20 November - Saturday 10 December 2011 (21 days)

Brace yourselves for breathtaking scenery and some of the world's most fascinating endemic birds and flowers, on one of the most exciting wildlife adventures we offer. New Zealand is justly famed for its stunningly beautiful and varied landscape of coastline, forests, mountains and fjords, and its hard-to-match array of endemic wildlife. We've added a stay at spectacular Arthur's Pass, and a new Kiwi excursion to give us two chances to see this fabled night-walker!

download a report of one of our previous trips to this area click here to download photos from the 2008 trip (7.6 MB file)

A hundred million years of isolation have made New Zealand very much a world apart in evolutionary terms. The absence of land mammals has given its native birds room to adapt and move into the mammal niches, relatively free of predators. Thus they have evolved into a truly fascinating avifauna, including the famous nocturnal flightless Kiwi, but with many other uniquely-formed and often tame species.

The plants are also highly distinctive and we shall be seeing a splendid range of these as we travel through the New Zealand spring. And, perhaps best of all, there is the spectacular scenery. This ranges from the hot geysers and volcanic springs of North Island to the fjords, alpine glaciers and rushing rivers of South Island, dominated by towering Mount Cook, and culminating in the awesome granite peaks of Fiordland.

Our tour is a wildlife extravaganza, covering the islands from north to south, and visiting a superb range of the New Zealand habitats on land and sea.

In addition to a superb variety of birds and scenery, New Zealand also boasts good accommodation and excellent home-grown food and wine.

The tour has been devised and organised for us by New Zealand's foremost wildlife tour operator, Mark Hanger

Please note that the tour can be incorporated into your own private visit to New Zealand. We can organise your flights out on any days you choose, or leave you to make your own arrangements.

Accommodation: All hotels and lodges have rooms with private facilities except for the occasional room on Stewart Island.

Leaders: Paul Harvey & local guides

Numbers: Max. 14 clients

Prices:

2010 - £ 5,495
2011 - £ 5,795

Single supps.:

2010 - £ 745
2011 - £ 795

Deposit: £ 800 per person

The price is per person, and is fully inclusive of return scheduled flights* London-Auckland, internal flights as specified, airport taxes, full board accommodation, road and boat transport as described, incidental tips, and the services of the leader(s).

The price excludes travel insurance, optional tips to the local guide(s) and driver, Kaikoura whale-watching trip (which is weather-dependent), drinks and other personal expenses.

*For a price excluding the flights London-Auckland, Dunedin-Auckland and Auckland-London, please deduct £995 (£895 in 2010) from the tour cost. If you are booking your own flights please contact us first to check that the times fit with the current itinerary.

This trip will be operated in conjunction with Limosa Holidays.

Tour Extensions and Independent Travel
Clients frequently ask us to extend their tour by a few days or a week, and we have organised several tailor-made options including whole tours, at any time of year to suit you. We recommend a self-drive option as being particularly cost-effective: all the hard work of bookings is done for you, and you'll get a detailed information pack giving precise directions to the best wildlife spots. Please contact us for more information.

New Zealand map

Outline Itinerary
Days 1-2 We take a scheduled flight from London - Auckland.
Day 3We arrive in the late morning or early afternoon at Auckland International Airport. Later we depart for the majestic ancient Kauri forests in the Waitakere Ranges. Overnight Auckland
Day 4Today we head for one of New Zealand's best spots for endemics, Tiri Tiri Matangi Island. Overnight Auckland
Day 5We travel down to Miranda, an area of saltmarsh and tidal mudflats on the Firth of Thames, a large bay to the south-west of Auckland. Overnight Taupo
Day 6An early morning start takes us to the so-called 'dinosaur forests' of Pureora. Overnight Tongariro
Day 7The rare Blue Duck still clings precariously to the headwaters of rivers in this region, and we may be lucky with them, as on our last three trips. We continue south to New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Here, we embark on a three-hour ferry trip across Cook Strait to Picton in the South Island. Overnight Picton
Day 8The only way to explore the Marlborough Sounds is by charter vessel - so that's just what we will use today. Late afternoon we travel down the east coastline to the Kaikoura Peninsula where we stay for two nights. Overnight Kaikoura
Day 9Today's pelagic seabird trip is one of the best we know of anywhere in the world for getting close views of birds in their marine environment. Kaikoura is even more famous for its whale-watching trips and is probably the best place in the world to get close to a Sperm Whale. Overnight Kaikoura
Day 10Today we travel down the Kaikoura coast and across the northern Canterbury Plains to the superb mountain scenery of Arthur's Pass National Park. Overnight Arthur's Pass
Day 11We travel down to the west coast, hoping for a glimpse of Mount Cook on a rare fine day! We continue south to Franz Joseph, a small town set amongst the glaciers and rainforests of Westland. Overnight Franz Joseph
Day 12We continue further down Westland's battered coastline, stopping for a short walk up to Fox Glacier, amidst glacially-carved mountain scenery, where we'll no doubt encounter the mountain parrot, Kea, and hope to see New Zealand Falcon. Overnight Haast
Day 13We turn inland to cross the Haast Pass. Here in the Southern Beech Forest we have our first opportunity to hear and see the rare Yellowhead along with Brown Creeper. Overnight Lake Ohau
Day 14Further opportunities to enjoy the inland waterbirds will be followed by a visit to the national park surrounding New Zealand's highest peak, Mount Cook, towering to 3,764m. Overnight Lake Ohau
Day 15We continue to Dunedin and drive down the Otago Peninsula, stopping to look for shorebirds. In the afternoon we cruise down Otago Harbour to Taiaroa Head, with its colonies of Royal Albatross. Overnight Dunedin
Day 16In the afternoon we fly across to Stewart Island for a two-night stay. In the evening we'll meet up with a local guide for one of the most memorable night-birding encounters you'll ever experience - a quest for Brown Kiwi. Overnight Stewart Island
Day 17Today our charter vessel will take us around the coast of Stewart Island and then out into the Pacific Ocean for seabirds. Overnight Stewart Island
Day 18After an early morning flight back to Invercargill, we depart for Fiordland National Park, New Zealand's largest and grandest national park, where we stay for two nights. The landscapes are unrivalled in New Zealand. Overnight Te Anau Downs
Day 19As a grand finale to the trip, we take a cruise on the fabulously scenic Milford Sound, with its sheer cliffs of granite, and dramatic waterfalls. Overnight Te Anau Downs
Day 20 We return across the southern South Island to Dunedin to connect with our flight north to Auckland and our homeward flight, arriving in London on Day 21.

Click here for a full, printable itinerary