AAT Kings - Australia and New Zealand Panorama Itinerary

On arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel. This evening join your Travel Director for a welcome reception and dinner - it's a great opportunity to get to know everyone in a unique setting.

Included Meals: Welcome Reception - Dinner with Wine

Accommodation: Melbourne - 2 Nights

Join your Travel Director for a city sights tour that includes a private walk through Melbourne's famous hidden laneways. You'll discover the city's eclectic little lanes, arcades, café society and fascinating street art. There's time afterwards to explore the city on your own, enjoy an optional experience or simply relax and watch the world go by.

Included Meals: Breakfast

This morning you will be transferred to Melbourne Airport for your flight to Cairns, Queensland. On arrival join a private wildlife journey at Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Enjoy a boat cruise and encounter koalas, wallabies, birds, crocodiles and more! This evening is free for your to choose from the numerous restaurants that Cairns has to offer.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Cairns - 3 Nights

Get ready for an experience of a lifetime - board a high speed catamaran and cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef. You can snorkel and view this natural living wonder up close (equipment provided) or stay dry and explore the stunning reef from the comfort of a semi-submersible craft, just one metre underwater. Enjoy a tropical buffet lunch before you return to Cairns.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today is a free day to do as you choose.

A great option is the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway to Kuranda, be amazed as you travel over and through World Heritage rainforest, explore quaint Kuranda village and later board the Kuranda Scenic Rail for this historic rail journey.

If you’d prefer to spend the day relaxing by your hotel pool or sitting back at a local café you can do that too!

In the evening rejoin your travelling companions for a unique dining experience at Tjapukai Cultural Park. Hear dreamtime stories, witness a high impact dance performance and enjoy dinner with your local host to the sounds of the didgeridoo.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Highlight Dinner

This morning you'll fly to Sydney!

Following a leisurely start to the morning it’s time to switch the tropical vibes back to city highlights as you fly to Sydney. Check into your centrally located hotel and spend the rest of the day and evening exploring as you wish. Ask your Travel Director for sightseeing and dinner suggestions.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Sydney - 3 Nights

Discover one of the highlights of Sydney, on a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House. If there was ever a place that slipped from the pages of a fairy-tale, Wendy’s Secret Garden at Lavender Bay is it. Overlooking Sydney Harbour, this pocket of floral paradise is explained by a local volunteer – did you know this was once unused wasteland? Your visit provides a contribution to the ongoing maintenance of the enchanting garden. Explore Sydney’s inner west and enjoy a lunch with the locals at a pub. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

You could spend weeks exploring Sydney. Months even. But you have today, so get set for a wild ride. Your agenda is completely up to you, but we have more than a few ideas. Perhaps a bird’s-eye perspective of the city on a Sydney BridgeClimb? Maybe a ferry to Manly for fish and-chips on the beach? This evening, celebrate Sydney at dinner beside the harbour.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine

This morning say farewell to Sydney and fly to Queenstown. Get your bearings on an orientation tour. This evening, join your Travel Director for dinner at The Boatshed, set in the historic New Zealand Railways Shipping Office built in 1936. Restored and relocated to its lakefront setting, The Boatshed, with its spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range, is the perfect setting for your Highlight Dinner.

**(airfare is not included and must be booked in addition to this itinerary - please contact us to confirm the most up to date details).

Meals: Breakfast, Highlight Dinner

Accommodation: Queenstown - 3 nights

Get the feel for real country life at a Be My Guest experience with your host, Southern Girl Laura, who was born and raised on a sheep farm in the deep south of New Zealand. Try your hand at sheep mustering, whip cracking as well as the chance to feed and pet the farm animals. Laura is sure you’ll leave feeling more like a local than a visitor.

Meals: Breakfast

Explore Queenstown your way! Go wild with a jet boat ride or white water rafting. For the less adventurous there is a wine and garden tour, play a round of golf, or just enjoy wandering through the town and botanic gardens. 

This evening join your Travel Director for dinner at The Boatshed, set in the historic Railway Shipping Office built-in 1936. Restored and relocated to its lakefront setting, The Boatshed with its spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, is the perfect venue for your Highlights dinner this evening.

Meals: Breakfast

Today we depart the adventure capital of New Zealand Queenstown and head north to the City of Sails, Auckland. This evening, why not dine at one of the many eateries on Federal Street, a hotspot for food lovers right on your doorstep. With an impressive accolade of awards between them, there is something to suit every taste at Federal Street.

Included Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Auckland - 1 night

Today we journey south through the King Country region which was at the centre of the New Zealand Wars in the 1860’s. Join our 'Local Specialist' in a starry wonderland - a cavernous galaxy of twinkling bright green and blue glow-worms that light up the Ruakuri Caves, Waitomo. This evening, we join our hosts at the Mitai Maori Village for an authentic introduction to Maori culture, experience a delicious Hangi feast and cultural performance.

Meals: Breakfast, Highlight Dinner

Accommodation: Rotorua - 2 nights

Cute and cuddly, NZ’s national bird, the kiwi, is also endangered. Go behind the scenes on a working kiwi nursery and hatchery to learn how breeding programs are helping the population thrive. The natural drama reaches boiling point at Whakarewarewa, a geothermal reserve and the country’s only living Māori village, home to famous Pohutu Geyser and the bubbling beauty of mud pools. Cap off your day at a Farewell Dinner with your Travel Director and companions.

Meals: Breakfast, Farewell Dinner

 

Haere rā and Bon Voyage!

We are sure you will enjoy this tour and our promise is to make your travels through Australia and New Zealand as hassle-free and hospitable as possible - ensuring that today you leave with a memory card full of photos, and huge smiles on your faces when recalling your time Downunder! Have a great homeward journey, farewell and hope to see you again soon.

Meals: Breakfast

Itinerary Variations – the provider strives to improve trip itineraries. If improvements can be made, or if circumstances beyond their control make changes necessary, the provider reserves the right to vary itineraries and to make substitutions. 

Included Highlights 

• Local Connection

 From city life in Sydney to farm life in New Zealand, go behind the scenes while meeting passionate locals. How does an exclusive backstage tour of the Opera House sound?

• Cultural Immersion

Say goodbye to the run-of-the-mill barbecue and have your meal prepared underground in a hangi, a traditional Indigenous experience at Mitai Maori Village.

• Sustainable Footprints

Operation Nest Egg may sound like it’s from a Bond movie, but it’s actually a way that the National Kiwi Hatchery is helping boost the population of kiwi birds in the wild. Your visit helps.

• Wildlife & Nature

Cairns is a place two World Heritage Sites meet: The Wet Tropics of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef. Bring your sense of adventure to explore both.

Inclusions

• Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide
• 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House
• Centrally located premium hotels

Dining 

• 4 Dinners with Wine
• 16 Full Breakfasts
• 2 Lunches
• 2 Highlight Dinners
• 1 Farewell Dinner

** Required Internal Flights: are to be purchased in order to fulfil the itinerary and are NOT included in the land content price - please contact us to confirm these details and any other itinerary updates

• Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 12 noon into Melbourne Airport
  Day 15 – flights to depart after 2.00pm from Auckland Airport
  Internal-holiday flights: Please note that prices include land and internal-holiday airfares, which AAT Kings will book in order to fulfil the holiday itinerary:
  Day 3 – Melbourne to Cairns
  Day 6 – Cairns to Sydney
  Day 9 – Sydney to Queenstown
  Day 12 – Queenstown to Auckland
  Return airfares from your home port are not included in the price above.
  Return airport to hotel transfers are included in the vacation price

Fitness Requirements

• Low level of fitness required