Kaikōura is a base for wildlife experiences of every kind – it’s also a fantastic place to eat crayfish (in the Māori language ‘kai’ means food, ‘kōura’ means crayfish). An straightforward two-hour drive north of Christchurch, Kaikōura makes for a great day trip or a enjoyable stop on your approach to Marlborough. A brief drive (or an extended, steep walk!) from city, that is an easily accessible but gorgeous Kaikoura viewpoint as you presumably can see each side of the peninsula. This additionally means you get searing sunset AND dawn views as a end result of 360 panoramic views. Just observe that within the top of the tourist season, it can be onerous to get house because the automotive park is sort of small. We get plenty of time to snap up a great deal of photographs of those ridiculously cute New Zealand fur seals in addition to see some more colonies of seabirds like terns and gulls and shags.

Take the winding Port Hills highway to the French settlement of Akaroa and tour the vines in Waipara for an authentic New Zealand wine-tasting experience. Backtrack cross-country to the Matakohe Kauri Museum – an award successful museum with intensive historical displays. Continue on the street to Snells Beach, a stunning little township close to Warkworth.

Southern Right Whales

Only so much may be squeezed onto a folded A4 sheet, so this page adds some of the juicy particulars that we had to miss. Here we’ll look at every of the local birding hotspots in turn and move on every little thing we all know, together with a number of fairly pictures. As soon as they can approach a pod of dolphins that is in a playing mood, you have to not waste time. Once you’re confirmed that the tour will be occurring (in is determined by the climate conditions…), check in at the time indicated. When we visited at high tide we wouldn’t have been able to visit the boulders without getting our toes moist, so we loved the view from the terrace of the Moeraki Boulders Cafe.

Continuing south through Auckland, State Highway 1 shortly takes you into rolling green farmland and the rich dairy pasture of the Waikato. The Bombay Hills mark the outer boundary of the larger Auckland area and its right here you turn inland to central Waikato. This is hobbit nation and the route takes you thru the town of Matamata the place you probably can nonetheless visit the film areas made well-known within the Lord of the Rings trilogy at Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours. Continuing on you’ll pass several small farming communities earlier than telltale indicators of steam and other geothermal activity signal your arrival into Rotorua. Take a spectacular scenic flight to Cape Reinga over Whangaroa Harbour and the Rangau… Waitangi is one of New Zealand’s most historic websites the place the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the native Maori and the British Government.

Encounter Kaikoura Dolphin & Albatross Excursions Information

If you don’t feel like cooking both go to the Chamois Bar and Grill onsite or take the courtesy shuttle to Hermitage Hotel. View the spectacular Aoraki Mount Cook from above on this fifty five minute scenic flight. See the unimaginable surroundings surrounding New Zealand’s tallest peak, together with hanging glaciers, calved icebergs, rivers of ice, the forests of the West Coast and the famend Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake. You’ll also land on the glacier itself – a very unique expertise.

Take your time to appreciate the trouble that has gone into making every detail in this fairytale land a magical place. There is so much to see and do within the garden advanced, you could simply spend the majority of the day there. View the relics of an historical Māori village, and on the way again down, try the Eden Gardens, a tranquil oasis in a bustling city.

Temporary Itinerary

The Chatham Islands (44 deg. S, 176 deg. W) lie some 870 kms east of mainland New Zealand. A small archipelago, there are 2 primary inhabited islands, Chatham and Pitt which are separated by 17 kilometres . At current there are around 800 human inhabitants (many involved in a crayfish and Paua industry) administered by the Chatham Islands Council.